12 Weeks to meeting Miss Mustard Seed - Week 1

The other day, my sister-in-law asked me if I'd like to go meet Miss Mustard Seed in April when she comes to Toronto.  Of COURSE I would.  In fact, I got so excited about the prospect of meeting my mentor / role model / the-person-I-aspire-to-be, I decided to start a brand new blog series in honour of her.

The Waterfall Tallboy

This week I was hit by my fourth flu in 2 months.  Not fun at all.  Needless to say, it's been a pretty unproductive week.  But where I've been slacking, Mark's been picking up the paint brush.

I acquired this tallboy at the same auction I found that fabulous armoire.  As the auctioneer was helping us load it in our minivan, he commented, 'So, you're going to paint this thing a nice robin-egg blue'?  I laughed, and then thought, that's not a bad plan.  So, away we went.

Chippy Hutch and Porcelain Babies

 This was my begining-of-the-week project.  A gorgeous, chippy hutch.  This hutch is really chippy.  It's so chippy, it makes me chipper.  The thing I love about milk paint, is that you never really know how the end product is going to turn out.  I suppose if I had an A-type personality, that would bother me - but I don't.  Quite the opposite :)

The Loyalist Hutch

Loyalist Hutch

 To my great delight, my local milk paint supplier began carrying a myriad of new colours.  When I saw this light teal, I could hardly wait to try it out.  I found the perfect candidate for it - this stunning, drop-dead gorgeous antique hutch.

Help me paint my armoire!

I have been searching for this piece the day I started painting furniture.  I scored this beauty from an auction last weekend, and can hardly wait to attack it with a paintbrush.  The only problem?  I can't decide for the life of me what colour to paint it!

Side-of-the-road-find - My Victorian Dollhouse

For some reason, Sunday seems to be the day I take a walk down my favourite street in Hamilton - Ottawa Street.  Most stores are closed, but it's still fun to window shop.  Yesterday Mark came with me, and we carried the girls in their bjorns.  On our way, we found this adorable dollhouse, cast away on the side of the road.  How could I pass it up?

Surviving Auctions

Auctions.  You've heard you can score good deals at them, but have never had the gumption to attend.  They can be intimidating - there's a lot of people, the bidding goes up really fast, and there's a loud auctioneer pointing at you, stammering out words you can hardly understand.

The Purple Buffet

 Yesterday my friend Rachel was over for the day.  She has stunning decorating taste.  We've been working on reupholstering her couch this week, and it's turning out really gorgeous.  While she sewed, I tackled this lovely antique buffet.

The Yellow Tallboy

 This week has been a little rocky, due to Fifth Disease (aka Slapped Cheeks Disease) striking our house.  The girls have been pretty fussy, sleepless, and congested, but their cheeks are bright red which makes them super cute.  Mark found this little gem on kijiji, and decided (while I was upstairs, feeding babies) to go for the yellow.  Bold, I say!

The Vintage Wardrobe

Quite a few months ago, we picked up this piece from a guy out in Brantford who runs a business buying and selling on Kijiji.  Originally I thought it was spectacular.  As time went, I just couldn't envision the finish I wanted on it, so in the garage it sat.  And sat.

Side-of-the-road find

 Right before Christmas, Mark came home from work with this piece in his truck.  I know it looks gorgeous now, but it didn't then.  For some reason, I still have a hard time envisioning what the finished product will look like.

Coolest Christmas Present EVER!

We spend every Christmas Eve with Mark's family.  We make a day of it - we drive to Bowmanville in the morning, and spend the day going for walks down by the creek, knitting, caring for babies, playing with children, and doing all sorts of lovely relaxing things.  Our family is very warm and welcoming, and a fun part of Christmas with the Vanderherberg's, is that there are usually guests.  It's such fun to spend it with others who may be a long ways from home, or may not have family members to spend Christmas Eve with.

 I must apologize.  It's been far too long since I've written a blog post.  Well, this weekend as I got hit by a nasty flu, Mark once again picked up a paint brush and accomplished a few projects that we had sitting in the garage.

Cotui Craft Fair - Sneak Peak

On Saturday, our church is hosting a fundraiser for the church we partner with in Cotui, Dominican Republic.  We are having a craft sale, and they asked the artisans of the church to set up tables to sell their wares to help raise funds.

Grey Bird Dresser

 This weeks project was an antique dresser I picked up at an auction a few months ago.  Between doing some Christmas baking, playing with my new laundry machine and caring for two teething babies, I squeeked in some time for it.  I painted it a colour called "Nimbus Cloud" by Martha Stewart, and added a little decal on the front.

Antique Dresser Video

Today I refinished this charming antique dresser.  While I did so, I created a video tutorial on working with milk paint.  If you're considering trying milk paint for the first time, this is an excellent how-to guide that will hopefully make your experience easy and successful. 

Dining Room Reveal

    We re-did our dinning room a few weeks back, but I haven't had a chance to show it off - mostly because I haven't had time to give it a proper cleaning.  Well, this weekend all of my sister-in-laws are coming down so it was a good excuse to spend some time making the room pretty.

'French Enamel' by Miss Mustard Seed

 Today I was stuck sick on my couch.  My loving husband took the day off to help me with the babies, and do my usual daily grind.  He told me that if he was going to stay home, he wanted to work on a project.  I thought that was an O.K. compromise :)

Life With Twins

I don't typically write posts about my personal life.  Mostly because I don't think most will find it very exciting.  But as many of you know, in June of this year, Mark and I brought home our firstborn identical twin daughters - Caroline and Hannah.