Fab Find Friday: Old Window Coat Rack

Chris and I picked up this old window at Aberfoyle's Spring Sale. I wanted something to hang in our front entry way that would solve the problem of not hanging our coats in the closet or a temporary place for guests. I stained the exposed wood a darker shade to stand out against the paint. 

The large hooks also came from aberfoyle and the smaller hooks came from christie...amazingly they have the same mint green chipped paint finish! We thought about replacing the glass with a mirror or a chalkboard, but I think for now it will stay as is. We just need to find the hardware to hang this guy:)

We're off to Gravenhurst for a long weekend wedding and some much needed relaxation!

Happy Weekend:)

A Berry Good Time

Last weekend we went to Dixie Anne & Doug's house for a birthday BBQ. I asked DA if I could make the cake, and much to my delight she said yes! I saw this recipe on Cupcakes and Cashmere that Emily made for her own BBQ and couldn't wait to try it myself. 

It's very simple, just yellow cake (I used duncan hines), whip cream and berries. I used raspberries, blueberries and strawberries for my version! The cake plate in the photo above was gifted to me by a friend...amazingly enough I had picked up the matching sugar bowl at a yard sale...maybe i'll find the creamer this summer!

DA also made a delightful homemade sangria with Fuzion wine, she's becoming a bit of a sangria expert!

Credits to my artistic director and loyal blog reader Doug for the photos in this post!

Room with a View

We stayed at a hotel on the lake last weekend, and this was the view from our room...made me miss the East Coast just a little bit more

Fab Find Friday: The Green Machine

Just to recap, Chris proposed on Saturday...on Sunday we surprised his parents with the news and celebrated Father's Day. I had mentioned to Chris' mom a while back when she asked me what I wanted for my birthday that I would really like a used sewing machine...she joked that she thought she had one in the garage...she was not joking!!! On Sunday I was gifted this gorgeous Singer sewing machine from the 50's. It belonged to Chris' grandmother and I love it!!!

It's missing the slide plate, but I have found a few on ebay!

It reverses by pushing the lever all the way up

I'm in serious love with this old girl, and can't wait to put her to work on a number of my projects! 

Thanks again Louanne!

Happy Friday Everyone!

DIY- Antique Key Necklace

This is a super easy DIY that I thought would be fun for a Wednesday. All you need is a pretty antique key and a vintage chain. I bought a few vintage-looking chains on etsy for less than $4. 

PS- thank you for all of the well wishes on the blog and facebook, we're very excited:)

Big News

Chris pulled off one of the biggest surprises I've ever experienced on the weekend. He told me we were celebrating my champagne birthday downtown complete with a fancy dinner, champagne and strawberries in our room and tickets to Lady Antebellum (more on the concert later in the week). 

Here's a self taken picture of us just after arriving at the hotel

The lovely strawberries and champagne that Chris patiently waited for...

AND THEN...he proposed!

There are no details yet, a good friend of mine told me to enjoy this time and not worry too much about putting a plan together right away...easier said then done, but i'm happy to take her advice at least for a couple of weeks!

Fab Find Friday: Wooden Crate Table

This post is all about opportunities! When you're out antiquing or thrifting, it's not just about looking for items with only one purpose, more often then not items can be repurposed into something completely different than they were intentionally meant for. 

Take this fine wooden crate for example. I picked this guy up at the Orono Antique show last summer- (August 11 this year for anyone interested) for a mere $22. I'd been on the hunt for the perfect end table for our living room for ages. 

I love the patina, and the fact that the writing is still legible because it's on the side of the box. A little tung oil, a tip on its side and as I used to say when I was little wola, you've got yourself a gorgeous end table then can also double as storage!

Happy Hunting!

Sleeping Beauty

I switched out our winter blankets in the living room for fresh summer versions, and Missy has been taking full advantage. She's loving the yellow wool blanket I picked up at flea market last year! I don't often get a clear shot of her, as she's always moving, but this one turned out!

Passing Notes

Did you ever pass notes when you were in school? When I was in middle school, my friends and I used to write notes to each other all of the time...we even had special ways to fold our paper.

My friends gifted me this sweet postcard they picked up at a farmer's market last weekend. The cutest element of the post card is its pastel green envelope on the front. When you open it up, there is a tiny little piece of notepaper to jot down all of the little secrets you want to hide from the postman! 

June in Bloom

With summer brings new blooms and the satisfaction of growing your own food. We have an unruly rose bush in our backyard that most of the year drives me crazy, but in full bloom it is gorgeous! I've grown tomatoes and peppers for the last few years, but this year I decided to just grow herbs. I have basil (which is filling out nicely), thyme, oregano, rosemary and lavender. I planted lavender at my old house and the second year it took off when it was replanted from the container to the flower bed...i'm hoping the same will happen here!

What are you growing this summer?

Fab Find Friday: Vintage Fabrics

I'm a bit late with my Friday post this week, it has been a wee bit crazy around here and I am very much looking forward to a relaxing weekend despite a hectic schedule.

I shared my Christie quilt last week and since buying it I've been checking out bias tape and edging options on etsy. I decided to make my own, so went on the hunt for vintage fabric. Instead of going to a fabric store, I decided to take a look at Value Village as I know they often have vintage flat sheets that might work. I hit the jackpot, finding not one but four great pieces.

I loved all of these two much to leave them there. I've officially decided I could make a crib sheet out of the blue material on the left, and the pink material could definitely be a curtain valence! I'm going with the middle yellow fabric to edge my quilt, and measured and cut all of the strips a couple of nights ago- here's what that exercise looks like with kittens:

I also picked up a couple of classic children's books for $1- a hardcover of goodnight moon, where the wild things and love you forever- i'm officially starting a collection!

PS- We have new residents on our porch...Mrs Robin had two babies!!! Happy Weekend!

Progress...or lack thereof

Hi Friends! Happy Wednesday...it's been a long week for me, so i'm definitely glad we're over halfway to the weekend! Wanted to share a couple of pieces that i've been working on. I've read a few blogs lately entitled "what i'm scared to tell you"...this is kind of that post for me as I haven't really made the progress I would have liked on these projects.

This is the pressback rocking chair from my front door. It was outside most of the year, and the paint started flaking. I decided to attempt stripping it, despite knowing the spindle chairs and intricate design would be a pain in the a#! to strip. Turns out this piece has at least 5 layers of paint, and to be honest i've decided it's not worth it! Instead I will sand as much as I can and then this old girl is getting a nice spray of primer and i'm thinking either bright mustard yellow or turquoise paint! Do you have any colour suggestions for me?

This is the window Chris and I picked up for $10 at Aberfoyle to turn into a coat rack. We originally thought we would replace the window with a mirror, but then decided to stick with the window as is...I still haven't ruled a chalkboard...we'll see. I've been chipping away at this piece as well (it has more layers of paint than granny above), have sourced all the hardware, but we still have work to do. I'm going to do a quick wash in a dark stain to make the bare wood spots stand out!

Do you have any projects you've been meaning to get to lately? 

PS- I've added a search box in the top right corner incase you'd like to search a particular recipe or project you've seen here...I used it the other night to find my grammy's brownie recipe!

Wedding Fever

Chris and I attended a wedding this weekend (first of 3 this summer); the weather held out thank goodness and the bride was absolutely stunning! I have always loved weddings, growing up my dad had a side business in wedding photography, and often I got to go as his date and assistant. I fluffed dresses and really just tried not to get in the way!

It seems that DIY weddings with a vintage rustic twist are very common right now, and I absolutely love the style. I discovered the Ruffled blog a couple of years ago when I came across this wedding from my home province. I actually went to university in the same town as this venue, and I had no idea it existed!

If you're interested in more DIY wedding inspiration check out the following:

Style Me Pretty Canada

Ruffled

Etsy Wedding

The other awesome resource is Pinterest...I would actually fathom a guess that wedding themed boards are their most common, or at least showing up in a top ten!

Fab Find Friday- Christie Deals

Can you believe it's the first day of June already? 

As promised, here are some of the finds I picked up at the Spring Christie show! Unfortunately not furniture (we're running out of space), but definitely some good smalls and textiles!

 Two more jars for my collection- a blue Gem with the cross and a purple Wallaceberg Gem. The colored jars are worth more than the clear jars, and I didn't have a strong purple, so was a good find!

A couple of hooks for our soon to be window coat rack!

A flow blue for my platter collection- i'm thinking of hanging a few of these on my kitchen wall

Missy is on top of two sugar sacks (soon to be pillows) and a piece of old flannel.

This was a gorgeous wedding ring cutter quilt that I couldn't resist. Two ends are raw, so I will need to finish them with some bias tape or edging, but I just loved the colours and pattern. I've announced to Chris that it will be our family picnic quilt- the kittens and I tested it out on the living room floor!

Happy weekend!