Country Design Home

May 9, 2013

It’s High Time to Shop!

In an early High Five for Friday!, I wanted to give you a sneak peek at all things country being offered in my shop at the Vintage Thymes Monthly Market. After what seems like a year (actually its only been 6 weeks since I agreed to join the market- but boy my arms are tired!) of sanding, staining, waxing, painting, cleaning and hauling loads of great vintage stuff in my poor car-soooo many dings and bumps : (

I am finally ready to debut my collection!

Country Design Home: A Carefully Curated Collection of Simply Casual Country Style Furnishings & Accessories.

This was the before:

And this was during (I really thought I was going to need a bigger booth!)

And this is now:

In my shop, you will find hand-crafted items, like these very cute shutter chalkboard signs,

refurbished beauties like this pink and gray Victorian commode that was featured in a previous blog post: Coming Unhinged

and of course, my newly created wrought iron shutter top patio set! If you get there early, you might find this amazing aqua blue vintage hinged and locking steel box presumably from the back of my dream pickup truck

(but I have a feeling that one’s not going to be there long, judging from the oohs and ahs of anyone who saw it…), loads of creamy white stoneware and crocks, mason jars by the barrel, vintage tin milking pails, luscious yellow enamel bowls and these cute tin daisy canisters with cut glass knobs. If you follow my blog, you know I am all about color. This month is pretty pastels, reflected in the paints and accessories I chose to highlight. I love muted grays and blues as much as the next girl, but for me, color brightens my world and makes me happy : ) The cupboard shown here was in my dining room for years. Moved around a bit, but finally landed back in the barn. What was once an old, tired dark brown stained wood was transformed with Annie Sloan French Linen Paint and Soft Wax Finish and Benjamin Moore Chalkboard Paint on the buffet top. Or, if you have a hankering for some home-made ice cream, how about this vintage ice cream maker? If you are getting ready to plant, I suggest this 9 clay pot vintage iron rack. The pots are chalkboard painted, so you can erase my numbers and label them with the various plants and herbs you are nursing along. I had a blast putting my shop together, with special thanks to Coach, who is my fabulous picker, Lisa Mokaba, my right hand girl and lover of all things vintage, Nancy Granese, who added her amazing artwork for my space and the fabulous ladies from Vintage Thymes Monthly Market-Robin and Nancy-who have helped me immeasurably with great staging and pricing advice : ) The entire market is stacked to the rafters with great vintage finds, and ready for opening day-tomorrow! So much to see, so much to buy! I hope you have a truck : ) The hours of operation are Friday, May 10 from 9-6, Saturday May 11 from 9-6 and Sunday May 12 from 12-5. The address: WinSmith Mill Market at the Norwood Commerce Center, 61 Endicott Street, Norwood, MA. Google Map Here. Hope to see you all there! Now I’m going to take a breath and have a cup of coffee before I start getting ready for June. Happy Shopping, and a very Happy Mother’s Day everyone! Susan

Filed Under: Auctions, Fleas & Fabulous Finds, Color Class, The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love · Tagged: country design home, Country Design Home Shop, Country Furnishings and Accesorries, shopping for vintage, vintage furniture, Vintate Thymes Monthly Market

May 8, 2013

I Shutter To Think…

By countrydesignhome · 6 Comments

…what would’ve happened if Coach and I hadn’t wandered down to Cape Cod last summer and found some old shutters on the side of the road. Seriously! On a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon, we were driving down the Old King’s Highway, or Rte 6A, for some antique shopping and ocean viewing. All of a sudden we spotted some old, weathered, beautiful pastel shutters on the side of the road. So Coach pulls over and tells me to get out and grab them! Which I did, but only after looking at all of the surrounding homes to ensure that a strong wind hadn’t just blown them off and the owners were set to retrieve them.

All clear! So I threw them in the CRV and off we went, but not very far before I noticed the strong oceany, mildew, rotten seaweedy kind of smell emanating from the back seat. Yuck! But we brought them home, along with some others that a shopkeeper gave us-yup, it was just that kind of day. So I soaked them in bleach, mildew remover, sanded them, washed them again, then laid them out in the sun for weeks. As the summer wore on, the stench slowly dissipated as I anxiously awaited the opportunity to use them in some special project. Fast forward to last weekend’s patio table project. We had scooped this topless table at a yard sale, realizing that I would have to create a new top for it.

My first thought was to use this old rain barrel- the staves were old and beautifully weathered, and unlike the shutter slats, were smell-free.

However, after spending hours deconstructing it, I discovered that 1. old barrel wood is really brittle and 2.old barrel staves are curved, which makes for a precarious perch for a cup of coffee.

The Plan B inspiration hit me at 4:30 am- the cleaned, pastel shutter slats would be perfect! So here’s my how-to:

1. Cut out a round piece of pressure treated plywood for the base in the size you want for the table top.

2. Arrange the slats in a pleasing “patchwork quilt” style pattern.

3. Glue, then nail the slats to the top of the plywood circle. I used this little sharpshooter- it shoots tiny little brads that are almost invisible.

4. Flip the top over, then using a jigsaw, trim all of the excess wood away to create a perfect round. Well, not exactly perfect. I’m working on my sawing skills : ). Then flip it back over and

sand the top and the edges until smooth and even. Stain the bottom and sides.

6. Finish sides with black spray painted hanging strapping stuff with little black tacks.

I had High Heat paint so that’s what I used, but unless you are planning on using this as a fire pit, I think regular Krylon will do the trick.

7. Spray the entire surface with matte clear acrylic finish. Allow to dry, then finish with a coat of Annie Sloan Soft Wax on top and sides, both the wood and the metal. Place on your patio for all to admire and enjoy!

9. Set it up in your booth for the Vintage Thymes Monthly Market coming this weekend! This one’s for sale : )

So see, if we had never wandered to the Cape that day, I never would have scooped those shutters and created this beautiful table and chairs and offered it to you! Now, does anyone need a box of cut up antique barrel staves? Happy wandering Wednesday everyone! Susan

Filed Under: Color Class · Tagged: cape cod, table top from reclaimed shutters, using shutters for crafts project, Vintage Thymes Monthly Market

May 7, 2013

So…Mother Did Know Best

By countrydesignhome · 2 Comments

A few weeks ago, I blogged about the First Annual Guerilla Staging Competition at Mill 77 Trading Company in Amesbury to benefit “Our Neighbor’s Table”. To refresh: we chose a category out of a hat, then had 40 minutes to race through the shops collecting whatever we could move to create a beautiful, photo-worthy room. What a blast!! Our team, Mother Knows Best, with the category Clothing and Accessories, used our collective creative minds to produce a Paris-inspired turn-of-the-century boudoir. This was the before:

This was the after:

Then I sent out a request to all of you in internet-land for votes! For two weeks we sat on pins and needles awaiting the final word. The votes were finally tallied over the weekend, and guess what?!? We won first place!! So I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone out there who visited the website, clicked on the YouTube link and either “liked” the video or voted for us online. We couldn’t have done it without you. It was great fun, for a really great cause, and we can’t wait til next year’s competition! I like the sound of defending champions : ) As for me, I think I’ll use my winnings to purchase a new nail gun!! Have a terrific Tuesday everyone!! Susan

Filed Under: The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love · Tagged: Amesbury, Guerilla Staging Competition, Mill 77 Trading Company, Mother Knows Best, Our Neighbors Table

May 4, 2013

Fancy That! Easy Chalkboard Art!

By countrydesignhome · 14 Comments

We’ve all seen the signs. Fancy chalkboard art is all over Pinterest, it’s at weddings and birthday parties and on this month’s cover of Country Living Magazine.

So, you ask, how does one (who really cannot draw more than stick figures) create a great-looking sign that you can be proud of? Well, I have done quite a bit of research and have read many, many how-to tutorials. Most involved special transfer paper, graph paper, rulers and grids and painstaking copying. That didn’t appeal to me-I like quick, fast and easy (insert joke here). The more things I get done, the more things I get to keep doing! I needed a sign for next week’s booth, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try my own approach to chalking it up. Here we go:

Step 1: Go to the barn and get an antique cupboard door that’s been hanging around for generation or two-thanks, Coach!

If you are making your own chalkboard, like I did, I recommend Benjamin Moore Chalkboard paint.

I have tried many brands and this one is very smooth and creates a nice writing surface. You need two coats. Follow the directions on the can. It takes 3 days to cure. Follow the directions on the can. Make sure you “size” the board before you write on it with chalk. Then wipe it down. Follow the directions on the can.

Step 2. Decide what you want to say. I needed to make two signs: one for Country Design Home and one for the name of the monthly market. For the May market, its Mom’s Garden.

Use your basic paint program or photoshop or whatever you use to create the words and graphics you would like to have on your sign. You can be as fancy or plain as you like. Size them to the exact specs of the board you are decorating. You will need to create the entire board, and you can do that in sections or all on one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. Print them as you normally would on regular printer paper, do not flip them to the reverse. If you have printed a large design in sections, you need to tape the whole thing together before you tape it to the board. You can use the program from Blockposters to create a large mural-type board.

Step 3. Flip the paper over and then take some sharpened chalk and draw along the lines of the print. I will call this reverse chalking. Be neat, but you don’t have to be fanatical about it. That’s what wet wipes are for.

And yes, you can sharpen chalk with a regular pencil sharpener-who knew?! And it doesn’t make that squeaky “nails on the blackboard” noise either!

Step 4. Carefully place the paper, chalk side down on your prepared surface. Don’t move it around too much or it will leave smudgy stuff on your nice clean board. Tape it in place. Repeat, tape it in place.

Step 5. Take something smooth but pointy- like this cuticle thingy (lord knows, I don’t use it for my nails…) and rub all of the lines that you want to magically appear on the chalkboard.

Step 6. You can carefully lift the paper up just to make sure you have transferred all of the chalk lines you need as you go.

Step 7. When you are happy that the design has been transferred to your liking, you carefully remove the paper, and voila! Instant fancy printing! I added just a few corner embellishments, but this is where you can go crazy adding all kinds of cute graphics free hand!

You will most likely need to use your sharpened chalk to clean up the edges, deepen the color and thicken the lines. (I also read somewhere that you should wet the chalk or the board to make the lines darker and clearer. That didn’t work for me, but have at it if you don’t think your lines are dark enough.) If you make a mistake, just use a wet wipe and try again.

Step 8. If you wish to make this permanent, then spray with some matte acrylic spray. I read somewhere that you could use hairspray, but I didn’t try it so I can’t vouch for that technique.

Step 9. Chalk it up to another great D.I.M. (Do It Myself) tip from Country Design Home! Susan

Filed Under: Inspiration, The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love · Tagged: Benjamin Moore Chalkboard Paint, Chalkboard art, chalkboard DIY, Country Living, making a chalkboard, Pinterest

Apr 24, 2013

To Market We Go!!

By countrydesignhome · 3 Comments

It’s Wanderlust Wednesday, and this past couple of weeks Coach and I have been driving all around the Boston area. Logged 185 miles in one day last weekend, pickin’ and junkin’ and packing up the CRV!

Why, you ask!? Well, I have finally decided to put my money where my blog is and join the Vintage Thymes Monthly Market beginning in May-so excited!!! This is my empty booth, waiting for some country design treasures…

The first time I ventured down to visit the WinSmith Mill Market (remember that whole “snow through the sunroof“, mixing up photos fiasco!?), I was completely impressed by the all of the shops, but my attention was drawn to the Vintage Thymes Monthly Market in particular.

I loved the feel of the old tannery space, with soaring ceilings and wooden floors, with shoppers everywhere clutching their newly prized possessions, reminiscent of a bustling General Store offering vintage goods and wares. Busy as it was, one of the owners, Nancy Murphy, spent time with me chatting about the Market, the participating vendors and their goals and aspirations. It became clear to me that this is way more than just a job for her, it is a passion, one that is shared by millions of others out there who love to refurbish and recycle and make what was once old, new and beautiful again. And since we have a barn full of “junque”, and Coach is adding to the collection daily, like this gorgeous red Radio Flyer wagon we found over the weekend…

…I figured it was high time to join in the fun! So, beginning the weekend of May 10, 11 and 12th, I will be offering a carefully curated collection of of antiques and vintage goods,

reflecting the simple casual country style I love to feature in my blog posts. LOVE this old crackled scale…

Some of the items are untouched and will be offered as they were discovered at estate sales and auctions (minus the dust and cobwebs)

but many pieces have required painting & polishing, (like this pink commode I wrote about in “Coming Unhinged” a couple of weeks ago)

and staining and waxing as well. This is the table I decorated with the wax paper printer transfer technique in “Waxing Nostalgic”

To give you an idea of what will be available, I have added a Pinterest Board: Vintage Thymes Monthly Market, that you can visit.

This month’s theme is Mom’s Garden, so you can expect to see quite a bit of garden-inspired furniture and accessories. (and, yes, that’s a real anchor- Coach dragged it home last weekend- what the heck am I supposed to do with that!?)

Not everything posted there will be available each month, as I only have so much room in my booth! And once it’s sold, it’s gone, and I will mark it as such on the Pinterest board. Some things will have a “before” pic, and once I complete the refurbishing, I will post the “after” as well. I adore this dreamy mint farmhouse table, but it did need a lot of TLC. Wait til you see the after!!

I will be pinning additional items as the date gets closer, so check back often, and if you see something you must have, drop me an email @ countrydesignhome@gmail.com and I will see if I can squeeze it into the CRV! OK, back to work…see you in May! Susan

Filed Under: Inspiration, The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love · Tagged: antiques, collectibles, Vintage Market, Vintage Thymes Monthly Market

Apr 21, 2013

“Mother Knows Best” Needs You!!

By countrydesignhome · 1 Comment

Two weekends ago (it actually seems like eons ago, with all the events of the past week!), I participated in a team Guerilla Staging Competition at Mill 77 Trading Company in Amesbury. What a blast!

I was part of the team “Mother Knows Best“, two moms and daughters who love vintage style and decorating, fun competition and winning $$! Just to refresh, we blindly chose a category, then had 40 minutes to transform an empty room from four blank walls with lots of nails and a couple of white columns and hanging ladders into a gorgeous camera-ready vignette. Choosing “Clothing and Accessories” out of a hat, we raced through the store, collecting draperies (our apologies to the owner of that booth) and wrought iron gates, vintage clothing and jewelry, dressers and chairs to create a vintage vignette worthy of any Parisian Boudoir. This is the before:

Here is the after:

Here’s the how-to: we suspended the toile drapes from the two columns, creating a focal wall. In front of that we wheeled in the vintage painted dresser, and used the tall wrought iron gate as a clothing rack. The dresser is laden with crystal and jewels, which, unfortunately you cannot see clearly here. On padded hangers we draped satin dresses and slips, scarves and a fox wrap. Sparkling shoes and boots were tucked under the dresser and antique frames served as jewelry hangers. The chic wool coat with mink trim and the chiffon scarf were on an antique dress form. We added the vintage needlepoint rug featuring many of the room’s muted colors and an antique blue ceramic heater. Finally, we created a small seating area with the painted table and chairs and dressed that with crystal and lace. And then I Instagrammed it to give it a true vintage feel (well, minus the lime green price tags which we couldn’t remove)

So now comes the part where you can help! We have one more week to collect enough votes, either on Mill 77’s Website or YouTube links, where you can actually see us in action! The team’s room with the most votes wins $500, the runners-up win gift certificates to Mill 77. Great prizes, plus it was actually a fund-raiser for Our Neighbor’s Table in Amesbury- a win, win all around! So now all we need is your vote! If, after viewing our before and after (and remember, we only had 40 minutes!!) you think our Parisian Boudoir is worthy of your vote, please click here by filling in the info requested, along with our team name: Mother Knows Best or here to “Like” our video. If not, c’est la vie, there’s always next year. Here’s hoping for a great week, and lots of votes!! Stay Strong, everyone. Susan

Filed Under: Inspiration · Tagged: Guerilla Staging Competition, Mill 77 Trading Company, Mother Knows Best, Vintage Parisian Boudoir, You Tube Video

Apr 12, 2013

Waxing Nostalgic

By countrydesignhome · 81 Comments

In a recent post, I blogged about transferring French Typography onto wooden furniture using wax paper– this week’s High Five For Friday! Yup-regular old wax paper– the old-fashioned kind we used to wrap our sandwiches in for our tin lunch boxes-is suddenly all the rage again.So I thought I would give the wax paper transfer method currently posted on my D.I.M. Pinterest page a try, since I am working on some new pieces. Coach found this cute little old pine telephone table that I thought would work nicely.

(This one’s from the olden days, folks, when we had those gadgets attached to the wall called telephones, with an attached cord so you had to sit down to talk on them and use loads of paper books with names and addresses and phone numbers in them : )…

Here are the steps:

1. Cleaned and steel wooled. It hardly had any finish on it so no sanding needed. But I made sure that the inside was clean as well. Nothing worse than opening up some cute, vintage refinished piece only to inhale the strong odor of musty cigarette smoke.

2. Added 2 coats of Annie Sloan French Linen paint. Love the soft color and the flat finish.

3. Got some wax paper (this pic shows parchment paper which apparently works as well, but I haven’t tried that yet)

4. Find a picture- I got mine from the Graphics Fairy– and print it in your REGULAR INK JET PRINTER!! Not a laser printer, apparently that just melts the wax. Make sure when you go to settings you reverse it for the transfer process prior to printing. Cut the wax paper to the same size as a regular sheet of copy paper. Slowly feed the wax paper into the printer, being careful not to let it wrinkle or crease. Once printed, allow time for it to dry so it won’t smear when you lay it down on your piece.

5. Dampen (NOT WET!) the furniture so it will accept the ink. Center the wax paper, print side down, on to your piece of furniture.

6. Now just start rubbing all over the design, pressing firmly. I tried two methods of transfer- the credit card- which I found had too sharp of an edge to really press.

The back of a spoon-perfect! Rub the image until it is completely transferred.

The harder and longer you rub, the darker and clearer your image will be. You can carefully pick up the paper and check underneath as you go along, but just make sure you put it back exactly in the same spot- otherwise the image will appear blurry. Allow to dry (about 5 minutes)

7. Finish with a coat of Annie Sloan Soft Wax.

8. Since we no longer have giant phones and tons of phone books, I discovered a cute new storage place for my Ipad!

TGIF everyone!! So happy to finally have some nice sunny weather-NOT!!! Susan

Filed Under: The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: Annie Sloan Paint, Annie Sloan Soft Wax, French Typography Wax Paper Transfer, Wax paper for crafts, wax paper transfer

Apr 9, 2013

Coming Unhinged

By countrydesignhome · Leave a Comment

Recently I have been working on quite a few pieces of “junk-tiques”, so Coach and I have been frequenting the auction, estate sale and flea market circuit, and have come home with quite a few great country finds.

Of course, most of them need a little, nea, a LOT of TLC, so over the weekend we opened up the HICC (seriously, you don’t know what that is?!?)

fired up the sander and got to work on the transformation process. When I came across an old commode at an indoor flea market, my intention was to sand it all down and then restain/antique it. But I just couldn’t bring myself to strip away all those years of paint and the beautiful layers of colors, ending with the final soft pink it is today. However, the same did not hold true for the drawer pulls and hinges-years of caked-on paint had obliterated the design and the finishes- who does that?!? I get painting the chest, heck, we all do that. And I understand that painted hardware is “in” right now, but people, if the hardware has beautiful inlaid flowers and a gorgeous pewter patina, leave it alone!!! That being said, I needed to find a way to strip all of the old paint off without harming the hardware, my granite countertops and my sinuses. Pinterest to the rescue!! I found several DIY pins with all kinds of methods that did not include harsh chemicals, so I kind of combined a few and came up with my own quick and easy method. Simply: fill an old saucepan with water (enough to cover the hardware completely), add a couple of tablespoons of white vinegar and a few drops of dish soap. Any kind of white vinegar will do, but I especially like this one because it says “Nice!”, and nice matters, as a friend of mine recently reminded me : )

Drop in the hardware.

Bring the whole concoction to a boil. Allow to slow boil for 20-30 minutes (keep making sure you have enough water in the pan- don’t want to singe the hinges!). Keep checking the pieces- after 10 minutes or so you will begin to notice stuff floating in the water, and if you pick up a piece, you can see the paint starting to peel away. After 30 minutes, start taking the pieces out one at a time-you need to keep the others submerged until you are ready to clean them, otherwise the paint will reharden and stick. I used a toothpick and a small toothbrush (preferably not one you are using again!) to get into the crevices. Buff the piece with a terry cloth towel to remove any clinging bits, then rinse in water and wipe dry. Can you believe the beautiful detail I uncovered under those layers of paint!?!? At this point, you can use a little metal polisher-like this awesome stuff I use because: 1. It’s from Cape Cod- which we love and 2. It really works!!

Individual little cloths already soaked with not-too-smelly cleaner-easy and neat. Polish, buff dry and you are done. Once completed, the drawer pulls were re-attached to the pretty little pink commode, which I finished with a crystal door pull and a touch of Annie Sloan French Linen Chalk Paint and Soft Wax.

So now the once simple pink commode with the layers of painted hardware has a new look, not exactly what I had envisioned when I first spotted it at an antiques market, but I think the improvised version is even better…do you agree?

And it also has a new heart– which I uncovered as I was sanding the layers on the bottom of the chest-so sweet!! Have a terrific Tuesday, everyone! Just remember to do what you love, follow your instincts and don’t come unhinged if it all doesn’t quite go according to plan. Susan

PS: I have joined a new weekend blogging link party sponsored by Serenity Now: Creative Solutions for Staying Sane. It’s a fun read and has loads of great ideas for everything from cooking to awesome DIY projects! Check them out!

Filed Under: The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: Annie Sloan French Linen, Annie Sloan Soft Wax, Refurbishing Hinges, Removing Paint from Hardware, removing paint from hinges without chemicals

Apr 5, 2013

Weekend Update-Vintage Style!

By countrydesignhome · Leave a Comment

This weekend is gonna be fun for vintage and antiques shopping! Loads of pickin’ places to choose from, so this week’s High Five goes to Antiques and Flea Market Finds! On the south shore of Boston, the weekend shops at WinSmith Mill Market in Norwood (recently featured on Channel 5’s Chronicle) are open, as usual, but this weekend also marks the return of the Vintage Thymes Monthly Market! Open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, they have restocked their shelves and are ready to sell!

Here is a pic from Beach Cottage Living’s new booth in the Vintage Thymes Market-great soft colors and fun beachy stuff-now if only we could have some beach weather around here…

This Sunday, Todd Farm in Rowley is opening for the season, cold weather be damned!

For those of you unfamiliar with Todd Farm, it is like a smaller slice of Brimfield heaven on the north shore of Boston. Hundreds of vendors, selling everything from old furniture to vintage guitars and just loads of fun junk and stuff. Well worth the trip up Rte 1a, but better go early- they open at 5am and they are only open on Sundays!!

And lastly, the Guerilla Staging Competition at the Mill 77 Trading Company in Amesbury begins tomorrow!

Yours truly will be participating as a team member of “Mother Knows Best”. This is a first annual event to benefit “Our Neighbors Table“, so it should be a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. 40 minutes to design a room using only the available props on hand is most definitely a challenge, but they do have some really nice props! I will be blogging and tweeting about it, unless of course, we come in last place : (

Have a great weekend everyone! Hope you “pick” something fun to do!! Susan

Filed Under: The 3 R's Recycle, Re-Furbish, Re-Love · Tagged: antiques shopping, collectibles shopping, Mill 77 Trading Company, pickin', Todd Farm Rowley, vintage shopping, WinSmith Mill Market

Mar 29, 2013

Design Challenge!!

By countrydesignhome · 4 Comments

Have you ever seen the “White Box Challenge” on HGTV?! Do you ever watch design shows and think “I could do a better room than that!” Well, now is your chance to strut your design and staging stuff and show off your style sense to the world- and you don’t even have to fly to L.A!

Next weekend, April 6 & 7, The Mill 77 Trading Company in Amesbury, Mass will be hosting its first annual Guerilla Staging Competition!

This is a two-day event, where teams of 2-4 amateur design fanatics will compete to win cash prizes or gift certificates, all to benefit Our Neighbors Table in Amesbury.

The idea? There will be a staging area set up (not necessarily a white box, more like a cleared out space, but you get the picture.)

The teams will blindly choose a category- there is a long list of potential ones, including Cats and Dogs, Vintage Kitchen Goods, Mid Century Modern and Make Yourself At Home. Then the team has 40 minutes, that’s right, 40 minutes, to run through the shop, grabbing whatever would work to tell the story and then create a themed space, using only the items available in the store! If you’ve not been to the Mill before, there are so many great things you could use to decorate your space. Room after room of everything from antique dressers and desks, kitchenware and clocks…

to vintage toys, artwork, lighting and sports memorabilia.

The event will be video-taped and the show-stopping rooms will be photographed for publicity and online voting. You can sign up online, its only $10 per person, and remember, the proceeds go to a great cause!

I’m a member of the team “Mother Knows Best”- two moms and their daughters who love to decorate, have fun and win money : ) So sign up today for your chance to be a design star- you never know who might be watching! Have a great weekend everyone! Susan