Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

 Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger is a feature done each Saturday that introduces you to a blogger you may already know or a new blogger for you to get to know. This feature gives you a peak into the personal life of the blogger.  Getting to know the special person behind the beautiful blog.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland so enjoy getting to know these talented bloggers each Saturday.

Mary from Orphans With Makeup

 Happy Saturday.  Love the week ends and Love that it is Saturday and time for  Spotlight.  This week I have Mary from Orphans With Makeup to feature.  Mary is one of our Northern neighbors and lives right outside Montreal.   Mary has a wonderful talented way with furniture reloves.   

So I am excited for you to meet and get to know Mary today.  Enjoy.

Hello new friends,

I’m so thrilled to be guest posting today.  Thank you so much Kris.

My name is Mary Vitullo.   I am a blogger at Orphans With Makeup in Saint-Hubert, Québec, a suburb of Montréal.  As the name implies, my furniture and thrifted finds are my little “Orphans” and my paint is the “Makeup”.  I have always been passionate about home decor and can never seem to quench my thirst for it.  My blog is mainly about repurposing vintage and antique furniture and styling the finished pieces to show them in their best light.

So, a little of where I live….. Saint-Hubert is a 25 minute drive from our beautiful City of Montréal.

Et oui!!  As you may or may not know, French is the official language here in Québec.  So if you were to come visit, French is the main language you would hear.  All of our public signs are in the French language.  Some parts of Montréal, like our Old Montreal, with its cobblestone streets, feels and looks like Old Europe.

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Downtown Montréal comes alive in the summer months with our numerous outdoor festivals.

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Our famous Montreal International Jazz Festival

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About me……..  I am a wife and mother to three (almost adult) boys.  

This family picture was actually taken about four years ago, so my boys are a little bit older.  It is so hard to schedule a family portrait!

I left my job as a Legal Assistant about 8 years ago to be a stay-at-home mom.  A few years ago i had an odd piece of furniture to sell.  I thought the only way I was ever going to sell that piece of furniture was to style it in the prettiest setting and take beautiful images of it.  That seemed to work and that odd piece sold on the first day of listing it.  That slowly started me thinking of re-purposing furniture and selling them.  At the same time, I wanted to share my passion for decorating on a budget with like-mind people and that’s how Orphans With MakeUp came to be.

One of my first scores was this Ikea sideboard I picked up for $60.00.  I was amazed at what just a little elbow grease and some paint could do.

Some more of my favorite furniture projects.

Pretty in Pink

Re-purposed media cabinet into an armoire.

Robin’s Egg Blue Dresser

Chippy vanity.

Restoration Hardware cane-back chairs.  This was my first commissioned contract.  My client had ordered 4 of these chairs and had them shipped to my home to have them painted White.  At that time, Restoration Hardware did not carry these famous Louis XVI chairs in White.  I like to think that they saw my White version and then decided to now carry them in their line.  Ha Ha Ha!

Creating a stain with vinegar and steel wool.

(A refreshed tea-cart.)

(An elegant grey sideboard.)

(Sometimes you have to get creative when it comes to photographing a plain white table, so why not in the SNOW!)

(My driftwood-look dresser.)

(A dresser now elegant in Black.)

…….and some DIY projects.

(Up-cycled rubber mat to look like antique scrollwork.  I am always inspired by Pinterest.)

(Thrifted serving trays into plate chargers.)

So that is a little glimpse of what I do.

Hope you will come by and visit my blog  Orphans With Makeup.  You can also find me on Facebook, Pinterest and Google+

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Thank you Mary for sharing a little about yourself with us.  Please take a few minutes and hop over to check out Mary's blog and Facebook page.  Have a wonderful rest of the week end.

Kris

:)