Featured Artists Colleen and Mitch of Rustic Northern Retreat

I admit that I have a soft spot for any husband and wife team.  Since my husband Andrew and I work together daily on our art and websites, I understand the great highs and great stresses that it causes a couple….maybe this is why I was so excited to learn about Colleen and Mitch Dorazio, a husband and wife team that are living their personal dream and creating amazingly fun art for your home!

Colleen and Mitch have been married for over 29 years.  They were never blessed with children and instead keep the four legged kind, a 19 year old Lhasa Poo, a potbellied pig named Libby and a 23 year old parrot named Freddy.  In addition to this, they also care for Colleen’s mentally challenged sister.

After a number of years at the Ford Motor Company, the economy hit home.  Mitch took a retirement package and they packed up and moved everyone to a stunning 30 acres property in Northern Ontario, Canada; full of walking trails and a spring fed pond.  They love to spend hours walking the land and watching the stunning natural beauty that surrounds them as well as hanging with another sister and her family who lives nearby.

Since you can’t spend all your time walking trails, this dynamic duo found a new love in creating and Rustic Northern Retreat was soon born.  Taking reclaimed wood they began creating furniture for their own home as well as setting out to decorate all our homes in Rustic Country style with a sense of humor thrown in.

Colleen has learned a few things about business after helping her parents run their business.  She advises that if it is your dream, don’t walk away.  She and her husband took a leap of faith when they moved to Canada but they are loving every minute of it!

Check out this darling shop full of wood signs, box sets, nesting boxes and wood accent items on Etsy and you will see what I mean.