q is for quandie

mid mod masterpieces.

Published on April 22, 2026April 17, 2026 by Quandie3 Comments

As promised, today I’m sharing my top five mid mod masterpieces.

OK, maybe masterpiece is a bit of an exaggeration! And maybe mid mod is too, now that I think about it. I’m not precisely sure what decades all five of these pieces date back to, but somewhere in the middle of the last century I think.

Let’s take a look and then you can tell me what you think.

No. 5 is the Millennial Pink dresser from May 2018.

Do you remember the Millennial Pink phase? It seemed like everyone was talking about this color at the time. Although in this case, I used Fusion’s English Rose, which I renamed Millennial Pink.

It was the perfect shade of pink for this mid mod dresser.

I gave the drawer pulls a refresh using Prima Marketing Metallique wax in Vintage Gold.

I absolutely love that combo of pink and gold.

No. 4 is this pair of Scandinavian style end tables that I got from my neighbor nnK’s parents in July 2022.

They had a bit of damage on their tops, but the rest of the wood veneer was in good shape, so I opted to just paint the boxes around the drawers using Dixie Belle’s Anchor.

Then I simply spruced up the rest of the veneer with Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta.

No. 3 is this literal trash to treasure dresser from August 2019.

Mr. Q and I picked this up off the side of the road, and it was in fairly rough shape. But after some repairs by Ken the handyman and a little of Dixie Belle’s Bunker Hill Blue I thought it looked quite nice.

This time around I used RustOleum Mirror Finish gold spray paint on the hardware.

No. 2 is the Permanized Duo from August 2018.

Honestly, these were nothing to look at in their ‘before’ state, am I right?

But just look how great they looked painted.

They were both painted in Fusion’s Ash, and inside the little book cubbies on the headboard I used Fusion’s Mustard.

Once again I spruced up the existing hardware, this time with Prima Marketing’s Art Alchemy Metallique wax in Bronze Age.

That was such a fun makeover.

There was a third piece to this set of furniture, and that brings me to my No. 1 mid mod masterpiece … which isn’t really just one piece of furniture but rather many pieces that I painted using the same color … Fusion’s Park Bench.

I used this color on the third piece from the permanized set …

and I also used it when I took another mid mod credenza from this …

to this …

and another from this …

to this …

and yet even another from this …

to this …

This color didn’t just work on the low credenza style of dresser, but also on taller ones like this one from May 2019 …

and this one from January 2018.

I couldn’t pick just one of these Park Bench green pieces to share as my No. 1 mid mod masterpiece, could I?

I have to give an honorable mention to one of the first mid mod furniture sets that I painted, the Vintage Moxie set.

I painted this one way back in 2014 when my blog was just a baby.

The minty color was from Sherwin Williams and was called Aloe, and I didn’t even keep track of what shade of white I used. I was definitely a pretty combo though.

Now it’s your turn, which one of the pieces in this post are your favorite? Leave a comment and let me know!

on second thought.

Published on April 20, 2026April 17, 2026 by Quandie8 Comments

OK, I know I said I wasn’t going to schedule any blog posts while I’m off visiting my mom this week, but then … well, I thought, how about some re-runs?

I was paging through my old furniture makeover posts a few days ago looking for a specific technique to share with someone and I was reminded of some of my favorite pieces, so I thought it would be fun to share some of them with you this week.

I’m going to break them down into three categories: simple paint makeovers, makeovers using transfers, and mid-mod masterpieces.

Today let’s start with the simple paint makeovers.

I think of these pieces as having the best ability to fit into an already existing space. They might still steal the show, but in a subtle way. All of them were achieved with just some paint and some elbow grease. So here we go.

No. 5 is the black bed from August 2018.

Here is the before …

To be honest, looking back at it now I remember that it was quite beautiful even in its ‘before’ state. However, it did require a few repairs, and it also had some missing trim pieces. The finish was rather worn too, but it certainly could have been sanded down and refinished.

But that’s not my thing. I have never been a fan of stripping furniture. So instead I gave it a simple paint job using Dixie Belle’s Caviar.

I distressed the paint job just slightly to make the details really pop.

I finished it off with some of Fusion’s Black Wax.

No. 4 is the Romantic Prairie Washstand from July 2019.

Here is where this one started out …

Your basic primitive-ish washstand.

I stripped the top (I know, I just said I wasn’t a fan of stripping furniture, but I am OK with stripping the occasional flat top), and then painted the body with Sweet Pickins In a Pickle milk paint.

The milk paint did what milk paint does best. It chipped and crackled and ended up looking perfectly aged.

I finished this one off with Fusion’s clear wax.

No. 3 is the Soldier Blue dresser from July 2021.

I loved the details on this piece, but those white knobs were not doing it any favors.

After sending this one over to my neighbor Ken’s workshop for some much needed repairs, I once again stripped the top. Then I painted the body in Homestead House milk paint in a color called Soldier Blue.

This is another of my favorite vibrant milk paint colors.

I replaced those white porcelain knobs with some round wooden knobs that I painted to match.

This piece was finished off with some of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta, which I consider to be the perfect blend of the qualities of wax and hemp oil. It works beautifully over milk paint.

No. 2 is the Bunker Hill Blue Buffet from June 2018.

OK, in my opinion this piece was quite hideous in its ‘before’ state. Something about that sort of ombre stain job just hits wrong for me.

This piece was actually a freebie, but we had to risk life and limb picking it up in the middle of January and carrying it up an icy hill to get it to the van.

Once again, this piece needed some repairs from handyman Ken before I could get around to painting it. I also, once again, stripped the top and painted the body.

This time around I used Dixie Belle’s Bunker Hill Blue. If you’re familiar with Dixie Belle colors, you’re probably thinking ‘wait a minute, Bunker Hill is a bit brighter than that. In fact, if you aren’t a fan of using milk paint, Bunker Hill Blue is a good chalk paint substitute for the Soldier Blue milk paint. But this time around I toned the brightness down with some of Dixie Belle’s Black Glaze.

I also swapped out the knobs for something a little more subtle than the originals.

I added a fun pop of color to the inside of this one with Fusion Mineral Paint in Coral.

No. 1 is the French Wheat Hutch from September 2016.

This was a gorgeous piece of furniture.

But back in 2016 this orange-ish wood stain was definitely not in style. Everything was getting painted back then.

I ended up mixing two different brands of paint together for this piece (because I didn’t have enough of either one to paint the entire thing), Annie Sloan’s French Linen and Cece Caldwell’s Young Kansas Wheat. Of course I called my new color French Wheat. Also, FYI, both of these are chalk style paints and it was fine to mix them even though they are two different brands.

Back in 2016 I was still holding my occasional sales (I quit after this sale in 2016, and then resumed them again in 2024). Anyway, I had already moved the hutch into the carriage house to prep for the sale before taking any ‘after’ photos, so the lighting was pretty poor for photos. I wish I had taken more time to get better photos of this piece because it definitely was one of my favorites.

Instead of the chicken wire inserts that came with the hutch, I added some grain sack style cloth to line those two upper doors.

I just loved all of the details on this piece, those curved sides and that pretty detail at the top.

I hope those of you who have been following me since way back have enjoyed seeing these pieces again, and likewise, I hope some of my newer readers who are being introduced to them for the first time have found this post interesting.

If you have a moment, be sure to leave me a comment and let me know which of these five are your favorite. Or, maybe head over to my ‘fab furniture (before & after)‘ tab and pick out a favorite that I didn’t share here today.

Then come back on Wednesday to see my top 5 mid mod masterpieces!

thrifting in the wild.

Published on April 14, 2026April 13, 2026 by Quandie16 Comments

My friend opK and I headed into the wilds of Wisconsin for some thrifting last week. Well, OK, we were just over in New Richmond, but to me it feels a bit like another world over there.

Anyway, as seems to be the trend lately, it was nearly a complete bust.

We went into one shop where the prices were ridiculously high. The first thing I picked up was a silver salt & pepper set. I was considering adding it to my very small non-collection …

But when I saw the price tag of $85 (yes! you read that right), I put it right back down.

I will admit, I didn’t look closely enough to determine if they were sterling or just silver plate, but even if they were sterling that seemed like an awfully high price for a thrift store. They must be doing their pricing research on Chairish or eBay.

Also, I should note that I personally don’t care whether they are sterling or not even though I know it impacts the value.

I’ve chosen the ones that I have based on how pretty they are and I usually pick them up for less than $10.

We did eventually end up at River Revival Thrift in Star Prairie, and I found a couple of goodies.

Namely an ironstone sugar bowl that is missing its lid, and a vintage book.

I like the sugar bowl as an option for holding things like a handful of old paintbrushes …

but it would also work well for pens, scissors or silverware.

I picked up the vintage book because I thought the title, The Black Cat, would be perfect for Halloween. I love the idea of giving a subtle nod to holiday decorating without being overt and this book paired with some apothecary style bottles works for me.

The only other thing I picked up that day was this pile of books.

River Revival Thrift charges .99 for hardcover books, compared to my local Goodwill where they are $2.49 each. So I grabbed a few to paint up.

I painted the first three books in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth. To do this I simply open the books and place them face down on my worktable (a.k.a. my piano) and paint the covers with a brush. I sometimes can get away with just two coats, but painting the Drop Cloth over a book that is black (or in this case one was yellow) takes three coats.

I don’t do any prep at all, well, unless you count removing the paper dust jackets if they have one. I guess I should mention that just in case anyone is confused.

I also think that a chalk style paint like the Dixie Belle chalk mineral paint is best for this.

Next I added some typography using the I.O.D. Ephemeral Type stamps with VersaFine Clair in in Morning Mist which is a medium grey. I gave the ink a little time to set up, about as long as it took me to do the breakfast dishes.

I followed that up with a gorgeous floral from the I.O.D. Madeleine transfer.

After applying some of Dixie Belle’s clear wax to protect the paint and transfer, I gathered the books together with a pretty purple velvet ribbon.

I then decided to go with black on the 2nd set of three books, so they each got two coats of Dixie Belle’s Caviar.

They also got one of the bouquets from the Madeleine transfer, but rather than stamping them I added some gold text from the I.O.D. Étiquettes gilded transfer.

After adding a coat of wax and another velvet ribbon, this set was ready to go too.

I will likely take these into the shop, but probably not until I return from my next trip to visit my mom which is coming up this week. This time around my sister is joining me. To be honest, we don’t have much planned other than visiting with mom and enjoying the Las Vegas sunshine. Hopefully we can get in a little hiking either around Lake Mead or possibly at Red Rock Canyon.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to come up with any blog posts to schedule in advance, so you won’t be hearing from me for the next two weeks. However, I’ll be returning home to garage sale season and gardening season, plus lots of prep for another Carriage House Sale that I’m planning for June 4 and 5. So be sure to stay tuned!

the deberny box.

Published on April 9, 2026April 8, 2026 by Quandie12 Comments

You may remember that I picked up a trio of metal boxes at an estate sale a couple of weeks back.

The smallest galvanized box on the left was rather unique. It opens to the side.

I knew this one would make for a fun makeover project.

I started with my usual prep of washing with Dawn dish soap and hot water, followed by a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss inside and out.

Next up I gave the inside a coat of Dixie Belle paint in Cottage Door.

the christmas cottage twin room.

Published on April 7, 2026April 6, 2026 by Quandie20 Comments

I’ve finished up another room in the Christmas Cottage to share with you today.

This is the room that I ‘wallpapered’ in some October Afternoon scrapbook paper in a pretty red and mint green plaid (I shared a sneak peek of it last week).

I added the pine flooring from Hobby Lobby here too, but this time I gave it a white wash using watered down Dixie Belle Drop Cloth paint. I used a a ratio of about 1 part paint to 3 parts water. After brushing that on, I wiped away any excess until I got the look I wanted.

By the way, if you’re curious about the difference between white washing, pickling, lime waxing or cerusing, check out the post I wrote back in 2018 about these techniques …

Anyway, moving on.

Next up I decided to add some cushioned window seats.

I have to confess, I didn’t do the neatest of jobs on that, but I think they are good enough. I simply cut out a piece of cardboard to fit and then covered it with some batting and fabric using Titebond Quick and Thick glue. The fabric is a pretty vintage mint green linen tea towel that I cut up. The little pillows came with some bedding that I ordered via Etsy, and you’ll see that bedding in a minute.

Next up I ordered a wardrobe from Miniature Crush.

I’ve painted up a few of these for my other dollhouses, but this time around I decided to go red!

I started with an undercoat of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth which you can see where I’ve distressed some of the edges. Then I added three coats of their Barn Red. I truly did not expect to love this look as much as I do! But this is a Christmas Cottage, and that Barn Red is the perfect Christmas red.

After painting the cupboard inside and out, I sanded lightly using the Dixie Belle 220 grit sanding sponge. I like to use the sponges when I need to use a bit of a delicate touch, like on miniatures. Once dry, I added a coat of DB’s clear wax. I swapped out the simple round knobs that came with the wardrobe for some drop handle style pulls from Miniature Crush.

I followed that up by lining the back wall of the interior in some red and white striped paper (coincidentally, also an October Afternoon scrapbook paper).

Next up I ordered a pair of twin beds from The Modern Dollhouse.

Sure, it was probably a silly added expense to add two beds to this room, but I just love the look of a matched pair of twin beds, don’t you?

I didn’t love the mattresses with their sloppy dust ruffles that came with these beds though …

but as you’ll see in a minute, I ended up tucking those out of sight.

To begin, I painted the beds in a base coat of Dixie Belle’s Pine Cone.

I originally ordered this color for a couple of other projects that I haven’t gotten to yet, but have since discovered that I really like it as a base color under Drop Cloth.

And that’s what I did on this pair of twin beds.

The Pine Cone is the perfect shade of ‘stained wood’ to distress back to under the Drop Cloth.

As you can sort of see in that photo above, I tucked the dust ruffle on the mattress underneath it and then I covered the mattress in some scrap fabric that I had on hand.

This time around I didn’t create my own miniature bedding. I would have, except when I was searching for just the right Christmas themed fabric to use I ended up finding the perfect set of pre-made bedding on Etsy.

It’s mint green and red (to match the plaid wallpaper) with a little pink thrown in which ties into the pink bathroom that is on the floor above. It has sweet reindeer and snow people on it, and it came with those adorable Merry Christmas pillows (plus those pillows that I put on the window seat).

I ordered it from Millie’s Mini Decor and I highly recommend her. My order arrived super quickly and was exactly as pictured.

Next up, as I shared last week, I created some framed ‘art’ for the room.

I started with some unfinished frames that I purchased at Michael’s.

I white washed the frames using the same technique that I used on the floor. Then I cut some thin pieces of balsa wood to fit into the frames and painted them in a solid coat of Drop Cloth. Once dry, I applied the two little snowman transfers shown above from the I.O.D. Kitschy Christmas transfer set.

They were perfect for this room!

With that, I’m calling this room finished!

What do you think?

in the meantime.

Published on April 2, 2026April 1, 2026 by Quandie8 Comments

I’m still plugging away at the Christmas Cottage reno, but I’ve had to press the pause button while I wait for some things to arrive via mail order.

I have three rooms almost completed … but no one room that is ready to share.

So, how about some sneak peeks?

I found some adorable miniature holiday botanical prints on Etsy …

I purchased these as a ‘printable’ which means I can print them over and over if I want to, so I’m sure I’ll print more up for use in my Victorian dollhouse too.

You can see that I’ve also created a wall treatment in this room …

That is from the I.O.D. Lattice Rose paint inlay. I’ll share more about how I did that when I complete the room.

I’ve also wallpapered another room using some October Afternoon plaid scrapbook paper.

And I used the I.O.D. Kitschy Christmas transfer set to create some adorable snowman prints for this room. More on that later too.

I’m waiting for some furniture to arrive for both of these rooms, hopefully I’ll get it soon and can then get them finished.

In the meantime, I pushed the dollhouse aside so that I could work on some other pieces like this really cool metal box.

I will be the first one to admit that it already had a fun industrial vibe, and I could have just left it ‘as is’. However, I find that stuff like this doesn’t really sell well for me but when I spruce them up with some paint and transfers it does.

So, after a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss to make sure my paint would adhere well to the metal, I painted the inside of the box in their Arcadia.

Then I painted the outside in DB’s French Villa.

After the paint was fully dry, I sanded the box with one of Dixie Belle’s 220 grit sanding sponges.

Next up I added some transfers.

The text on the front of the box was left over from the I.O.D. Cosette transfer that I’ve used several times on toolboxes like this one …

I used a segment from the I.O.D. By Any Other Name transfer on the top of the box.

Although both of the paint colors I used on this box were from the Dixie Belle Silk Paint line, so they have a built in top coat, I still gave the box a final coat of DB’s clear wax to protect the transfers.

I’m listing this box on my ‘available for local sale‘ page, so be sure to check there if you’re interested.

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing their products for this makeover.

what happened to junk bonanza?

Published on March 31, 2026March 30, 2026 by Quandie24 Comments

My friend opK and I are waiting with baited breath for garage sale season to begin here in Minnesota. We have several weeks yet to go. There are a handful of neighborhood sales in late April, but our season really kicks off the first weekend in May.

In the meantime, we’ve been trying to find things to do until then like visiting thrift shops and the occasional estate sale. We aren’t finding much these days though.

So last week we decided to head to Junk Bonanza.

If you aren’t familiar, this is an indoor vintage market held in Shakopee, MN. It has been around for a little over 20 years. It was started by Ki Nassauer, but I am assuming she is no longer associated with it (if any of you know differently, leave a comment and let me know).

Back in 2014, I shared a booth at Junk Bonanza with my friend Lori who used to own a shop in Anoka.

Lori has amazing style, and our stuff blended together really well.

I mainly brought painted furniture such as the Union Jack piece above.

I also had quite a few painted and stenciled books.

And Lori always had amazing stuff both in her shop and at Junk Bonanza.

But I did only participate the one time. I still had my day job back then, so I had to take several vacation days off at work to be there. I also had to rent a truck in order to get all of my merch there during the allotted set up time.

Also, if I remember right, the booth fee wasn’t exactly cheap. So in the end, it just wasn’t worth it for me.

All of that being said, the event itself was amazing. There were so many fabulous vendors with really awesome vintage goods. At that time vendors were only allowed to sell vintage items, nothing new or reproduction.

Well, apparently things have changed. This year there were booths selling spices, hot sauce, cosmetics, candles, bath salts, honey, crystals, and bundt cakes.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Nothing Bundt Cakes (have you tried them? the lemon one is my favorite).

I had to give that particular booth a wide berth to avoid binging on bundt cakes!

But I don’t think I should have to pay a $10 entrance fee to buy them.

Also, Junk Bonanza used to be huge with multiple spaces on two floors. But this time there was just one room.

Now, it wasn’t all bad. There were several booths that were fantastic like this one.

And this one.

But there just weren’t enough of them to justify the drive to Shakopee, or the $10 entrance fee.

That being said, I’ve heard that the fall Junk Bonanza is much better than the spring version. Will I go back and give it one more try … well, to be honest, probably not.

How about any of you locals? Do you still attend Junk Bonanza? As for the rest of you, do you have a similar indoor vintage market where you are? And is it still going strong? Leave some comments and let me know!

adding a little bling.

Published on March 26, 2026March 21, 2026 by Quandie12 Comments

Last week I shared the first completed room in the Christmas Cottage and I’m calling it the craft room.

And in that post I gave you a little, bitty sneak peek into the next completed room.

The room is just through that doorway on the right, and I decided to make it a bathroom.

I started with the walls, painting them in the same Pink Champagne that I used in the craft room. Then I pulled out some scraps of subway tile ‘wallpaper’ that were left over from the kitchen in my last miniature project …

I had enough left over to do a half wall in this bathroom.

I also used the same inexpensive ($3.49 per 11″ x 17″ sheet) black and white flooring from Hobby Lobby.

Next up I decided to add some inexpensive fixtures that I found at Michael’s.

I needed to add a little bling to give them some life, so I applied some of Dixie Belle’s gold gilding wax to the faucets. The gold will tie in with a couple of other pieces in the room too.

I also painted the toilet seat with Dixie Belle’s Caviar.

They are small details, but I really think they make the fixtures look slightly more upscale.

After putting the fixtures in place, I had enough room to add the blanket cabinet that I painted up last year in Dixie Belle’s Cottage Door. It has a little more of that gold bling in the form of the I.O.D. Étiquettes gilded transfer on the doors.

Finally I added just a couple more details like a mirror over the sink and a framed floral print. The mirror is one of the few pieces that came with the house.

With that, I’m calling that bathroom completed.

You’ll notice that I didn’t really come up with anything Christmas related for this room, but then not everyone decorates their bathroom for the holidays right?

I think I’ll move on to the 2nd floor next week, so be sure to stay tuned. In the meantime, leave a comment and let me know what you think of the bathroom.

traveling back in time.

Published on March 23, 2026March 21, 2026 by Quandie16 Comments

My friend opK and I did a bit of time traveling last Friday.

It was a gorgeous, sunny spring day with temps near 60° F., so we headed slightly further afield than normal to an estate sale.

After first checking out a small shed and an even smaller little horse barn where we found plenty of spider webs, but not much else, we headed to the house.

Walking into the house felt a bit like going through some sort of magic portal and ending up back in 1976.

It was one of those places with multiple levels where the basement, a.k.a. the rec room, was on the lowest level.

The living room was half a floor up, and the kitchen and dining room were on yet another level. Then there were three bedrooms and a bathroom on the uppermost level. As you were coming up that last set of stairs and the floor was at about eye level, it was impossible to look away from the bright blue and green shag carpeting that was straight ahead.

That is, until you then spotted the wallpaper paired with the quintessential avocado green shag in the room next door.

It really felt surreal. And by the way, is it just me or does that off-center basement style window above the bed seem really out of place?

No 1970’s boy’s bedroom was complete without orange and avocado football player wallpaper.

And I don’t know, but was a carpeted bathroom de rigueur in the 70’s?

Ew.

To really set the scene, I should also note that the former occupants of the home were very obviously smokers and everything was coated in a yellow haze of tobacco. Yikes.

While the house itself was caught in a time warp, the prices were not.

You can always tell when someone has been looking up prices on the internet.

I did some quick research and was able to find that exact dresser on 1st Dibs for $1,500, but most of us know that the prices are 1st Dibs are always unrealistically high.

I did think these mid-mod pieces were pretty cool.

But there was a fairly deep scratch down the front of the low dresser that will be difficult to repair.

And the bigger problem really, as any of us furniture refinishers (or former furniture refinishers) know, is that it will be nearly impossible to eliminate the cigarette smell.

But hey, what do I know? Maybe someone will be happy to shell out $2,100 for the complete set. What do you think? Would you buy it at that price?

As for me, I did find some things to buy and luckily the items I purchased aren’t going to be found on 1st Dibs so I got all three at rock bottom prices.

I brought home three metal boxes; a toolbox, a lunchbox and a small galvanized box, all for $10 total. Not bad.

the right pink.

Published on March 19, 2026March 18, 2026 by Quandie16 Comments

I had a feeling that once I took that first step of getting started on the Christmas Cottage refurb, everything would just start to fall into place.

And sometimes that just takes the right pink.

In this case, it’s Dixie Belle’s Pink Champagne.

It’s a really lovely pale pink, much more subtle than the brighter pinks that the house came with …

Those were more of a Pepto Bismol.

I’ve started on the third floor, and I painted both of those two rooms facing the back (there is a 3rd room on that floor, but you access it from the front of the house) in Pink Champagne. Once dry, I decided to try a technique that I learned from Julie Warren on YouTube. I’m not going to give you step by step instructions here, if you want that please check out her video tutorial here.

But basically, you piece together plain paper to create a template for your wallpaper.

This allows you make cuts and adjustments without wrecking your pricey wallpaper. Then you pull that template off and use it to cut out your wallpaper to fit your wall precisely.

It worked beautifully!

As you can sort of see, I had to cut around some weird stuff on the left side of the ceiling. Plus, it took two sheets of wallpaper to go all the way across, and I was able to get the repeat to work before I cut out the paper. There are a few rooms with funky angles in this house, and now I feel much more confident about wallpapering those rooms too.

I will point out here that the repeat on the wallpaper is not exactly right, by which I mean that you can’t put two sheets of this paper side by side and have the repeat work. You have to move the 2nd sheet up about 2″. That could potentially be an issue if the paper is just tall enough for your room. Just something to keep in mind if you are wallpaper in full size or in 1:12 scale.

Once the wallpaper was in place, I moved on to the flooring. Once again I used the pine wood flooring from Hobby Lobby. It comes in an 11″ x 17″ sheet for $7.49. Fortunately, I ordered half a dozen sheets of this flooring a few months back knowing I would need it for this project because now it’s out of stock online, FYI.

Once again I used the Sweet Pickins Dark Oil Wax to ‘stain’ the floor.

Next up, I decided to add some wainscoting to the lower, vertical portion of that back wall. I used the Mayberry Street wainscoting, also from Hobby Lobby.

It comes in 12″ x 3 1/4″ sheets for $2.49.

Since I wanted my boards to run vertically, I cut two sheets into 3″ tall sections. Then I needed to choose a paint color.

I was pretty sure I wanted white, and you’d think that would be simple, right? But no, I tried out my favorite Drop Cloth first and initially I didn’t think it worked well with the cleaner shade of pink on the walls. So I tested out three other shades of white plus Dixie Belle’s Wicklow Glen, a muted green, just to see if I would like it.

But in the end, I still went with Drop Cloth. I guess I’m just not a fan of brighter shades of white.

Once I had my sheets of wainscoting painted, I realized I had a little bit of an installation predicament. If I just glued them straight to the wall, it would be difficult to get them to line up perfectly and hide any seams. I also needed to add a bit of trim across the top to finish them off, and I thought that would be harder to do in place.

So I ended up cutting a piece of foam core board to fit that back section of wall. Then I constructed that whole wall of wainscoting by gluing everything to the foam core board. It was easy to add the trim and clamp it in place. I also used some of Dixie Belle’s Mud in white to camouflage the seams between each section.

After then adding a final coat of Drop Cloth, it was easy to just pop the whole thing into place.

To add one more fun touch to the room I decided to use a barn style sliding door that I painted up a while back. I shared this door with you a year or so ago in this little vignette …

I hadn’t really found a permanent home for it, so I pulled it out to try in this room and it worked perfectly

I gave the hardware its verdigris look using Dixie Belle’s Patina Paint in Copper with the blue activating spray.

After giving some thought to what the purpose of this attic space might be and how I wanted to stage it, I landed on it being a craft room. And since this is a Christmas Cottage, one might use their large craft table to wrap Christmas presents, right?

I purchased some downloadable mini gift wrap on Etsy, printed it out and then rolled it up into rolls and wrapped a couple of small packages.

The table is one that I already had on hand, but also never found a home for. Since I liked how that Wicklow Glen color worked with the wallpaper, I decided to use it on the base of the table.

The top of the table already had a Drop Cloth wash on it.

The rug and chair were also pieces that I already had on hand.

And with that, I’m calling the first room complete.

I realize that the room looks a little bit bare, but that’s because I definitely do not plan to keep this dollhouse for myself. Hopefully a future owner can expand upon the theme and create a full-on craft room … or whatever else they might want this room to be.

In the meantime, what do you think? Leave a comment and let me know!