2014 – Page 11 – q is for quandie

fab furniture photo studio, phase one.

Published on July 6, 2014July 5, 2014 by Quandie11 Comments

The potting shed is well on its way to becoming a fab photo studio!

First up, I scraped the existing pink walls and then used the hose to power wash the interior.

At that point, I realized that there was yet more scraping to be done. Sigh. I hate prep work.

Next came two coats of white over everything.

This is some serious whiteness.

Time to add some interest to the floor. I contemplated a damask stencil, but in the end I just had to go with my standby fave, a diamond pattern.

Out came the tools of the trade.

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t like to tape when I paint a floor. The taping takes so much time, and you go through so much tape. You also have to deal with bleed thru. Of course, you could tape it all, then paint with the base color again to prevent paint bleeding under the tape. But, then that is another step as well. Personally, I’d rather just draw the pattern on the floor and paint it in freehand. I have a pretty steady hand for this, but a good angled brush makes it fairly easy. Also, it really doesn’t have to be absolutely perfect in here.

I started by finding the exact center of my floor, and then I started measuring out from there, using a square to keep the lines nice and straight.

If you look closely, you can see that I originally drew a smaller square, but then decided I wanted them a little larger.

After several hours of back breaking work (seriously, I am getting too old for crawling around on the floor for 4 hours), I have a fab floor that I totally love!

I think this is going to make an awesome backdrop for furniture photo shoots. As I have found with my grey and white striped walls in the house, pretty much any color furniture looks great with this combo. And on the rare occasion when it just doesn’t work, I can always throw a rug down.

Just for kicks, I decided to do a trial run photo shoot.

As I hoped, the studio does work like a big walk in light box.

So far, so good. Next up, Ken and I came up with a great solution for that back window. We’re going to work on it next week.

I also am revamping the cabinet that will go back in here and contain my photo props. Stay tuned!

Sue’s pop up vintage sale.

Published on July 4, 2014July 3, 2014 by Quandie7 Comments

Are you headed up north for the holiday weekend? Maybe to your lake home? or your cabin in the woods?

If so, lucky you! If not, you are also in luck because Sue is having a pop up vintage sale!

On a whim she decided to host a small sale at her house in her fabulous dining room … you remember her fabulous dining room right?

Well, now you have a chance to see it up close and personal with the added benefit of lots of lovely things for sale.

And I am guessing that you could easily take a quick spin around her garden in the back and she wouldn’t mind.

Need some ironstone?

Maybe some white platters?

Or perhaps some fabulous vintage linens?

This floral oil painting is simply gorgeous (please squint a little to try and ignore the reflection of me in my striped jacket taking this photo!)

There is some black to punctuate all of the white (and oh no, more of my stripes, clearly this was a bad clothing choice for taking photos).

And some lovely florals.

I even saw this guy poking his head out from a pile of stuff for sale.

The main reason Sue decided to have this sale was to offer up some of her gorgeous china. The pieces are priced individually, so if you don’t want a whole set, but just some gorgeous plates to eat dinner on … or maybe a lovely set of dishes for serving just dessert, then this is perfect for you. And omg, you can even see those stripes reflected in the platter! Good gracious.

There are several lovely patterns to choose from. Wouldn’t that small bowl be perfect on your dressing table to hold your bracelets?

So, if you’ll be in town this weekend why not plan to swing by Sue’s house on Saturday morning? I’m sure you’ll find something lovely to add to your home, and if nothing else just being near Sue’s gorgeous gardens and lovely home will inspire you!

Here are the details:

so many projects, so little time.

Published on July 2, 2014June 29, 2014 by Quandie16 Comments

Sometimes I bite off way more than I can chew. I have all of these ideas, but no time for the execution. That darn day job really eats into my time.

Remember the front hallway from last winter? We got as far as ripping off the carpet and I meant to get it painted before spring, but the opportunity to participate in Junk Bonanza came up, and it got pushed to the bottom of the list.

Then, I had a brilliant plan to turn the summerhouse into a furniture photo studio. I was optimistic and thought I could have it done before my Carriage House Sale. As if. Instead I barely got the furniture out of there and cleaned up to sell. It’s sitting there vacant at the moment waiting for a paint job.

I’m also debating how to deal with that rear wall. The plan, as you may remember, is to turn this into a furniture photo studio. That back wall will be the backdrop. Do I create a fake solid wall back there? Do I remove the window and create a real solid wall back there? Do I devise multiple interchangeable backdrops? Do I paint the floor, or leave it bare wood and use various rugs in my photos? So many possibilities.

Then there is this dresser that my friend Cathy nabbed for me. FREE. Needs a lot of work!

I am planning to strip it because I really want to give it a MMSMP chippy finish, and I don’t want the current horrid color to show through. I have no idea if it will have been worth so much effort, but aren’t those knobs pretty darling? I’d love to paint this one red, but since my first red dresser still hasn’t sold after 9 months I’m hesitant to do any more red.

I also think it would be fantastic in yellow, so I might just do that.

I also want to revamp this cupboard that was in the summerhouse.

There is a bit of a story behind this guy, I’ll share it with you when I post the before & after. But for now, just know I’m thinking of adding some vintage wallpaper and trying to make the top look a little less fresh.

So there you have it. So many projects, so little time. I hope to get a few things done this week, so I better get crackin’!

garden quickies.

Published on June 30, 2014June 29, 2014 by Quandie3 Comments

You really can’t be impatient when it comes to gardening. In general, I am mostly an instant gratification sort of gal. I want results, and I want them quickly. I love a quickie makeover.

But gardening generally doesn’t work that way. Peonies are a good example of this. If you move them, it can take up to 3 years for them to bloom again! And you know the old adage about perennials, the first year they sleep, the 2nd year they creep, the 3rd year they leap! In other words, it takes a good 3 years for perennials to fill in.

(note: Natalie, as you can see I still have this box, it’s yours if you want it, just email me)

But just because the plants move at their own pace, doesn’t mean we can’t come up with some fun and quick garden themed projects.

First up: Remember the little chalkboard I purchased at my ‘breakfast meeting‘? I’ve given it a new quote, and added it to a crate of vintage garden supplies.

Here is my tip for writing on a chalkboard, especially if you don’t love your own handwriting. Print your design on a piece of paper first, rub chalk all over the back of the paper. Place the paper on your chalkboard and trace the design using a pencil. Then just fill in with chalk. I used a chalk pencil for this one to get the fine lines. Sometimes I use chalk pen also, but I rarely use regular chalk.

Next up: Remember the buckets I also purchased at the ‘breakfast meeting’? A couple of stencils, some black paint and 30 minutes gave me this.

There are many potential uses for these. Add a pot of geraniums or other blooming annuals. Use in your bathroom as a trash can. Stash your cleaning rags inside and store in the pantry. Use to tote your gardening tools around the yard.

The possibilities are endless for a fab stenciled bucket.

Finally, one last quickie project. I purchased a tiny vine that was originally intended for the fairy garden, but in the end there was no room. So I decided to pot it up on its own.

I felt like the clay pot wasn’t really ‘me’ though, so I gave it a paint job. One quick coat of Annie Sloan’s Old White was all it took.

Over time the vine will fill in and this will be a sweet little windowsill garden.

So, take an hour or so on a sunny summer morning while you are waiting for those perennials to fill in and complete your own quick garden project!

big city anniversary.

Published on June 28, 2014June 26, 2014 by Quandie3 Comments

Mr. Q and I celebrated our 25th anniversary in the big city, a.k.a. Minneapolis.

We started our day with coffee and freshly baked cinnamon rolls on the deck. It was a perfectly gorgeous day.

The next stop was a wedding in the park. Have I mentioned that Mr Q is a wedding officiant? I’m sure I have. Anyway, he had a wedding to perform on our anniversary at Minnehaha Falls at high noon.

Perhaps some would have found this the perfect chance to renew our own vows on our 25th anniversary. However, we had already taken the opportunity to renew our vows earlier in the week when our neighbor friend Brooke, age 9, offered to marry us. This was shortly after Mr. Q performed a wedding for Brooke and her balloon animal monkey. It was a lovely ceremony.

I always enjoy visiting the falls, so I wandered around and took photos while Mr. Q took care of business.

If you are local, you know that we’ve had a lot of rain and Minnehaha Creek is overflowing its bed.

Perhaps you also heard about the dude who decided to kayak over the falls recently. Having seen the falls up close and personal, I can confirm that he must be completely cray-cray.

This would have been his view as he started to head over.

Seriously folks. Google it to see video proof. He came out with nothing worse than a bloody nose.

Not only have the falls been in the news with the lunatic kayaker, in addition President Obama visited this week. They were prepping for his visit while we were there. I’m pretty sure he didn’t kayak over the falls though.

After Mr. Q’s wedding was over, we headed into the city proper to have lunch at Hell’s Kitchen, perhaps an ironic choice for an anniversary.

We had the Purgatory Punch, a combination of pinot grigio, lemonade, blueberry and mint infused simply syrup. Sounds iffy, but tastes delicious. After a lovely lunch, we headed back home to the burbs and took a nap. Hey, we were exhausted!

I have to say, our big city anniversary was a great success. It wasn’t the trip to Paris that I had always assumed we’d take for our 25th, but who needs Paris when you have Minneapolis?

breakfast meetings.

Published on June 27, 2014June 26, 2014 by Quandie9 Comments

I’ve mentioned before that Sue and I work together, and occasionally we get called away to important breakfast meetings. These mostly take place on Thursdays or Fridays in the summer, in other words, garage sale season.

We had one of these meetings this week. It’s an annual sort of thing. A small block sale just a mile or two from our office that we watch for every year. We know what their signs look like, and Sue and I both drive right past the corner where they usually place one on our way in. As soon as we got in to work, we both agreed it was time for an important breakfast meeting.

One of the gals who participates in this block sale is an antiques dealer who is slowly selling off her inventory and getting out of the biz. Her prices are always phenomenal and I manage to find lots of awesome stuff.

Wouldn’t this red and green tin be great at Christmas time? It would make an awesome gift filled with cookies and bars. And how much do you love that toy beater with its tiny red handle? One could tie that on with twine to complete the gift.

The chair they are sitting on will be getting a chippy paint job for sure.

These old tennis rackets have the most fabulous patina. For now I plan to keep them as potential future furniture photo shoot props. If they don’t work out for that, they will likely make their way into my next sale. They would be awesome hung on a wall.

I nabbed a pile of old buckets. I love stenciling on these. Some of these will get “French Market”, and some will probably get numbers.

I also picked up some vintage ornaments to add to my collection. You can’t really tell the scale from this photo, but the smaller round ornaments are about the size of marbles. They will be great near the top of my tabletop trees.

And isn’t this “how to speak French” hankie cute? I wish I was going to Paris, how fun to take this handy hankie along for quick and easy translation. It would also be great tucked into a basket with a Paris guide book and maybe some French wine to create a fantastic bon voyage gift, if I knew someone going to France.

I did bring home a few more things that didn’t manage to make their way into the photos. All in all, it was a very successful breakfast meeting!

bluebirds of happiness.

Published on June 25, 2014June 24, 2014 by Quandie7 Comments

Clearing out the summerhouse to make way for a furniture photo studio means getting rid of most of the things I had out there. The cane back sofa sold really quickly on craigslist. The wicker chair was quick to go at my Carriage House sale. But I also had a lot of vintage china out there. I cleaned up most of it and attempted to sell it at my sale, but not much of it sold. Sue is considering holding a shabby chic china sale at her house this summer, but if it still doesn’t sell, I may try to find one of those wedding rental companies that rents out china and see if they need platters. But, in the meantime, I want to hang on to my favorite pieces which are all the ones with a bird theme.

Bluebird china was manufactured by over 50 different companies in the late 1800’s to the mid-1900’s. It was generally used for everyday. How lovely it would be to have an entire set of dinner plates to eat from! But most of what I have is in pretty rough shape. Not something that I’d actually want to use. It’s pretty to look at though.

Not all of my bird china features blue birds though. These pieces have pretty green lovebirds.

This bluebird is tucked in amongst the flowers.

And this one has the most delicate ghost of a landscape behind him.

And here is another sweet pair of lovebirds.

Since I couldn’t bring myself to part with these, I decided to make room for them in the pantry. This dovetails nicely with two new decorating rules that I devised for myself after visiting Sue’s house. Now, I made up these rules for myself. In no way am I suggesting that you should follow them too. You have to make your own rules.

Rule no. 1 – Keep black and white areas separate from colorful areas.

I need this rule because I have a split personality when it comes to decorating. I love cheery, colorful, cottage, vintage farmhouse. But, I also love white/grey colorless French Nordic. The problem is, I can’t seem to pick a side and stick with it, and I don’t think the two work together in the same space.

So, in keeping with this rule, the pantry is now firmly in the colorful vintage farmhouse camp and includes my bluebird china.

Rule no. 2 – Keep collections together and display en masse.

Instead of splitting my chintzware between the summerhouse and the front porch, I now have all of it in the hutch on the porch.

I think both of these areas look more unified now. And the color and patterns make me happy.

Which is not to say I don’t still love the black and white stuff. Next on my list, choosing a spot to devote to these …

Mr. Q

Published on June 24, 2014June 23, 2014 by Quandie33 Comments

Today Mr Q and I are celebrating our 25^th wedding anniversary! Holy mackerel. Right? Where did the time go? Look at us, omg, we look so young and thin!

Mr. Q and I have been through a lot together in 25 years. But I thought that today I would tell you the story of how very close we came to not having these 25 years together. You see, about five months before our wedding, I got that phone call. You know the one. The one you hope that you never, ever get. In the movies, it always comes in the middle of the night or something, but in real life, it comes when you are least expecting it and in the middle of something mundane. In my case, I was at work. The phone rang and it was someone calling from the hospital. My fiance had been in an accident. I should come right away. And I should let someone else drive. That’s all they would tell me. I asked, ‘is he OK?’ … the answer, ‘just come’.

So, my friend Sue drove me to the hospital. When we got there and I told the ER staff who I was, they said “oh, come this way, we have a nice quiet room where you can wait for someone to come for you.” What? A special room? A nice, quiet, special room? A room where they can break the bad news and you won’t freak out all the other patients? Of course, this is what was going through my head, and it wasn’t all that far off.

You see, Mr. Q had been driving home from work, and he was hit by a Mack truck. OK, maybe it wasn’t literally a Mack truck, but it was a large semi-truck. He had a severe head injury and was in a coma. There were really no answers to any of my questions. Will he be OK? No one knows. Will he ever be the same? No one knows. How long will the coma last? No one knows. It was a very scary time for me. Twenty-five years later and I still can’t even write about it without tearing up. Thank goodness for our friends. We have many friends, and every single one of them was invaluable to me during that time. I am still grateful to this day for all they did for me.

In the end, Mr. Q was in a coma for eight of the longest days of my entire life. Once he came out of the coma, he remained hospitalized for many more weeks while he relearned how to speak, eat and walk. As time went by, some people suggested I should delay our approaching wedding, but I refused. I knew I wanted to marry this man and I didn’t want to wait.

Twenty five years later, I know I made the right decision. It definitely hasn’t always been easy, but it has totally been worth it.

I love this man with all of my heart and don’t even want to imagine a life without him. I hope that he has inherited the longevity gene from his mother’s side of the family, whose members regularly live into their 100’s. Because I really want him to stick around for more than another 25 years.

Over the years, Mr. Q has worked very hard on his recovery. He’ll always have side effects from his brain injury. Most of them are not apparent to those who don’t know, but I see them. But he has somehow managed to find a positive side to having a brain injury. He has dedicated himself to helping others deal with their own brain injuries. He has facilitated support groups, served on the board for the Brain Injury Alliance of Minnesota, written columns for their newsletters, been a speaker at various conferences about brain injury and he has had two books of essays about brain injury published. Now, one of his essays has been included in the new Chicken Soup book, Recovering from Traumatic Brain Injuries, and the book is being released today. This particular essay, How I Learned to Walk, is about how the thought of being able to walk back up the aisle with me at our wedding was the motivation that kept him going through his rehab. So it seems especially fitting that the book is coming out on our 25th wedding anniversary!

If you are located in the Twin Cities area, please consider attending the book signing that will be held this coming Saturday in Stillwater by Valley Bookseller. I know he would be thrilled to see a nice turn out for the event.

But as for today, Mr Q and I are going into the big city to celebrate 25 years of marriage! We’ll probably do some walking, and some eating, and some talking. All things that Mr. Q can do just fine now, thank you very much.

sue’s digs, part 2.

Published on June 21, 2014August 17, 2014 by Quandie16 Comments

A visit to Sue’s house would not be complete without a stroll around her gardens. In my opinion, Sue has the perfect spot for gardening. She has a small yard that makes it possible for her to have the entire thing planted in perennials with just the smallest bit of lawn without requiring a gardening staff of 20. This is not to say that she doesn’t have to work hard, I happen to know that she spends many hours keeping her gardens, so let’s take a look and enjoy the fruits of her labor.

You enter through this fabulous arbor.

Pass by the lantern.

And find her lovely oasis full of meandering mossy brick paths and gorgeous hostas.

Much like inside her home, Sue’s garden is also serene with a color scheme of mainly white.

Except for the occasional pop of gorgeous color, like in these peonies.

Following the path straight ahead will take you to the screen porch.

You can stop along the way and enjoy a respite in this shady spot.

You may remember that I mentioned that Sue gave me the gargoyle in my garden. She has quite a collection of her own including a gargoyle fountain.

This trellis is arranged on the detached garage wall that borders one side of the garden. Isn’t it clever? It’s just 3 standard trellises arranged in an offset way to create this pattern. I might have to borrow this idea for the side of my carriage house. Is that OK Sue?

Basically everywhere you look in Sue’s garden there is some delightful little detail just waiting to be spotted.

I always enjoy spotting some of the things that Sue has gotten from me over the years, such as this lovely lady.

As we exit back out of Sue’s garden through the arbor, I wonder … do you want to rush out and make a bunch of changes to your own garden as much as I do? Maybe add a couple of fabulous gargoyles? Some brick paths? A lovely statue here or there? Place a comfy chair in a shady spot?

I’m so glad that Sue allowed me to share her house and garden with you here on my blog! If you enjoyed your tour, please be sure to leave a comment and I will make sure that Sue sees it!

sue’s digs, part 1.

Published on June 20, 2014August 17, 2014 by Quandie11 Comments

Sue and I go way back. We have worked together at our day jobs for over 25 years. Sue has been a mentor to me in many ways. She is the one who introduced me to garage sales. She is my partner at the Carriage House Sale, which we have been hosting together for more than 12 years. Quite a few of the plants in my garden have come from Sue’s garden.

Since I get so much inspiration from Sue’s home and garden, I thought it would be nice to share it here with all of you!

Sue and her husband Mike purchased their home 31 years ago this month for the amazing sum of $67,000. Can you imagine that today? It was built in 1950 and is what I think of as a classic post WWII, one and a half story Cape Cod style home.

Every single time I visit Sue’s house I am just in awe. I pretty much drool all over everything. I leave totally inspired and I want to run home and implement her ideas at my own house. I think the thing that I am most impressed by is that Sue knows her style. Every single thing at her house is quintessentially ‘Sue’. This is something that I struggle with myself all the time. Trying to find my style and stick with it, and Sue does this beautifully. So sit back and enjoy, you are about to see just why you don’t need a large, expensive house to make a truly lovely home.

Once you have walked up that garden path above, you’ll enter Sue’s house off the kitchen.

I love the simplicity of Sue’s style. She very much embraces the ‘less is more’ mentality. You might think that these pictures are ‘staged’ for the blog, but they are not. Sue’s house is always this immaculate, and despite that fact that she displays several collections, it never appears cluttered.

And this is a kitchen that belongs to a woman who actually cooks, unlike me. I am quite sure that she uses all of the things in these canisters and bottles! By the way, how much do you love her fab faux-marble subway tile back splash?

You all keep your scoop thingies in a fab mug on a darling little shelf in your kitchen too, right?

One of the recent projects that Sue and her husband have been working on is adding this fantastic wainscoting in the kitchen.

They are planning a table/island on wheels for this area. Something multi-functional that can be moved around.

Sue is wondering if any of you have some suggestions for what to put on that grey wall above? Any ideas?

On the left you can see the glass fronted built in cabinet that houses Sue’s collection of glassware.

Aside from the occasional pop of some fab orange vintage drinking glasses, you’ll find that Sue does not include a lot of color in her house. She likes a very monochromatic look. White, with touches of black and grey and some occasional warmer tones. It gives her home a very serene feel as you can see here in her dining room.

The Minn Coaches sign is off the side of a bus. You can’t see the size very well here, but it is quite large and fills up one wall.

She has this beautiful relief over her fireplace.

And if you look up, you’ll find this gorgeous medallion on the ceiling.

I am happy to report that Sue does own a quandie original! I painted this buffet for her back before I discovered milk paint or chalk paint.

Isn’t it a beauty?

Sue gets inspiration from Country Living and Martha Stewart Living magazines. But she also says that her first stop every morning is q is for quandie! So maybe this inspiration thing is a two way street.

Let’s move on to Sue’s bathroom. It isn’t fancy, there isn’t a separate room for the toilet, double sinks or a jacuzzi tub, but it is very charming. Ultimately Sue wants to replace the wainscoting in here with the same style they just added to the kitchen.

I have copied her idea of simply hanging a vintage linen in the window in my own bedroom. The light coming through is so lovely, and you can really admire the stitch work this way.

I love this clock that she tricked out in her signature black and white, and her shabby white mirror frame.

If you look really closely at the bottom shelf of the clock, you can see a fantastic picture of her twin boys when they were young.

Another thing that I have copied from Sue, and you can too, is that she doesn’t let herself be boxed in by a room’s official function. Her dining room is located in what would have traditionally been the living room. And she has turned her second bedroom into a cozy TV room.

The TV hangs out on this fab vintage buffet that Sue painted herself.

Her black & white housekeeper’s box is also one of my faves.

Moving on to Sue’s master bedroom.

She added a little more warmth to the walls in this room with a lovely pale caramel color. I love the way all of her artwork plays off the wall color.

On the wall opposite the bed is this cupboard from IKEA. It is one of the few items in Sue’s house that isn’t second hand. Sue and Mike have added molding at the top to make it look built in.

We are now going to venture downstairs to the basement. I just popped my head into the laundry room because I especially wanted to share her galvanized wall. Last summer I purchased a load of old corrugated metal roofing to add to my summer house, and Sue used the leftovers on her laundry room wall. She also made some fab signs. And even the way she stores her laundry products is attractive!

Sue also has a family room in the basement. Perfect for chilling with friends.

Nearly everything in Sue’s house came from a garage sale or thrift store. Including this absolutely gorgeous guy that resides down here.

Every time I see this one I am green with envy. Isn’t it beautiful?

There is a TV hidden away in this fabulous antique cupboard.

Sue likes to joke that every time her husband takes a fishing trip, he comes home to find that something else has been painted. I think this oak cupboard is the last remaining unpainted piece in Sue’s home. It’s possible her husband has given up fishing to protect it! Or will he come home one day to find it painted … it remains to be seen!

I hope you have enjoyed taking a tour of Sue’s home and that you have been as inspired by it as I am. Stop back in tomorrow for a tour of Sue’s really gorgeous gardens!