2014 – Page 9 – q is for quandie

succulents are the new black.

Published on August 6, 2014August 2, 2014 by Quandie15 Comments

In the last couple of years it seems like succulents have become very trendy. There are so many varieties, and the colors and textures are pretty fab.

So I admit it, I jumped on the succulent bandwagon, but in a small way.

I love rusty old metal toolboxes, don’t you? I decided this one would make the perfect container for some succulents. First, I stenciled my house numbers on it. I used my Cricut machine and made my own ‘stencil’ using contact paper. After cutting out the numbers, I just removed them and kept the rest of the contact paper. I adhered it to the metal toolbox, and then just used white spray paint to paint the numbers. I thought it would hold up well against the elements since this planter stays outside in the summer. This is its 3rd summer, and as you can see it’s getting pretty rusty, but the paint has held up well.

I punched some holes for drainage in the bottom of the toolbox using a large nail and a hammer. I just pounded the nail through the metal in several different spots. Fancy people might use a drill for this part of the process, but the nail and hammer worked pretty well. Your planters especially need drainage if they are going to be outside.

I keep this on the deck between my lounge chairs (and that is one of my Annabelle hydrangeas back there behind the chairs).

This is an awesome spot to sip a glass of wine and look at some of my favorite decorating books.

The pillow covers came from Restoration Hardware, and I bought them on clearance. I don’t usually pay Restoration Hardware prices for stuff unless it’s on sale. This patio furniture came with some very blah pillows when I bought it, so it was nice to upgrade them to something a little more ‘me’. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I am completely obsessive about not leaving the cushions out unless we are using them. But hey, we’ve had this furniture at least five years now and the cushions still look great and this is why!

How about you? Have you jumped on the succulent bandwagon and planted some of your own?

mid-century meets vintage.

Published on August 4, 2014August 3, 2014 by Quandie14 Comments

I picked this nightstand up at the Highland Park garage sales. It was pre-prepped for me, meaning the person selling it had intended to refinish it herself, but she never completed it. She had sanded it and removed the knobs (unfortunately, she didn’t have them anymore).

It was so nice of her to take care of the boring parts of the process for me! All I had to do was focus on the creative, ie. fun, part.

A while back I made a trade with my friend Michelle. I found some darling mid-century Italian tole wall sconces at a garage sale that I knew would be perfect for Michelle, and I had been admiring a roll of fab mid-century wallpaper that she had stashed in her studio. An easy trade.

What I love about this wallpaper? The colors are perfect, aqua, pink and white with that little touch of metallic gold and black. Feminine, without being flowery. Geometric all-over pattern that isn’t difficult to line up. It’s perfect for my needs. I was hanging on to it just waiting for the right mid-century piece to use it on. And I knew this nightstand was it. So let’s pop into the photo cottage and see how it turned out!

Yep, pretty fab, right?

I painted this with Annie Sloan’s Provence. Then I added the wallpaper to the back of the cubby area, and the front of the drawer.

A couple of my friends really pushed me to find a more classically mid-century knob for this piece, but after perusing Etsy and finding the knobs I liked to be rather pricey, I opted to go with some vintage milk glass knobs that I already had on hand. They aren’t typical mid-century. They were not stark white, but had a bit of an aqua tint.

Classic mid-century base.

I think the combination of the very mid-century style of the nightstand, the mid-century wallpaper and vintage milk glass knobs comes together nicely to create a ‘mid-century meets vintage’ look.

I’ll leave you with one last b & a.

What do you think? A good combo of mid-century and vintage?

golden oldies.

Published on August 3, 2014August 2, 2014 by Quandie18 Comments

Since deciding to spend Saturday sitting beside my bff’s pool drinking special Fresca’s (that’s Fresca with vodka, don’t knock it til you try it, it is very refreshing), I’ve been feeling guilty because I don’t have any fabulous new content for the blog. I have several projects underway in the Carriage House, but none are quite finished. I didn’t want to bore you with another gardening post (although I do have one coming soon). So I came up with a brilliant plan! I’ll begin a new ‘column’ on the blog sharing some of my furniture rehabs from the pre-blog days.

I’m starting with this darling radio cabinet that became a wine cabinet.

Unfortunately, prior to the blog I often neglected to take before pics. But this was your basic gutted radio cabinet. It was empty inside and was open in the back. Originally there would have been a huge radio inside (‘cuz back in the day, they were huge. Remember when we thought boomboxes were portable, ha!)? I think there may have been a turntable inside as well because the top opened.

I bribed Ken into helping me with this one, probably with wine. He built the shelves which were modeled after the wine storage in my pantry (which he also built). He was able to tuck them into place with the top off. Once that was done, he attached the top permanently using dowels and glue.

I tested this out and one could store over two dozen bottles of wine in here. Not bad.

I used one of my fave stencils on the front.

Back in the day, I mainly painted with homemade chalk paint. Basically flat or satin latex mixed with Plaster of Paris and a little water. I had great success with it, and I still use it some times. It won’t give you the chippyness of milk paint, but it is budget friendly and you have endless choices for color.

I love the detail at the bottom of this cabinet. It needed to be glued up a bit when I got it.

So the next time you see a beat up radio cabinet at a garage sale (or heaven forbid, at the curb), think outside the box and turn it into wine storage!

a water feature.

Published on August 1, 2014July 31, 2014 by Quandie17 Comments

Personally, I think adding a faux pond to your garden is extremely hard to pull off. So, I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical when my neighbor Karen (a.k.a. nnK) told me she was putting in a pond. They just often tend to look … well … fake.

I should have known better.

She insisted it would look good, and she was right. Sometimes on really hot days I am tempted to dangle my feet in this pond. I keep telling her she should have made it just a tad bigger so I could float a lounge chair in there.

The Tiger Eye sumac in the back is perfect. The way it sort of overhangs the rocks and water looks very natural to me.

She’s got quite a few fish in the pond. And luckily this particular water bird can’t really eat them.

I think part of the reason nnK’s pond looks so natural is because she used field rocks and tried to make it look like a typical Minnesota pond, not like some sort of mountain stream or waterfall.

Another thing working in her favor are her plant choices. They all look native, and there are lots of them. Sparse plantings would not look as lush and fabulous.

I love the way she has moss and other plants growing around the rocks.

If I paid attention, I’d be able to tell you how she added a bog to help filter the water and how that works, but when she tells me that stuff I just nod my head a lot and pretend like I understand.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, I’m pretty sure the fish come in the house for the winter. She could add a small heater and leave them in the pond, but she says that would cost a small fortune, so she just has a giant fish tank in the basement for them.

If anyone is thinking about adding a pond, nnK is a great resource. Let me know and I’ll hook you up.

the master bedroom.

Published on July 30, 2014July 29, 2014 by Quandie17 Comments

I’ve held off on showing pics of my master bedroom on q is for quandie simply because when I look at it, I see all of the things I want to change. You see, the last time I updated the room I had some cockamamie idea that mixing vintage and space age would be a sophisticated juxtaposition of old and new. Maybe it would have, if I had done it well … but instead I just put in some stainless steel modern fixtures. I liked it for a while, but it grew old quickly. I’ve removed a lot of the modern, but I still need to make some more changes.

But recently I decided, what the heck, I’ll share it anyway. A lot of the changes I want to make are probably a ways down on the priority list. It could be awhile. So, I’ll show it to you as is.

Technically, the Q casa is a story and a half. For those of you not up on house lingo, this means my upstairs is not a full story and all of the rooms have these quaint slanted ceilings. I feel like this picture makes them look really low, but they aren’t. Mr. Q and I are both tall, and we don’t hit our heads while getting into bed or anything like that.

I would love to do something with this wall behind the bed to make it more of a feature wall. Perhaps add an all over stencil, a fabulous wallpaper, or even a wood plank wall. Of all of these options, a stencil would be easiest and cheapest, a wood plank wall would be most fabulous, but least likely to ever get done. And seeing as my bff spent many hours helping me strip not one, not two, but 3 layers of old wallpaper from this room, she might want to cause me bodily harm if I decide to wallpaper again!

I’d also like to paint the sleigh bed. I know it would be gorgeous painted, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. Before I paint the bed though, I’d rather paint the armoire, and add a stencil to the door.

One of our big splurges back when we were relatively new homeowners was the ‘bedroom set’. Back in the day, you got a set of all matching furniture. Those of you who have read my blog for a while know how I feel about this now! Matching is bad! Mixing is good!

I ditched the matching nightstands that came with this set, and replaced them with vintage pieces that are both painted a pale grey, but otherwise are quite different in style. ‘His’ is a Swedish spoon carved commode that belonged to my grandparents, ‘hers’ is a curvy legged table.

I’ve always thought I should paint the wood parts of the lamps white. Another small project that I never quite get to.

Meanwhile, I love my bedding, which came from H & M Home. I was so happy when we were finally able to get their home products in the U.S.

This turquoise bench lives at the foot of the bed. I painted it several years ago. It’s quite handy for piling up clothes that I don’t feel like putting away.

I could use an area rug on the floor to add a little more coziness to the room. We’ve had several different versions of rugs in this room off and on. It’s actually a very large room, so it’s not cheap to get a rug that fills it up properly, and that’s just not at the top of the priority list right now.

Oddly enough, the master bedroom is the room in my house that gets the absolute best light. It faces northwest, but with 3 big windows there is always plenty of light in here. Probably slightly wasted on a bedroom of all rooms.

See that door back in the corner? Yep, that’s my closet. And it is small. Want to live in a 100+ year old house? Then be prepared to get creative when it comes to such things. I only keep my current season’s clothes in there, and only my clothes. Mr. Q gets a closet in another bedroom (which he uses as a study), and I get the guest room closet for my off season clothes.

I’m not entirely happy with my current ‘artwork’ in the bedroom either. Basically I have taken the maps from the back of a vintage dictionary and framed them in basic white IKEA frames.

I would love to change these out for something with more presence. These are OK, but not fabulous.

Next to the armoire is my jewelry station.

I used to keep all of my jewelry (and let’s face it, I love costume jewelry) in one of those standing jewelry boxes. The problem was, I couldn’t see it at a glance and many days I just didn’t even take the time to wear it. So I came up with this plan to keep my jewelry in plain view and right next to the door. As I leave my bedroom in the morning, I am visibly reminded to grab some jewelry!

The earrings are on an old window screen, the bracelets and rings are in two old metal drawers that are attached to the wall, and the necklaces are held by old wooden spindles that are screwed into the wall.

Sadly, it seems that master bedrooms are sometimes that last room that gets much sprucing up because the public at large rarely sees it. One of these days I will give it the attention it deserves … then again, I might rather spend the money on a trip to a tropical island in winter …

color blocked.

Published on July 28, 2014July 27, 2014 by Quandie26 Comments

Usually when I mention to co-workers or acquaintances that I buy furniture on craigslist and fix it up, they make a pained face and mention serial killers. As if it is somehow a horrible prospect to them that I would actually go to stranger’s homes on a regular basis.

The reality (for me at least) is that 99.9% of the people I have met via craigslist have been super nice, friendly folks. Maybe it is because we’re talking vintage and antique furniture here. Probably not a lot of wackos out there selling grandma’s old dresser (knock on wood, literally).

None the less, I practice ‘safe craigslisting’. I always have someone with me when I go to purchase an item, either Mr. Q or my neighbor nnK in a pinch. I also always make sure that someone else is around when I am having a buyer over to see a piece that I have finished.

Sometimes we just really enjoy the people we meet via craigslist, and the seller of this mid-century dresser was one of those people. He was scrupulously honest about the condition of the dresser. He had the dresser pulled out of the garage and ready to go when we got to his house, which was immaculately maintained, by the way. He and Mr. Q had a great time quoting old ’80’s movies. We also learned some interesting stuff about his neighborhood off McKnight Road in St. Paul that was originally developed for employees of 3M, or as those who remember it from back in the day, ‘the mining’.

It was really just a pleasant way to spend a part of the evening, and as a bonus I got to come home with this.

Fun, right?

How many of you out there are mid-century fans?

I’ll admit, I’m not really a fan in so far as I will probably never do mid-century in my own home. That being said, I love the look in other people’s homes.

I took some inspiration from pinterest and tried some color blocking on this one. I was going to use my standby fave color, aqua, but then I saw a dresser painted in grey, yellow and white and decided to venture a bit outside my normal color comfort zone. And I LOVE it!

I revamped this with a mishmash of products. The grey is an ‘oops’ paint from Home Depot. It was $2. I mixed it with plaster of paris and water to create my own chalk paint. I wanted a deep, rich grey and this one was perfect. The yellow is a Behr sample. I could have used the MMSMP in Mustard Seed Yellow because they are very close to the same color. In fact, I could have done this entire piece in MMSMP using Trophy for the grey and Linen for the white. However, I definitely didn’t want this one to get chippy, so I opted for homemade chalk paint for the yellow as well, and Annie Sloan’s Old White for the top two drawers.

I used 3 different waxes on this one too. Never let it be said that I am not detail oriented, and possibly a bit picky about my results. The grey is waxed in a custom mix of dark Briwax and clear paste wax (the cheap stuff, SC Johnson). The dark wax gave a little more depth to the grey and reduced the blue tint a bit. The yellow is waxed in clear SC Johnson. For the white however, I have found that you have to pull out the big guns to avoid yellowing your whites, and that is Miss Mustard Seed’s clear furniture wax. Not a bit of yellowing with that one.

I had considered staging this one with some fab mid-century stuff borrowed from some friends, Mike and Meg. They have the most fabulous ranch home that is completely decked out in classic mid-century modern. Even all of their poolside patio furniture is collector quality mid-century. But in the end, I was too impatient. I wanted to catch the light in the photo cottage while I had it, so I staged it very simply with some of my own stuff.

The water color was drawn by my grandfather. I have a pair of his watercolors, and they are on the list of stuff I’ll never part with. The book, Welcoming Home: Creating a House that Says Hello, was written by a friend, Michaela Mahady. Her husband, John, and Mr. Q are coffee shop buddies. Michaela is an architect at SALA and does gorgeous work. She and John also do beautiful stained glass work through their Pegasus Studio.

But, I digress. The color blocked mid-century modern dresser was a fun departure from my usual style and I really enjoyed the process. And it looks great in my photo cottage, don’t you think?

So, mid-century, are you in or out? Grey, yellow and white? You love it, or it’s not your cup of tea?

sweetie jane cabinet.

Published on July 27, 2014July 27, 2014 by Quandie19 Comments

Remember the fab little doll sized bow front cabinet that I purchased earlier this year at a garage sale?

Well, I decided to give it a paint job. It was kind of sweet, but I knew it would be much more magical with a little paint.

I’d been admiring a milk paint color by someone other than Miss Mustard Seed … gasp … there, I said it out loud. Not that I don’t love Miss Mustard Seed, but Sweetie Jane by Sweet Pickins Milk Paint just kept catching my eye. It looked like that perfect vintage shade of blue green. So I sent away for some. Since the very first piece of furniture I painted with Miss Mustard Seed milk paint was this miniature hutch …

I decided to repeat the experience with Sweetie Jane and this miniature cabinet.

The product itself is very similar, a powder that comes in a little resealable package, mix it with water and so on. And here is the finished product.

At this point, you might be thinking, ‘hey, aren’t those the same color?’ and it’s a fair question. The color is pretty close to Miss Mustard Seed’s Eulalie’s Sky. But the Sweetie Jane has just a touch more green in it. At the end of the post I’ll show a picture of these together and you can see the subtle difference in color.

I filled this little cabinet with some of my vintage clocks to show that these can make great display pieces. They don’t have to be used as toys, or filled only with miniatures.

You may remember that this cabinet was missing its shelves when I bought it. Ken cut new ones out of cheap 1/8″ hardboard. I painted them, and then added some vintage wallpaper to them.

You can’t see them in any of the pictures so far, but this little cupboard has lights inside.

There is one over each shelf. However, the wiring to these lights is some sort of flat tape with a connector that I don’t recognize. I have no idea if I could find the right kind of adapter to actually plug it in.

I haven’t decided the fate of this cabinet yet. I may keep it, due to my fascination with all things miniature. Or I may sell it. Depends on my mood on any given day … well, and it also depends on whether or not I can find a spot for it.

Perhaps I should line up my miniature cupboards and keep them on the front porch.

What do you think?

P.S. Jennifer has featured my home today on her blog, Town and Country Living! Check it out!

the annabelle.

Published on July 25, 2014July 24, 2014 by Quandie18 Comments

At the Highland Park garage sales last weekend, I couldn’t help but notice how many homes had beautiful hydrangeas in their landscapes. I also noticed they were all Annabelle’s (H. arborescens). Up until not terribly long ago, Annabelle’s were really one of the only hydrangeas that would bloom reliably well in Minnesota.

You know those huge gorgeous blue hydrangeas (H. macrophylla) like these, grown by Danielle of Finding Silver Pennies?

from Finding Silver Pennies.com — photo from findingsilverpennies.com

Yeah, those don’t grow here. Well, you might be able to get them to grow, but they definitely won’t flower much. I’ve always been so envious of southern gardeners that could grow these!

Several years ago a new variety of H. macrophylla came out, the Endless Summer. It blooms on new wood, unlike the older versions and therefore is supposed to bloom in colder climates. We all rushed out to buy them. I put in two, nnK put in a whole row of them, Sue put several in her garden also. But honestly, they don’t do all that well either. This year I have a grand total of three blossoms on mine so far. Do any of you other northern gardeners have better luck with them?

In the excitement over finally having blue and pink hydrangeas rather than just white, I kind of forgot about my old Annabelle’s. I moved one of them out behind the Carriage House into the cutting garden. But after seeing so many of them in Highland Park, I realized I need to move some front and center again. Maybe put one or two next to the potting shed.

I moseyed out behind the carriage house to the cutting garden to see if my Annabelle was doing well back there, and look!

Completely covered in flowers, despite a total lack of care on my part. These will look amazing for quite a while. Then the flowers will dry and I will use them in my winter window boxes. Sometimes these traditional old fashioned varieties are just the best. That’s probably why they became so popular in the first place.

I may never be able to grow a huge hedge covered in blue hydrangea blossoms, but for now, I’m going to enjoy the more subtle beauty of the Annabelle. At least until the Limelight’s (H. paniculata) start blooming!

ken’s hat.

Published on July 23, 2014July 20, 2014 by Quandie7 Comments

I was chatting with my handyman/neighbor Ken the other day about vintage stuff. He has an old portable manual typewriter that he still uses! I was explaining that I’d love to borrow it sometime to stage a desk, and he said “would you ever want to use a Laurel & Hardy hat?”

Huh? A Laurel & Hardy hat? What is that?

Well, it’s a Derby or Bowler of course!

This belonged to Ken’s grandpa. As I love to remind Ken, he’s ‘getting up there’ himself, so I imagine his grandpa hasn’t been around to wear hats for a long time. I googled it and read that this hat style was popular from the 1850’s through the 1920’s.

The hatbox still has the postal label on it and a C.O.D. price of $5.98. C.O.D. I bet there are a few of you out there that don’t even know what that is. Cash on delivery. Can you imagine having something sent to you this way now, where the postman has to collect the money from you?

And here is a picture of Ken’s grandpa (on the left) in the hat!

Well, I’m kind of assuming it’s the same hat. Ken isn’t sure. But unless his grandpa had several Bowlers, it’s probably the same hat.

Anyway, of course I told Ken that I would love to borrow this sometime to stage a dresser or armoire.

Meanwhile, I took a few photos of it and then a few more with the pink hat stand I bought at an estate sale for my friend Michelle. Since Michelle has a millinery background, I knew she’d love a vintage pink hat stand.

Ken however thought the pink hat stand was ALL wrong for his granddad’s hat!

I think it’s kind of fab, don’t you?

french linen sideboard.

Published on July 21, 2014July 20, 2014 by Quandie18 Comments

My very slapdash on line research suggests this would be a Duncan Phyfe style sideboard. Seems logical. It has that neoclassical vibe that characterizes Duncan Phyfe. I’ve seen a few sideboards like this on craigslist, but either they are priced far out of my reach, or someone else snatches them up ahead of me. So when nnK sent me a link to this one, I acted on it promptly and arranged pick up for the same day.

Luckily Mr. Q took one of his strong manly heavy lifting type friends (OK, really he might be his only manly heavy lifting type friend) to pick it up because they had to carry it down a narrow staircase! And since I have now had to move it a few times for very short distances, I appreciate that I did not have to attempt to get it down some stairs. It is very heavy and large.

It has that one flaw on the upper right drawer where a hunk of veneer is ripped off. Otherwise, it was in quite good condition. The major problem with this sideboard is that the original finish is hopelessly outdated. Am I right?

So I gave it an Annie Sloan makeover. A simple paint job in French Linen.

Such a gorgeous shade of grey. Nice and warm, not too dark, not too light.

I even painted the insides of the two side cupboard areas.

I sanded the top a bit to make sure it was smooth, and it feels like silk now.

I staged this one quite simply with just an orchid in a white pot that I just purchased for 50 cents at a garage sale (the pot, not the orchid). The orchid is actually from Home Depot and cost $12.99. I added a stack of my Jeanne d’Arc magazines and the fabulous old binoculars that I purchased at a garage sale earlier this summer.

Sometimes I struggle between finishing something in a way that I know will appeal to a broader audience and will find a buyer more easily and finishing something in a way that is creative and unique. I vacillated between those two choices with this one. I thought about putting a stencil on either side door. I thought about a two toned paint job, and I even considered stripes on the drawers. In the end, I decided that a simple paint job would help keep this piece marketable. I also felt like it had enough ornamentation on its own and didn’t need a fancy treatment.

Likewise, I simply cleaned up the drawer pulls and put them back on. I always hesitate to spray paint hardware because I’m not convinced that it stands the test of time. I think it scratches too easily and doesn’t necessarily wear all that well. In a pinch, if the hardware is a horrible color, I’ll resort to oil rubbed bronze spray paint. Also, I’ll paint hardware with chalk paint or milk paint if I intend for it to be chippy. I think this hardware works well as is though, so I left it alone.

I’ll leave you with a final ‘after’ shot.

Anyone in the market for a Duncan Phyfe style sideboard in French Linen?