small garage sale finds.

Published on by Quandie

Last weekend my friend/picker/garage sale spotter Sue texted early in the morning to give me a heads up on a garage sale that was only two blocks away from my house.

So I ran a comb through my hair, brushed my teeth, threw on a particular undergarment that was necessary for appearing in public, made sure I had some cash in my pocket and headed out.

It was one of those sales where nothing was marked, but the proprietor said ‘everything is for sale, even if it’s nailed down’.  So one of the first things I grabbed was this little wooden box that was hanging above a workbench and had some old plastic shopping bags in it.

I can’t even really say how much I paid for it because I paid a blanket price of $20 for everything I purchased from the sale.  That included this item, a small cheese box that I’ll share in a minute, a dozen floral plates (that I’ll add words to for summer), a vintage nativity set, a wooden bucket, a gingham tray, and a small homemade bench.

So let me show you what I did with this one first.

I painted it in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, and then added part of a Classic Vintage Label transfer to the front.

Easy peasy.

I lined it with some polka dot scrapbook paper too.

Now it’s perfect for containing a non-collection (because I’m in denial when it comes to whether or not I collect things) of old salt & pepper shakers.

I won’t be keeping it though, it will go to the shop to be sold.

Next up is the little cheese box, which started out like this …

If you look closely, you can see just how grungy it was!  So step one was to give it a good cleaning.

I didn’t want to lose the Land O’Lakes label on the sides of the box …

so after cleaning the box, I decided to just spruce up the end that had already been painted black with a fresh coat of Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky.

After sanding that to distress it a bit, I glued on that Design Studio tag from Tim Holtz with some E6000 glue.  It’s from his Factory Tags set and I found it at Hobby Lobby.

After waxing the whole box with some clear wax, I lined it with some more of the polka dot paper.

The box isn’t quite big enough to accommodate some old silver knives, but it would make a sweet little container for something.

I’ll be taking both of these little items in to Reclaiming Beautiful, the shop where I sell on consignment in Stillwater, MN sometime soon.  Hopefully they’ll find a home with someone who loves them!

Thanks to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing the paint used on these projects.

11 thoughts on “small garage sale finds.”

  1. Great job on the renovation of two pieces that might have gone in the trash! I am now officially going to have to order the vintage labels. You have successfully used them on so many cool pieces. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Now that I am no longer a Brand Ambassador for re.design with prima I have discovered that it can be frustrating trying to find the Classic Vintage Labels using their retail or online store locator. I never had to actually try that before, but just yesterday I realized I needed to order a set to finish another toolbox I’m working on. I tried about five of the online retailers listed on their site and none of them had this particular transfer in stock. It was a bit frustrating and time consuming. So my advice, if you’re looking to purchase online, is to google the specific transfer you are looking for to find a seller. I ended up finding several on Etsy at varying prices, and varying costs for shipping. The one I went with only had a few of the Classic Vintage Labels in stock, and I ordered two of them. The transfer was $26.95, the shipping was 99 cents (yes! reasonable shipping!) and they charged sales tax as well (I assume that may vary depending on what state you are in). I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they arrive promptly so I can finish up my project 🙂

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      1. Thanks for the heads up. Just went to Etsy and bought one for $27 free shipping! Yay. Now to get it here so I can start using it. I get so many positive comments on anything with the rub on transfers. Typically I have been using stencils as my go to decorative touch because they are less expensive and reusable. But I’ll keep ordering transfers, because they sell the pieces you use them on! If you want to see my shop on Facebook it’s Main Street Junk.

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  3. Love the makeovers. And have never seen vintage salt and pepper shakers – how cool are those? Amazing what can draw your eye, isn’t it? Love your use of transfers – they really do “make” the projects.

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  4. You are the irrepressible Miss Quandie! Just whipping out these darling projects! Thanks for the inspiration and I really do like you shakers non-collection 😀

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