Month: January 2024

the mini adirondack.

Published on by Quandie29 Comments

As I’ve mentioned in the past, our next door neighbor Ken is also our ‘handyman’.

He has done so many projects for us over the years!

He custom built our pantry.

He helped me create the faux shiplap wall in our principle bedroom.

He also created the faux board and batten look in our piano room.

We also discovered, long after we moved in, that Ken had built the shelving in our living room for the previous owners of our house.

In addition to these larger projects, Ken has also helped out with innumerable smaller projects around our house.  He once saved us $6,000 by building custom screen inserts for the windows in our dining room (we thought we’d need to replace the windows and the quote for that was $6,000!).  This would become a really long post if I tried to list everything he’s done around here.

And of course, on top of all of that, Ken also does the bulk of my furniture repairs.  I think his favorite fix, or at least the one he still talks about, is the humpty dumpty dresser.  After accidentally knocking it off some sawhorses and having it completely fall apart, he put it back together again.

I’ve also mentioned here that Ken builds Adirondack chairs.

We have two of them on the front porch, and two of them on the deck out back.

The thing that makes these chairs special (besides the fact that Ken built them) is that they are super comfy.  They are all based on an Adirondack chair that nnK once had.  Ken took her chair apart and created a template for making more.  Since then he has made countless chairs.

A while back he decided to see if he could make a miniature version.  He scaled his template down and came up with a perfect mini replica of the chair.

He put it together with painstaking detail.

He used toothpicks as miniature dowel rods to attach the slats.

He made one of these mini’s for nnK first.  Then he made another for himself.  And then finally, he made one for me!

Of course, I gave mine a paint job.  I started by painting it with Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky, which I then covered up with their Drop Cloth.  I wanted the dark base coat so that I could distress back to it along the edges, rather than just seeing that pale wood underneath.

Once the paint was dry, I added a simple, small Tim Holtz number transfer to the front of the seat.

After sanding lightly to distress, I finished it all off with a coat of clear wax.

I staged these photos using a few of my favorite things including the small boxes I painted up last fall.

They are sitting on a tiny new testament bible that belonged to my grandfather.

There is an inscription inside that says it was gifted to him as he went off to fight in WWI.  And yes, that’s WWI, and it was 1917.  I believe he would have been around 24 years old at the time.  If you’re trying to figure out the math and how I could have a grandfather that was born in 1893, I have to point out that he was 47 years old when my mother was born.

I grabbed a few other items to add to my photo …

Most of these things come from those shelves in my living room, which is the eventual home of the mini adirondack as well.  Unfortunately, it was far too gloomy here last week to get a good photo of the chair in its ultimate resting spot.  So you’ll just have to trust me when I say that it fits right in with some of my other mini’s on those shelves like this one …

and this one …

I don’t know why I find miniatures so darn appealing.  How about you?  Are you drawn to miniature versions of furniture?  Leave a comment and let me know.

cheap art.

Published on by Quandie34 Comments

Last year I picked up several original oil paintings while out garage saling.

You may remember my faux Matisse.

I also found a lovely mid-mod painting of the what one of my readers identified as the Moulin Rouge in Paris.

And then most recently, I bought home this landscape from an estate sale.

Originally I was picking these up to resell, but then I decided I rather liked the idea of creating a gallery wall in the q branch using these paintings, and a few other things … like those crusty old paint brushes that I love.

So after I got my Globe Artichoke paint on the walls, I started laying out my gallery wall (FYI, turns out this is another good use for a baby grand piano).

I decided to also use a pair of small bamboo frames that I shared with you guys back in February 2021.  I had originally made up a couple of collages using old family letters and photos to fill them, and I painted them black.  But later I gave the frames a metallic look using Dixie Belle’s Bronze Gilding Wax.

But for my collage wall I wanted to turn them into small landscapes.  So I went on Etsy and purchased some downloadable painted landscape images.  It was simple to print them out, mount them on scrapbook paper and pop them into the frames.

I’m quite happy with how they turned out.

Last, but certainly not least, I had this old oil painting that my grandfather painted.

One of these days I may attempt to clean that painting.  Grandpa was a smoker, hence the yellow tinge to that sky.

It was unframed, but in a miraculous sort of way, I had an old frame on hand that fit it perfectly.

Aside from most of these things being original oil paintings, there wasn’t a whole lot else to unify them.  I’ve got a portrait, a city scape, and a handful of landscapes.  The frames ranged from a bit ornate, to simple barnwood.  I felt like I needed to find a way to tie them all together, so I repeated my use of the Bronze Gilding Wax on the frames.

You can use a brush to apply the wax, but I like to put on a latex glove and just use my finger.

For the barnwood frame, I just used the wax on the thin black wood trim that was around the outer edge of the frame.

It was a small change, but it toned down that black and helped this frame fit in with the others despite that rustic barnwood.

I know some people will cut out paper templates of their items and then tape them to the wall to get the placement right for a gallery wall, but I just winged it.  I started in the middle with the two small bamboo frames and then I worked up and out from there.  I will admit that I had to move a couple of nails after their initial placement to get it just right.  But I’m not someone who gets squeamish about nail holes in the wall.  I just fill them and touch up the paint, easy peasy.

If any of you also have plaster walls, I’ll share my favorite Martha Stewart tip for putting nails into plaster.  Place a small piece of scotch tape where the nail is going to go and then pound in your nail.

This helps keep your plaster from crumbling.  I have my own secondary tip, which is to fold over one edge of the tape onto itself for easy removal later should you ever decide to repaint your walls.

Another tip for anyone with less than smooth walls is to always use flat paint.  If your paint has a sheen it will highlight all of those imperfections.  Flat paint tends to be less washable than eggshell or satin though.

I absolutely love how my gallery wall turned out.

And I created it for under $50 total.  Pretty much every item came from a garage sale (except Grandpa’s painting, and the downloaded prints).

Next up for this room is finding a rug.  It’s a little tricky because a square rug will work best and there aren’t a ton of square options out there.  I’ve found one at Wayfair that I think will work, but I’m really nervous about ordering a rug online.  So often items ordered online look nothing like their photo on a computer screen.  Have any of you ever ordered rugs from Wayfair?  Or do you have another recommendation for finding a square rug?  If so, leave me a comment and let me know.

globe artichoke.

Published on by Quandie49 Comments

Mr. Q and I have lived in our house for a little over 35 years.  That’s a long time, I know.

When we first bought it in 1988 we considered it a ‘starter home’ and planned to build equity for a few years and then move on to something bigger and better.

Instead, we fell in love with this house, despite the really drafty windows, the treacherous basement stairs and the world’s smallest bathroom.  Even now I can’t imagine how we’ll ever be able to sell this house, whenever it comes to that.

But I digress, this post is actually about making over the q branch, which is what I call my study … or the room where I write this blog.  I only brought up how long we’ve been in this house to explain why this will be the 5th time I’ve painted this room!

Let’s review, shall we?

First, let me back up for a minute and describe the room.  It is a small, square-ish room that is just off the piano room … or what was originally the formal dining room.  It doesn’t have a closet, and it doesn’t have a door.  It has a wide arched opening into the piano room.

I often wonder what the original purpose of the room was back in 1904 when our house was built.  It may have had a regular door back then, I’m fairly sure that the wide, arched openings between this room, the piano room, the living room and the front hall are not original.  And in fact, we added the one between the kitchen and the piano room.  So it’s possible this room was intended to be a small, main floor bedroom for someone who couldn’t do the stairs … an elderly parent perhaps?  I’ve also often wondered if it was originally a small kitchen of some kind, before the house had indoor plumbing.

Regardless of its original purpose, I struggled for years to create an identity for the room.

The first use we came up with was as a space to display my dollhouse.  My dad made the dollhouse for me when he retired early, and I sure can understand why he made it so elaborate now that I’m also retired! He had some time on his hands.

I papered the room in a mauve and cream pinstripe paper, and painted all of the trim in a matching dark mauve.  Here’s the only photo I could find from that look.

Ugh!  I can’t believe I once liked that look!  Remember balloon shades?  LOL, what can I say?  It was the 90’s.

Next I went through my ‘red phase’.  I painted the living room and piano room walls red.  That definitely didn’t work with the mauve, or with the big pink dollhouse.  So the dollhouse got moved upstairs and then …for some unknow reason I decided to paint the room brown!  Can you imagine?  Brown?!

Well, you don’t have to imagine, here’s a really bad quality photo …

Yikes!  Not much better than the mauve.

The room still didn’t have an identity at that point and we never actually used it for anything.

But then I decided that I needed a home office/craft room and the room underwent makeover number 3.  I painted the walls chartreuse, and the trim went back to white.

Yep, bright green walls with black furniture.  I loved it for a while, until I didn’t anymore.

The next transformation was when the q branch’s identity became fully formed.  I once again painted the walls, this time in what I thought was a neutral greige, but was really more just plain beige, and I painted the ceiling a very pale blue.

That was back in 2015.  Since then I’d made a few changes to the furniture, bringing in my English cupboard …

and most recently, changing out my desk.

I have to say, I never really loved that wall color.  I often admire the all-white, pale neutral sort of look in other people’s spaces, it can work well if there are a variety of shades ranging from pale greige to creamy white, and a variety of textures.  But somehow it never quite works for me.

So after 9 years of that look, it was time to change it up again.

The first step was to pick a new wall color.  I’d been drooling over dramatic shades of dark green over on pinterest, so I went to Home Depot and looked through the paint colors.  I picked out a color called Alfalfa Extract, it looked perfect.

So I had them mix up a color sample jar for me and I brought it home.

I painted up a Sure Swatch paintable test swatch and put it on the wall.  Then I studied it under different lighting conditions.  That was when I realized that the room is pretty dark.  It has west facing windows, but there is a tall arborvitae hedge just a few feet from the windows.  It’s great for providing privacy, but it also blocks a lot of light.

The color that looked perfect in the brightly lit store was too dark for this room.  Even after waiting almost a week for a bright sunny day to light it up, it was still too dark.

So then I went to Menards and picked up a couple more options.  The first of these was so close to the Alfalfa Extract that I didn’t even bother to put up the swatch, but the 2nd was a bit lighter and also a bit more olive.

When I first painted up the Sure Swatch with Globe Artichoke I thought for sure that it was not going to be the right color.  It was too light, and way more olive than I thought I wanted.  But I painted the swatch in the piano room, which gets a lot more light.  When I put the swatch on the wall in the q branch (these swatches have a post-it note like stickiness on the back), I realized that it was exactly what I was looking for.

The moral of my story?  You really need to test paint colors in the room you’ll be using them in before making a decision.  If I have learned anything after painting, and re-painting, the rooms in our house for 35 years, this is it.  So many factors can influence how a color looks on your walls; natural light, artificial lighting, floor color, and/or ceiling color.

So once my color was chosen, I spent a couple of days last week painting the walls of the q branch in Globe Artichoke.

And I love it!  The pine cupboard really pops against the rich deep olive, as does my desk.

You may have noticed that I did not paint the radiator pipes that go up the wall in the corner behind the desk.  That’s because the temps were below zero outside, so those pipes were too hot to paint.  Ditto behind the radiator itself.  I’ll have to save those areas for warmer days, and that may be sooner than I thought since they are predicting temps in the 40’s for next week.

I also think I’m going to want to repaint the ceiling now.  The pale blue isn’t quite right with the green, I think it needs to go back to white.  I am on the hunt for a new desk lamp (I think the current one is too small), a possibly a new chair and/or rug.  I also want to find some olive green throw pillows for the living room sofa so that I can tie in a bit of this wall color out there too.

One last thing for today, I wanted to mention that I did all of the cutting in along both the crown molding and baseboard without any taping.  I used the Zibra Triangle brush and it worked beautifully.

So if you have any rooms to paint, you might want to consider picking one up.  I purchased mine at Home Depot.  Now I just have to get it clean after all of that hard work!

OK, so I’m a little afraid to ask what you guys think of this color.  I know dark walls aren’t for everyone, but I seem to be drawn to them.  What do you think?

a French printer’s tray.

Published on by Quandie8 Comments

If you’ve been following me for long, you know that my ‘workshop’ is out in the carriage house …

And it’s not heated.  Plus we have to fit our cars in there in the winter.

So I haul all of my supplies inside the house before we get a freeze, and then I do most of my painting in the piano room.

I put a drop cloth over the piano and it becomes a workbench, and I keep the supplies I use most often in the Specimens cupboard.

It’s definitely not glamorous.  And whenever we’re having guests I have to put everything away.

It’s also not very much space to work in.

So as fall approaches each year I start to pile up a bunch of small projects to work on after the Christmas season is over and I’m steadily working my way through that pile.

Today’s small project is a simple wooden tray that I picked up at a garage sale last summer.

It definitely seems to be homemade.  You can see that the wood piece that makes up the bottom originally had hinges on it, and the one shorter side is a bit thinner than the others.  Someone clearly cobbled it together out of bits and pieces they had on hand, you gotta love that.

After first painting the tray in Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage and deciding I didn’t like it (even though I’ve used Dried Sage on numerous projects that I loved), I ended up going with a very simple makeover.  I added two coats of DB’s Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I added some bits and pieces of French typography from my transfer scrap pile.

I used google translate to make sure I wasn’t putting nonsense on my tray.  That first line, Tous droits réservé, is simple, it means ‘all rights reserved.’  Évreux is a place in France.  And that bottom line is just a name, followed by the word ‘printer’.  So, in other words, it could be considered an advertisement for a printer.

After the wording was in place, I added a small embellishment to the bottom of the tray too.

I’d considered going with something a bit more elaborate, but I figured most people would be putting stuff inside the tray and thus potentially covering that up anyway.

I sanded the edges of the tray to distress them, and then finished everything off with a coat of clear wax.

I added some old books, a pair of crusty old paint brushes in a ball jar, and an antique camera for styling.

How would you style this tray?

Leave a comment and let me know!

a sweet little toolbox.

Published on by Quandie34 Comments

My friend opK found this sweet little toolbox for me last summer.

She thought it would be the perfect candidate for a makeover, and she was right.

I gave it my usual prep, a good washing with soapy water and then a coat of Dixie Belle’s B.O.S.S.  By the way, while we’re on the subject of B.O.S.S., did you hear that Dixie Belle is coming out with a new product that combines the qualities of B.O.S.S. and Slick Stick?  So it will still block odors and seal stains, but it will also be formulated to use on slick surfaces to improve the adhesion of your paint.  I’m looking forward to trying that out.

But in the meantime, I still like using the clear B.O.S.S. on items like this.  I prefer the clear version over the white or grey because I almost always distress my pieces and I don’t want to see that white or grey color under my final paint color.  Of course, in this particular instance I could have used the grey and it wouldn’t have made much difference since the original color of this toolbox was a silvery grey.

I painted the inside in DB’s Cottage Door.  This is such a lovely warm pinkish coral.  I’ve used it to create a pop of color inside a few toolboxes now.

Next I painted the outside in DB’s Midnight Sky.  Then I taped off a Swiss cross to paint in Drop Cloth.  Unfortunately, after I painted the cross, the tape I used pulled a bunch of the Midnight Sky with it when I took it off.

I usually use the yellow Frog Tape for delicate surfaces, but they didn’t have that one at Home Depot so I had purchased the regular green Frog Tape instead.  I’ve since gone back to Menard’s to stock up on the yellow version so this doesn’t happen again.  I could also probably avoid this problem if I allowed the paint to cure longer before taping over it, but who has the patience for that?

After going back and touching up the Midnight Sky, I added a small transfer from I.O.D.’s Label Ephemera to the top of the toolbox.

Then I decided that a small section from the I.O.D. Mélange paint inlay had the perfect typography for below that transfer.

I love it!

Except what did I do?  You can definitely see it in that close up photo above.  Yep, I forgot to seal my paint inlay with a spray sealer before applying some clear wax.  As soon as I swiped over it with the wax brush it smeared.  Ugh!

A more detailed explanation on the correct way to apply and seal a paint inlay can be found here.

I’m so annoyed with myself, I definitely knew better, I just wasn’t thinking.

I went back in with a q-tip to try and clean it up a bit, but you can definitely still see a bit of smearing, especially in a close up.

But most people aren’t going to be scrutinizing it that closely, right?

Unfortunately, an immediate fix for this would be rather delicate.  Since the paint inlay has to be applied to wet paint, I would have to paint back over that area.  However, I wouldn’t trust the adhesion of paint over the freshly applied wax, although you can paint over it after it’s cured, in about 30 days.  Otherwise, the wax would need to be removed by scrubbing it off with some mineral spirits.

Then I could brush on some more Drop Cloth paint and apply the paint inlay again.  However, as I’ve found in the past, using a paint inlay for the 2nd time gives a much fainter result than the first time around.  So would I be any happier with the look of that?

Another option would be to buy a new Mélange paint inlay just to use that little section of it.  The inlay is currently on sale at The Painted Heirloom for $40.50, plus $6.95 shipping unless I would spend at least $150 to get free shipping.  Yikes!  That’s a lot of money to fork over just for this one little fix.  Don’t get me wrong, I do think that the Mélange paint inlay is worth that price if you have lots of projects to use it on.  But I already have it, and I’ve only used about half of it.

FYI, The Painted Heirloom site has a message saying that all I.O.D. paint inlays are now considered ‘limited release’ and once sold out there won’t be more.  So maybe that’s motivation to buy another.

Do I really want to spend almost $50 for another Mélange inlay though, just for this one little section on this one little toolbox?

And maybe that blurring isn’t really that bad?

From a distance you barely notice it … especially if you squint just a little.

LOL, I don’t know.  We’re always more critical of our own work, aren’t we?  What do you think?

By the way, I also added a simple Tim Holtz number transfer to the side of the toolbox.

and I think the latch is my favorite part of this makeover.

It’s half black and half white, and I added a little crown.

For now I have set this toolbox aside while I consider whether or not I need to re-do that inlay.  But I may just take it into the shop and see what happens.  I can always make a decision about re-doing it if it doesn’t sell.

What would you do?

the botanist box.

Published on by Quandie26 Comments

Today I’m bringing you another wooden box makeover.

Since there really isn’t any way to tell the scale in that photo, I’ll tell you that this is bigger than your average recipe box.  I suspect it was used by a business of some kind.

And that’s partially based on this stamp inside the lid calling it a ‘merchants box’, and partially based on the size.

I gave this box a quick scuff sanding, followed by wiping it down with a damp cloth.  Then I painted the outside in two coats of Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy.

Then I pretty much lost my head.  That’s the best way to describe it.

I decided I really wanted to use just the wording from inside the circle of I.O.D.’s The Botanist transfer.  You may remember when I used this full transfer on a bed last summer.

I had ordered another one recently, and I just couldn’t resist using the typography portion on this box.

It was a perfect fit.

If I was keeping this box for myself I probably wouldn’t bat an eye over the $25 price tag for the transfer, but I’m planning to sell this box.  So I fully admit that it doesn’t make any kind of good business sense to spend this much on a transfer that I used on one measly box makeover.  I hesitated quite a bit before deciding I just had to do it.  I also think I’ve come up with a use for the rest of the transfer, those floral swags that surround the typography, but we’ll have to wait and see if that comes to fruition.

So will I get my money back out of this one?  Probably just barely.  I certainly won’t be making any kind of profit.  That’s OK with me, but I know many of you guys need to turn a profit, in which case this is not the way to do it.

By the way, yes, I did consider filling that big crack down the middle of the lid.

But I decided it added a little character and age to the box.  I’m OK with that.

You may have noticed that in addition to the typography, I also decorated this box with some florals from the I.O.D. Floral Anthology transfer.

I filled the front of the box …

and trailed over to both sides …

with various scraps of Floral Anthology.

I should also mention that prior to adding any of the transfers, I used the wet distress method on this box.  This method involves using a damp rag to rub paint away from edges where the box would have naturally been worn over time.  It can be a good alternative to distressing the edges with sandpaper, often looking more authentic.  This only works with a paint that is reactivated with water, so mainly chalk style paints.

I did add one little Tim Holtz number transfer to the front of the box as well.

I finished the box with some clear wax both inside and out.  I hadn’t painted the inside, but chose to leave it in the natural wood instead.  The wax freshened it up nicely.

I should also point out that this box must have had some sort of slider thingie inside originally that had since been removed, leaving a sort of empty track in the bottom of the box.

To cover that up I simply cut a thick piece of cardboard to fit the bottom of the box, and then covered that with some scrapbook paper.

It’s quite sturdy, but also quite removable.  So down the road if it gets all grungy from use, it can easily be pulled out and replaced with something fresh.

I took this one into the shop this week, so if any of you locals are interested in it you’ll need to pop into Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater.

As for the rest of you, what do you think of this box makeover?

a winter thrift haul.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

I’m starting to suffer from some serious garage sale withdrawal, so I hit the thrift shops last week.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find much, and definitely not anything very exciting.

In addition to a couple of Goodwill stores, I also stopped in at Turn Style, which is a consignment store.  It was a little startling to find one of my creations for sale there …

That was one of my first cupboard door signs, but I really don’t remember when I painted it.  I couldn’t find a blog post about it, so it may even be pre-blog.  Back in 2014 (yikes!  10 years ago!) I put that French Market stencil on A LOT of items including cutting boards …

and buckets …

I likely sold that sign at one of my Carriage House sales.  Whoever purchased it from me must be getting rid of it now.  I debated buying it back, and then redoing it in some other way.  But at $18, it was a little too expensive to be worthwhile for me.  I prefer to get my cupboard doors for free, or for less than $5 or so.

So I left the sign at Turn Style.  But here’s what I did bring home.

Well, most of it anyway.  I did also purchase a pair of ice skates and some red & green plaid dishes for the 2024 holiday season (not pictured).  I’m going to hang onto the little metal lantern for next Christmas season too.  I think it will be adorable with a little bottle brush tree and a reindeer inside.

One of these items is for me to keep and that’s the hygrometer (which is the fancy word for a humidity gauge).

I’m not entirely sure that it works, but for only $3.99 I thought it was worth a shot.  I am often wondering what the humidity is outside so if this works it will be handy to have for my workshop in the carriage house.

I did purchase a couple of things to flip that didn’t require more than a good cleaning.  First up, this 1 qt. pitcher.

I’m always drawn to things with numbers or words on them.

I also grabbed this glass cannister.

You can never have too many glass cannisters.  I use them inside my English pine cupboard to hold painting and/or crafting supplies.  I like being able to see what’s inside them.

I also like to have them on hand to contain a grouping of items to sell, such as vintage cookie cutters or old children’s blocks.

The rest of these items all got a paint and transfer makeover starting with the French flower bucket.

It looked just a bit too new.  So my goal was to add some faux age.

I gave it a base coat of Dixie Belle’s French Linen first, then added a layer of their Sawmill Gravy over it.  I was planning to do some wet distressing back to the French Linen layer, but uh … yeah … I forgot that I was going to do that and after the paint was dry I added a coat of clear wax.  Turns out, the clear wax does protect the paint from water quite a bit.  Enough that wet distressing was no longer a good option.

But then I remembered that I had ordered some of the Dixie Belle dirt to try out.

Dixie Dirt is a powder that you apply over tacky wax.  Basically you apply wax, wait 10 minutes for it to get tacky, brush the Dixie Dirt into cracks and crevices, then wipe away any excess ‘dirt’.

I ordered the ‘dirt’ in two colors; Ash and Earth.

FYI, the French Tip brush from Dixie Belle works really nicely for applying the dirt.

I used the Ash color on my French flower bucket.

I feel like the look I got with the dirt is very comparable to using a dark wax.  The benefit to the dirt is that it’s a bit cheaper than wax at $8.95 (find it here), and I think these little containers will go a long way.  So if you already have a clear wax, but no dark wax, this might be a good option for you if you like this look.

I should have mentioned that I also added a re.design with prima transfer to the flower bucket before I added any wax.

Always add transfers before wax, they will not adhere to a freshly waxed surface.  This transfer is from the Lovely Labels Middy transfer set, and it is a dark blue color rather than the usual black or dark grey.

Here is the final look for the flower bucket.

Next up, I decided to give the box a similar treatment.

Again, it was too new for me.  Too smooth, and only scratched up in a bad way, not a good way.

But this time, I added some of Dixie Belle’s Sea Spray texture additive to my base coat of French Linen first.  I let that dry, and then added a coat of Sawmill Gravy over it.  Once the Sawmill was dry, I sanded over it with 120 grit sandpaper to reveal the textured layer.

Next up I added a leftover scrap from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

I finished it off with a coat of clear wax first.  Then this time I did use a brown wax along the edges just to ‘dirty’ them up a bit.  It was a pretty subtle adjustment, but it helps disguise any freshly sanded wood edges.

Finally we’ve got the two ‘signs’ that I purchased.

I knew the mustard yellow one would be perfect for that adorable row of birds from the I.O.D. Brocante transfer set.  I gave it the same paint treatment as the box.  A base coat of French Linen mixed with some Sea Spray, then a coat of Sawmill Gravy.  Once dry, I sanded it smooth and added the birds.

I also added some random French typography from my transfer scrap pile, and then finished it off with a coat of clear wax.

I skipped the textured base coat on the 2nd sign.  It has a sort of ribbed surface to begin with, so it didn’t need any additional texture.  Instead I simply added a coat of Sawmill Gravy followed by some floral scraps from I.O.D.’s Floral Anthology transfer and some wording from the Classic Vintage Labels transfers from re.design with prima.

I added a little Dixie Dirt in the Earth color to this one.

You can see how it gets caught in the grooves in that close up photo.

I’ll be bringing most of these items into the shop tonight (Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater, MN) if any of you locals want to head over there this weekend and check them out.

In the meantime, are any of you finding goodies at the thrift stores, or are you finding that there are slim pickin’s like I am?  Leave a comment and let me know, or just let me know which of today’s projects is your favorite.

it’s like falling off a bike.

Published on by Quandie24 Comments

I can’t exactly remember the circumstances, but recently I meant to saying something was ‘like riding a bike’ (meaning it was a skill that would come back to you easily, even if you hadn’t done it in a while), but instead what came out of my mouth was ‘it’s like falling off a bike’.  The people I was with all got a good laugh.

But now I’m wondering if ‘falling off a bike’ fits this particular situation better.

It had been a while since I’d used milk paint when I pulled out the Miss Mustard Seed Tricycle to paint my North Pole Bed and Breakfast sign a few weeks back.

That particular project went quite smoothly, although I didn’t really get the chipping that I wanted.

I was painting another of those cupboard door signs at the same time.  I followed the same exact prep process with both.  I lightly scuff sanded them, and then cleaned them with a TSP substitute (I use the Sunnyside brand from Menards, if anyone is curious).

For the 2nd sign, I pulled out some Sweet Pickins milk paint in a color called In a Pickle.  I mixed it up and painted up the 2nd cupboard door.  Imagine my consternation when the 2nd one not only chipped, it chipped A LOT.

I’d forgotten just how unpredictable milk paint can be.  Frankly, this is why I rarely use it anymore.  It can be pretty frustrating to get results like this when it’s not what you wanted.  I get much more reliable results with the chalk style paint from Dixie Belle that I use most often.

Also, I want to point out that you can always add the bonding agent to your milk paint which will eliminate the chipping altogether.

That being said, there really is no substitute for the authentically chippy look you can get with straight up milk paint … you just have to be OK with the possibility of wildly varying results.

I have experienced my share of overly chippy milk paint projects in the past, and in one case I ultimately ended up sanding the piece down entirely and starting over with chalk paint (you can find that story starting here, and ending here).

Since I really wanted some chippy-ness on this piece though, I decided to try a couple of tricks to see what I could do with this one.  First up I sanded it a little bit more thoroughly, which did remove quite a bit of the chipping paint, and then I painted two more coats of In a Pickle.  Once the paint was dry, I still had quite a lot of chipping.  So next I vacuumed away all of the loose chips, and then I sealed it with a coat of Rust-Oleum matte spray sealer.  Once that dried, I went back in again with another coat of the milk paint over it.

That helped somewhat, but it definitely did not eliminate the chipping entirely.

But at that point I decided this was a level of chipping that I could live with.

After giving the piece another coat of spray sealer, I added a stencil.

This is another one that I ordered from The Stencil Smith.  I had to modify it slightly to fit on my cupboard door by leaving the “Picked Fresh Daily” off the top.  But otherwise it worked perfectly.

Once again I used my shadowing technique to put a dark shadow behind just the “Garden Herbs” wording.

That is Dixie Belle’s Coffee Bean for the shadow, and Drop Cloth for the 2nd layer.

Once the stenciled paint was dry, I once again sealed the entire piece with the Rust-Oleum spray.

In the end, I’m quite happy with how this turned out, chipping and all.

What do you think?  Are you a fan of the chippy look, or are you over it?  Or maybe you never were a fan at all?  Leave me a comment and let me know.

This garden herbs sign is for sale locally (check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details).

out to lunch.

Published on by Quandie25 Comments

I picked up this vintage lunchbox at a garage sale last summer.

After getting it home, I removed the filthy string that was holding the handle in place and then gave the whole thing a good clean with soapy water.  Then I added a coat of B.O.S.S. and put it on the ‘pile of future projects’.

Sometimes I like to hang onto these smaller projects and then bring them out in January when I’m stuck in the house.

Anyway, I did debate whether or not to paint this one.  I know there is a segment of the vintage loving population that would have preferred this in its original patina.  However, that segment doesn’t seem to buy a lot of my pieces.

So I decided to paint this one up.  I started with a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Silk paint in Cactus on the inside.  I thought I’d save myself some work and use a Silk paint with its built-in top coat, thus eliminating one step in the process.

Next up I painted the outside in my favorite Dixie Belle Drop Cloth.  Once that was dry I pulled out some sections of the I.O.D. Floral Anthology transfer.  My original plan was to start at the bottom of the lunchbox and then continue the florals about half way up the lid.  But I started by cutting off the section for the lid and applying that first.

Once that was in place I decided I rather liked the look of the florals just on the lid.

Sometimes … oh, who am I kidding? … most of the time … my designs morph as I go along.

That’s sort of the fun of creating, isn’t it?

Once I had the florals in place I went in search of some typography to add.  I found the upper half of the smaller version of the Seeds transfer in my stash and thought it would be perfect.

This is a retired design.  It was originally sold by re.design with prima, and then by I.O.D.

Sadly, neither one of them produces this design anymore.  I was in luck because one of my readers sent this one to me (thanks again Monica!).

The handle on this lunchbox is made out of plastic, and I wasn’t overly fond of that original shade of forest green.  So I decided to go ahead and paint it in the Cactus as well.

To give my paint every opportunity to adhere to the plastic, I first washed the handle thoroughly with hot soapy water to remove any oils.  Once dry I sanded it to rough up the surface, and then I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s Slick Stick.  I followed all of that up with two coats of the Cactus.

I finished up the lunchbox with a coat of clear wax on the exterior.  Since the interior was painted in the Silk paint it didn’t require a further topcoat.

I was halfway through photographing the lunchbox when I remembered that it came with a funky … well … I’m not sure what you would call it.  It’s sort of a large safety pin thingie.

It slides through the latches and prevents the lunchbox from opening.  The latches are slightly loose and one side in particular tends to fall open rather easily.  I’m guessing that the former owner of this lunchbox added this as a clever fix.

I’m not sure if I prefer the lunchbox with or without this addition.

It certainly adds a unique touch.

What do you think?

I don’t know that I would use this as a lunchbox, although you certainly could.  I think I’d be more inclined to use it to store seed packets, or maybe colored pencils or other art supplies.

Regardless of what you want to use it for, this lunchbox is for sale locally.  Check out my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details!

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing the Slick Stick, Drop Cloth and Cactus paint, and clear wax used on this project.

a feast for the eyes.

Published on by Quandie23 Comments

Just a couple of days before Christmas my friend opK and I headed to Minneapolis to check out the 75% off sale at Bachman’s.  I’ve mentioned Bachman’s here before, but for those of you who may not be familiar, it is a local chain of ‘floral, home and garden’ centers.  They have been in business since 1885 when the founder began planting vegetable crops on a plot of land in south Minneapolis.  That plot of land still contains their flagship store and corporate headquarters.

I normally shop at their Maplewood store, which was their 2nd location and opened in 1990, but the flagship store is a bit larger and opK and I were hoping that there would be a bigger selection of Christmas merch remaining.  Spoiler alert, there wasn’t.  But we each purchased a few things.

Then we decided that we should check out a couple of other shops while we were in the big city, starting with Loft Antiques.

I have to admit that I rarely actually ‘shop’ at antique stores.  I mostly just like to scour them for inspiration, sort of making a mental list of items I should be snatching up at garage/estate sales.  Like original oil paintings by unknown artists …

or … LOL … old crusty paint brushes!

See?!  I’m not the only one who likes a crusty old brush.

There was a lot of inspiration to be found at Loft.

And by the way, I did ask for permission to take photos in their shop.  Most shop owners are perfectly fine with someone taking photos, but every once in a while you run into one who is vehemently opposed.  I’m thinking back to a shop Mr. Q and I visited in Summerville, SC.  I’m not naming names though, it was not the shop I blogged about back then.

I actually even purchased something at Loft!  I couldn’t resist this antique “Merry Christmas” shop signage.

My friend and fellow Reclaiming Beautiful vendor, Amy, has similar signage on the wall at her house (although not Christmas themed, but from an old church) and after seeing hers, I just had to have this one.  I’ll probably repaint it, I’m not sure.  But either way, I’m looking forward to finding a way to use it in my Christmas decor next year.

There are two more shops worth a visit right next door to Loft Antiques, Clarabel Vintage and A Rare Bird Antiques.  They are fairly small and I totally neglected to snap any photos to share with you.  But if any of you locals are in the neighborhood, they are worth checking out.

Our ultimate destination though was right across the street from Loft, Hunt & Gather.

opK had never been to Hunt & Gather, and I found it rather difficult to describe it to her before we got there.  But I think seeing the outside is a good hint as to what you’ll find on the inside.

But really, how would you describe it?

Here is how they describe themselves on their website …

“a vintage amusement store.  groovy.  kooky.  fresh.  unusual.  fun oddities & curiosities.”

Yep, that fits.

It’s definitely a feast for the eyes!

It’s your one stop shopping spot for all kinds of things, like silver trays …

souvenir shot glasses…

and creepy dolls!

I have to admit that seeing so much stuff packed into this shop makes my eye twitch just a little.  All I can think about is how much work it would be to clear it all out if they ever needed to.  I tend to think that way about my own house too, especially this time of year.  I always make a New Year’s resolution to start cleaning out drawers and closets, but I rarely follow through.  Maybe this year will be different.

How about you?  Are you a fan of the ‘more is more’ sort of style?  Or are you more of a minimalist?  Leave a comment and let me know.