Author: Quandie

a little spring cleaning.

Published on by Quandie17 Comments

It felt like it was time for a little spring cleaning last week, so I decided to tackle cleaning the pantry.

I’d like to say that I manage to get to this job every spring, but that’s just not true.

The thing is, this pantry is a bit of an illusion.  As you can sort of see in the photo above, there is no floor.  This is actually the stairway to our basement.  You can read all about how we turned it into a ‘pantry’ here.

I can reach the shelves that are closest to the door, but I can’t reach any of the upper shelves that are further out.  The only way to get to those is to borrow nnK’s scaffolding thingie and place that across the opening, giving me a platform to stand on and get to those other shelves.

For someone who is afraid of heights, it does feel a bit death defying to stand on that to clean those shelves.

I’m using that as my slightly lame excuse for not cleaning the pantry more often.

Here’s the view of the pantry from the bottom of those basement stairs, LOL.

Since I was removing everything from the shelves and cleaning each item, it seemed like a good opportunity to re-arrange some things starting with that row of watering cans at the very top.

I originally had a mix of watering cans and french flower buckets up there, but I have enough painted watering cans now to fill the entire row.

I have shared all of those watering can painting projects here on the blog except for the green one.  That one came in that color.

I also added a couple of French enamelware pitchers on the top shelf under the window.

The taller one is a recent acquisition that I found while out thrifting.  I added the I.O.D. Traditional Pots blue transfers to them myself.

My vintage kitchen scales went back on the shelves.  I’ve narrowed the scope of this non-collection to only include green ones.

I have to confess that I’ve cheated a little bit because just one of them wasn’t originally green.  I painted it.  Can you guess which one?

Spoiler alert, it’s this one.

I painted it in Dixie Belle’s Mint Julep.

Speaking of non-collections (because I’m in denial about being any sort of a collector of things), I still have my stack of vintage tablecloths.

I feel like these have gone a bit out of vogue these days, but I still love the colors.

In reality our pantry is only about 50% functional since we can’t actually reach about half of the shelves.

But it’s still nice to have a spot for the bread and wine.  Plus a space to display some of my vintage non-collections.

We actually have a few things stored out here in disguise as well.  There are boxes of kleenex in some of the metal tins …

and our extra Keurig coffee pods are in another.  The enamelware bucket with the red handle holds all of my cleaning rags, and we have extra soap in the green wooden tote.

I still think creating this pantry out of what was originally a very dismal basement staircase was one of my better remodeling ideas.

It might be a little bit difficult to clean, but I think it’s worth it.

the patisserie cupboard.

Published on by Quandie17 Comments

Today I’m sharing this adorable miniature cupboard that I picked up on my visit to Miniature Crush.

I didn’t have a spot in mind for it in my own dollhouse, but I knew it would be a fun painting job regardless.

To start, I removed the gold knobs.  That was easy enough, they pulled right out.  Next I gave the piece a light sanding all over just to smooth out any remaining rough spots.  Then I gave it a base coat of one of Dixie Belle’s newest colors called Thicket, a medium grey-green shade.

I really could have chosen any number of colors for that base coat, it’s just something to distress my final color back to without it just being bare wood.  I wanted to try out this new color to see what it looked like though.  Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take a photo of the cupboard in this color.  Oops.

Next up I painted the shelf area of the cupboard in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I painted the rest of the cupboard in their Midnight Sky.

I then pulled out the I.O.D. Brocante transfer and cut out this section from one of the pages …

I thought it would fit perfectly inside this cupboard, and it almost did.  The widest lines of wording were just a tiny bit too wide.  So I ended up cutting the individual lines apart and modifying them as needed to fit.

Once I had that in place, I used a damp terrycloth rag to wet distress the edges of the cupboard.

It can be easier to control your distressing when using the wet method v. sanding.  My goal was to distress back to the Thicket color without going all the way back to bare wood.  I achieved that better in some spots than others, for example at the bottom of the curved apron or on the front foot shown here.

However, I went too far on the drawers.

I still love the results though.

Once I had the cupboard distressed to my satisfaction, I replaced the original knobs on the drawers with some Craftsman style pulls, also from Miniature Crush.  Then I lined the drawers using some of the Tim Holtz Curator Snippets.

I finished off the cupboard with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

Now, if only I could figure out a spot for it in my dollhouse.

I’ll keep looking.  But in the meantime, what do you think of the Patisserie cupboard?  Leave a comment and let me know.

sometimes you just need a box.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

First up, I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a message conveying their condolences on the loss of our sweet Lucy.  Every comment was so kind and thoughtful and I appreciated each one.  Somehow it’s easier when you know you’re not alone and many of us have suffered through the loss of a beloved pet.

I have to admit that I haven’t felt very creative over the past week and have been mostly watching old Miss Marple episodes on PBS Masterpiece interspersed with taking nice long walks in the woods with Mr. Q (in between snow showers, ugh, could winter just be over already?).  But luckily, I had finished a few projects earlier that I can share with you today.

You may remember that I picked up a trio of boxes while out thrifting a few weeks back.

They are three different sorts of boxes; a metal lock box, a small wood box with a hinged lid, and larger open wood box.

I chose that last one at the time because I thought it would be handy for corralling some of my dollhouse supplies.  You know, sometimes you just need a handy box to put stuff in.

I’ve given all three of them makeovers, so I thought I’d share them with you today.

First up, the lock box.

To be honest, I really debated whether or not to throw this in the cart.  But it was only $3.99, so I figured it was worth a shot.

After washing it up, I gave it a cursory sanding with my Mouse sander, wiped away any dust and then gave it a good coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss both inside and out.  Although there wasn’t any rust, and bleed through wouldn’t be an issue, it was a pretty slick surface.  Not only does the Bonding Boss prevent bleed through, it also improves adhesion of your paint.

One more quick note about Bonding Boss.  I almost always choose to use the clear version.  It also comes in white and grey.  If you aren’t going to distress your item, it might make sense to use the white if you are painting light color over a dark finish, or the grey if your final color is in the red family (red will cover better over a grey primer).  But when you distress the edges of your piece the white or grey will show.  So I mostly use the clear version to avoid that.

Next up I painted the inside in Dixie Belle’s Cottage Door.  I’m still loving this particular shade of coral/pink.

After two coats of paint were dry, I added another of the gilded Etiquettes transfers from I.O.D. inside the lid.

I am definitely starting to get the hang of these gilded transfers.  Isn’t the gold lovely over the Cottage Door color?  I’m glad I didn’t give up on them entirely after the first time I tried them (which was pretty much a fail).  If at first you don’t succeed …

I painted the outside of the box in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, and once dry I sanded the edges to distress the paint.

After cleaning up the dust, I started adding roses from the I.O.D. Rose Botanical transfer.

Every time I use this transfer I am reminded how beautiful the roses are.

In case you aren’t familiar, this transfer comes with single rose images in a few different sizes.  I just cut them out and started layering them onto my piece.

Once I had the roses in place, I added some typography from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer to the top of the box.

Finally I gave the box a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat to seal it inside and out.

I ended up bringing this box into the shop (Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater, MN) to sell, and I believe it may be already sold, I’m not sure.

Next up, the open box.

Giving this box a new look was a much simpler process.  I gave it quick cleaning, followed by a scuff sanding to prep the surface for paint.  Then I painted it in one of Dixie Belle’s new Southern Roots colors called Thicket.

I had a heck of a time trying to get a good photo of that color.

I hope that’s a decent representation of it.  It’s a nice grey green, but possibly not as dark as I thought it would be looking at the jar.

Once the Thicket was dry, I painted over just the outside of the box in two coats of Ecru.  Once that dried, I sanded the edges a bit to distress them and then started applying some transfers.

The florals are all from I.O.D.’s Floral Anthology.  The wording is from their Label Ephemera transfer, and the butterflies are from their Brocante transfer.

I decorated both sides of the box, and wrapped some around the corners too.

I gave the inside of the box a top coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat for extra durability, but I finished the outside with their Easy Peasy Spray Wax.

I tend to forget about this product, and it’s super easy to use.  Just spray it on and then wipe away any excess.  I usually use an old t-shirt for that.

I staged the box with all of my vintage green books.

I have to confess that I usually choose vintage books based on their color rather than their content.  However, this little book on Flowers published in 1909 is one of my favorites.

It’s probably childish of me, but I chuckle a little every time I open it to find a chapter called “soil for pot plants”.

Clearly that meant something more innocent in 1909.

Last up is the cigar box.  Well, I’m calling it a cigar box because it’s the right size and shape for a cigar box.  There is a stamp on the bottom that says “container made in the Dominican Republic”, and that’s the only mark on the box.  It also doesn’t smell at all like cigars inside.  So, was it a cigar box, who knows?

Regardless, it had a finish on it that would almost definitely bleed thru paint.  So once again I followed the proper directions with the Bonding Boss.  I applied two coats with 4 hours of dry time in between coats, followed by 24 hours of dry time after the 2nd coat.

Lucky I did, because there was one small spot around the hinge in the back where I missed getting good coverage with the Bonding Boss, and sure enough my paint turned a little orange in that spot.

But otherwise, the Bonding Boss did the trick.  I painted the inside of the box in Dixie Belle’s Apricot.

Then I painted the outside of the box in two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I pulled out one of the new I.O.D. transfers called Catharina.  This set features botanical illustrations painted by Catharina Klein in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

These florals are very soft and delicate looking.

Although there are some roses in this set, there are also lots of other flowers like pansies, violets, apple blossoms and more.

Aren’t they pretty?

I also added some bits and pieces from the I.O.D. gilded Etiquettes transfer here and there on the front.

And then I added a larger image from that transfer on the top of the box.

This would make a lovely jewelry box, or just some sort of trinket box.

I still have this one on hand if any of my locals are in need of a pretty flowery box.  I’ll list it in my ‘available for local sale‘ page with the details.

So there you have it.  Three makeovers of three different ‘boxes’.  Leave a comment and let me know which one is your favorite!

a cat in a hat.

Published on by Quandie35 Comments

It has been a very difficult time for us this week as we had to say goodbye to our beloved cat, Lucy.

Lucy came into our lives nearly 18 years ago.  We weren’t planning on getting another cat, well, in fact we were planning on definitely not getting another cat.  But then we met Lucy on a visit to Mr. Q’s aunt & uncle’s house.  Apparently someone had dropped her off out in the country to fend for herself (why do people do that?).  Aunt Judy was feeding her, but they didn’t want to take her in.

Lucy was special though.  For one thing, she was very pretty.

Her fur was as soft as rabbit fur.

And that face!  She was so adorable!

But more than that, she was the friendliest thing.  Immediately upon seeing us, she came up to us and reached out to be picked up.  Once in Mr. Q’s arms, she nuzzled his ear and started to work her charms.

We tried to remain resolute.  We went home without her.  Because we didn’t want another cat.

But all night we were thinking about what a sweetheart she was, and maybe it would be OK to have just one more cat in our lives.

We went back for her the next day.  Who would have thought that she would then be in our lives for 18 years?

Lucy was special.  I know everyone probably says that about their pets, but she really was.

She loved to be held and was such a snuggler.

She was never happier than when she was riding around on Mr. Q’s shoulders.

When we went to bed at night she would impatiently wait for me to put my book down, and then she would insist that I make room for her on my pillow.  If I didn’t comply, she would literally try to get comfortable on my head. No matter how many times I tried to move her off my pillow, I would always wake up to a crick in my neck and Lucy comfortably ensconced on the pillow.

Handyman Ken always said she was more like a dog rather than a cat.  She would run up to greet him when he came out into the back yard, wanting to be picked up and petted.  He always took such good care of her when we were traveling.

I haven’t shared too much about Lucy here on the blog, just the occasional photo bomb.

She always had to check out just what it was that I was focusing on so intently.

And she had to thoroughly inspect any piece of furniture that I brought home to makeover.

And then there was the post where I was explaining that the chaise lounge on my porch was really just a glorified cat bed.

I’ve never been one of those ‘oh look at these 500 photos of my cat, isn’t she awesome?’ sort of people.  But I hope you’ll forgive me today for sharing the handful of photos that I do have of Lucy.  The fact that I didn’t take a million photos of her is in no way an indication of how much I loved her.  Both Mr. Q and I loved her tremendously.

Sadly, as we all know, cats don’t live forever.  In fact, having Lucy for 18 years was far more than we ever could have reasonably expected.

Her health had been inexorably declining over the last several years, but up until recently we felt that she still had a good quality of life even though she had clearly slowed down quite a bit.  She had more good days than bad days.  She was still demanding to go outside on a daily basis, although she had started to turn around and say ‘no f’n way’ when we opened the door and she realized the temp was below zero.  And she was still stealing my pillow.

But about a week ago she stopped coming into our room at night.  I could no longer entice her to eat, even though I tried every treat designed for finicky cats on the market.  It also became clear that she was suffering.  She would struggle to stand up, and to lie down.  Her fur had gotten incredibly matted over this past winter, and she was nothing more than skin and bones.  It was becoming obvious that we could no longer hope that she would just pass painlessly in her sleep.

So we made the impossible decision to have her euthanized.  Although I don’t necessarily want to talk about it, I do want to share that we used CodaPet.com to find Dr. Keri Wasmoen.  She was incredibly kind and so, so gentle with Lucy.  If any of you find yourself in a similar situation, I highly recommend her.

She also did her best to reassure us that we were doing the right thing, that providing a peaceful, pain-free end is the kindest thing you can do for a pet that is suffering.

But it’s also one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.

I’m not sure how long it’s going to be before I quit making sure that I left the basement door cracked so she can get to her litter box, or checking at the door to see if she’s ready to come in.

So please forgive me if I’m not my normal self for a while as I work my way through the grief of losing a much beloved pet.  She will be missed.

the attic rec room.

Published on by Quandie15 Comments

Today I’m sharing the makeover of the attic rec room in my dollhouse.

Here is how it looked before I gave up the dollhouse back in 2017.

It had a pool table, and a wood burning stove.  But those items were long gone when I retrieved the dollhouse from my in-laws.

I debated adding back another pool table, but ultimately I decided not to.  Instead I picked up this sectional from The Modern Dollhouse.

I’m finding that these ‘upholstered’ sort of miniatures are eminently paintable.

Simply water down your chalk style paint with about 50/50 water to paint.  Then just apply it with a brush.  I used Dixie Belle’s Burlap on my sectional.

As you may have noticed, after painting the walls and ceiling in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, and the wainscoting in their Gravel Road, I hung an old sports photo on the wall.

I bought that photo at a thrift store back in February 2024.

I made the throw pillows on the sofa by stamping some drop cloth fabric with some of the I.O.D. Ephemeral Type stamps, then simply gluing the edges shut.

Once the glue was dry, I trimmed the edges with scissors.

I added my Union Jack credenza over by the brick chimney.

I apologize that the Union Jack is still upside down.  I do plan to correct that.

I’ve placed my artist studio on the other side of the chimney.

I’ve had that license plate for ages, I can’t remember where I purchased it.  I like the graphic punch it adds to the wall.

I have the desk that I thrifted tucked into the back of the room …

It definitely needs some more staging.  I’ve also got that fab harp back there, my friend opK gave that to me.

This is quite a large space, so it may take a while before I fill it up.  But for now, I’m calling it mostly ‘done’.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let me know.

fleurs et fruits.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

It’s time for another toolbox!

This is one of the toolboxes from my Habitat for Humanity ReStore haul.  If you’ll remember, I found three of them at once earlier this winter.

I’ve already re-done the grey one that is under the blue one in that photo above.

Now I’ve completed the blue one.  As a reminder, here is the before.

As you can see, it was in rough shape with a lot of peeling paint and patches of rust.  After using some Goof Off Gunk Remover and a flat razor blade to remove that oval shaped label from the front, I gave the toolbox a good cleaning with Dawn dish soap and hot water.  Then I pulled out my new Mouse sander (my sister gave me a new one for Christmas, my old one had finally given up the ghost) and used 80 grit sandpaper to remove as much of the chippy, peeling paint as possible.

Then after another good cleaning, I gave it two coats of Dixie Belle’s clear Bonding Boss.  This time I followed the proper directions of applying two coats with 4 hours of dry time in between coats, followed by 24 hours of dry time after the 2nd coat.  Although Bonding Boss doesn’t technically prohibit the rust itself, it will help keep any remaining rust from bleeding through the paint.  In addition, any protective layer, whether it’s Bonding Boss or just paint, will also help reduce future rusting.

OK, so once my 24 hours were up I gave the inside of the box a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Bunker Hill Blue.

I applied a floral bit from the I.O.D. Lost Garden transfer (from their new spring release), since, spoiler alert, I was going to be using that transfer on the outside of the box as well.

Next I gave the outside two coats of Dixie Belle’s new color called Ecru.

If you are a fan of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, then you will LOVE Ecru.  It may be my new favorite warm white.  Obviously it’s not wildly different from Drop Cloth, but I would say it’s a bit less yellow and also just a tad darker.  Dixie Belle is calling it a ‘timeless beige’, but I think ‘beige’ has gotten a bad rap over the years.  Let’s call it a warm off-white with ‘an earthy undertone’.

Once the Ecru was dry, I sanded the box to distress the edges.  After wiping away any dust, I started applying the Lost Garden transfer.

According to The Painted Heirloom, this transfer is “designed with large décor in mind” so you could line up the first six pages into a cohesive design across the front of a large dresser for example.

But I chose to break it up and use it on this toolbox.

I cut various sections out of several different sheets and fitted them to my toolbox so that it appears as one continuous design.

By the way, as I was working with the transfer I was surprised to realize that three of the sheets are repeats (the first three sheets are repeated a 2nd time).  Just something to know if that sort of thing is an issue for you.

The thing that drew me to this particular transfer was the addition of the blackberries.

I love the combination of fruit and flowers.  It reminds me of Dutch still life paintings.

I’d left a space at the top of the toolbox for some typography and for that I pulled out my old standby, the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

How perfect is that?  That translates to something like “choice of the most beautiful flowers and fruits”.

I also added a number to the top of the toolbox …

As well as a tiny little bug to the latch.

Both of those are from old Tim Holtz rub-ons.

I actually painted up this toolbox a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn’t share it here until Dixie Belle released their new colors, which they did yesterday.  There are 7 new colors in their Southern Roots collection including Ecru.  Be sure to head to their website to check them out.  I think I’m going to try the Blue Grass next.

As for the toolbox, I actually took it into the shop to sell last week.  If any of you locals are interested, you could always pop by Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater, MN to check it out.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co. for providing me with samples of their new colors!

it must be do-over week.

Published on by Quandie8 Comments

Well, I guess it must be do-over week.

On Monday I shared the do-over of a big metal box.

Then on Wednesday I shared the do-over of a miniature credenza.

And FYI, one of my readers kindly pointed out that I put the Union Jack flag upside down.  I’m pretty embarrassed to have gotten that wrong, I hope no one took offence.  But that means I’ll need to do-over my do-over.  Luckily this is a miniature piece of furniture and not a full sized one!

Today I’m sharing the do-over of this bucket.

I painted that up last year for my Carriage House sale and I added an I.O.D. paint inlay to it.

This was my 2nd use of that particular inlay, and as you can see the result was rather faint.  For comparison purposes, here is how the first use of that inlay looked …

That crate was quite nice, but the bucket really turned out just a bit blah.  The inlay wasn’t really a good fit for it.

So I decided another do-over was in order.  After painting over the inlay with a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, I went through my stash of transfers.  I definitely need to start using up some of the transfers that I have on hand and stop buying more new ones!

I ended up pulling out the Champs de Lavende transfer from re.design with prima.  I’d purchased this one a couple of years ago and I always planned to put it on the front of a dresser or something, but I just never did.

So even though I knew that using it on this bucket would mean cutting off about half of the transfer and discarding it (because the transfer is 24″ tall, way taller than my bucket), I decided to go for it anyway.

Before adding the transfer though, I gave the inside of the bucket a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Secret Path.

Then I added the Champs de Lavende transfer all the way around the outside of the bucket.

I just love the detail of that little bee.

Once I had all of the transfers applied, I gave the bucket a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat on both the inside and outside.

Now, you might be thinking ‘what in the world is one supposed to do with this bucket’?  Obviously it’s not going to be used for scrubbing the floor.

But I think it would be adorable as an Easter basket.  Fill it with faux grass, a giant chocolate bunny and colorful Easter eggs.

OK, so I didn’t actually have any of those things on hand to fill the bucket for a photo, so I made do with an aluminum bunny mold and some faux flowers.  But you get the idea.

And speaking of bunnies, I have one last do-over for you.

I painted up this bunny pull toy back in February 2023.

I brought him to the shop back then, but he didn’t sell.

To be honest, I sort of forgot that I even had him.  But I came across him while looking for anything at all to put in that bucket and decided to give him a quick makeover as well.

I gave him a fresh couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, then after a good sanding to distress the paint, I added that section of the I.O.D. Traditional Pots transfer.

Perhaps the warm white will appeal to a buyer more than the former grey color did.  We’ll see.

I did take all three of these items, the bucket and the two bunnies, into the shop where I sell on consignment this week (Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater, MN).  So if any of you locals need to get out this weekend, be sure to stop by and check them out!

the union jack credenza.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

If you’ve followed me for long, you may know that do-overs seem to be a regular thing for me.

For example, this one was fun …

I had originally painted (and sold) that dresser in black and white.

I then purchased it back via Craigslist Marketplace and painted it in that lovely custom mix of Dixie Belle Silk Paint (check out all of the details here).

I also shared a metal box do-over on Monday.

But I will say that a miniature furniture do-over is so much easier than one on a full sized piece of furniture.

Back in November I painted up this Tate Modern Sideboard from The Modern Dollhouse in Dixie Belle’s Silk Paint in Everglades.

I did like how it turned out, but the color wasn’t really working in my dollhouse, so I decided to give it a different look.

I had a small Union Jack stencil in my stash, it was one of those freebies that you sometimes get when you order something larger online.  In this case it was a stencil from Maison de Stencils (I believe they have since gone out of business).

I’d only used it once, and that was to create a patch for one of the pillows on my patio dining set.

The stencil turned out to be the perfect size for the front of the credenza.

I started with sanding the credenza with one of the Dixie Belle Sanding Sponges.  These sponges are 220 grit and I’m finding that they are perfect for working with miniatures.

After wiping away the dust, I gave the piece a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Gravel Road on the top, back and sides, and then I painted the door/drawer fronts in their Drop Cloth.

I then applied the full stencil using a custom mix of Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage.

Once the Dried Sage was dry, I went back over just the triangle sections of the design with Gravel Road.

I then sanded very lightly to distress the edges.  I didn’t want to see any of that Everglades green poking through, so I used a very light hand and that 220 grit sanding sponge.  Next I applied clear wax over everything and then used a small brush to add some of the Dixie Dirt in Earth to add some dimension and age.

Finally, I did go back with the Dixie Belle Gold Gilding Wax to add some ‘feet’.

By the way, while I had that Gold wax out, I also gave a mirror a new look.

That is the mirror that was originally in the 2nd floor hallway of my dollhouse.  I thought I had taken a good ‘before’ photo of it, but this is the only one I could dig up.

It’s rather difficult to see, but it originally had a dark, shiny ‘mahogany’ sort of finish on the frame.

All I did was apply the Gilding Wax right over that finish using a q tip.  I did two coats to get a fairly opaque look.

I let it dry (or harden?) for a day or two, then I gave it a quick buff with an old t-shirt and hung it back on the wall in that same spot.

Although, of course, as I shared back in January, that hallway is now wallpapered in book pages.

As for the union jack credenza, I’ll be putting that in the attic rec room.  Be sure to stay tuned for the full reveal of that space coming soon.

embracing imperfections.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

Sometimes it takes a couple of tries before I feel like I’ve gotten something right.

Such is the case with today’s project, this metal box.

My friend Kathy gifted me with this box last summer.  I really wanted to try and save that original very distressed paint job.  So after cleaning the box, I decided to paint just the lid and then apply an I.O.D. paint inlay to it.

I shared the full details of that back in June of last year, and it ended up looking like this.

I have to admit, I didn’t love it.  I did put a price tag on it for my occasional sale last summer, but it didn’t sell.  So I tucked it away for a bit.

But I pulled it out last week to give it another go.

First up I sanded the lid vigorously to prevent the lines of the paint inlay from showing through a couple of fresh coats of Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky.

Then I decided to give another I.O.D. paint inlay a try.  But this time I wanted to put it around the sides of the box rather than on the lid.  Once again, I didn’t want to paint over that chippy paint though.

I’ve seen quite a few people applying the paint inlays into a clear top coat rather than paint, so I decided to give that a go.

I used Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat, and it worked out perfectly.

Or … well … somewhat imperfectly, but just like it’s supposed to.

Basically just follow the same steps that you would with paint, only use a clear, water-based top coat instead (find full step by step post for applying a paint inlay here).  In addition, be sure to remove the paint inlay paper backing fairly quickly once dry.  If you wait too long the top coat will harden and make it difficult to get the paper off.

When I did the original paint inlay on the top of the box last summer, I noted that I got some inconsistent results.

Since I was applying it over a solid, fresh coat of black paint, I think that looked a little out of place.

But I think the same sort of result looks much more fitting over the chippy sides of the box.

Once I had the paint inlay applied, I gave the sides of the box a quick spray with a matte sealer to protect it from smearing.

Next I gave the top of the box a good sanding to rough it up a bit because I felt it looked too freshly painted in comparison to the sides.

Then I decided to give one of the I.O.D. gilded transfers another shot.

You may remember that I purchased these when they first came out and I wasn’t super enthused about them.

But I did give them another try later, using them on some ice skates in the fall with much better results.

I definitely felt like using them in this way, layered over something botanical, was the way to go.

But for the top of this box I decided to try applying one over black paint once more.  I’ve seen examples of this online that look really good, so I was willing to try again.

I think you have to be OK with imperfections when using these gilded transfers.  Much like the paint inlays, they aren’t meant to produce perfection.

Once you accept that and decide to work with it, they can be really lovely.

You also have to get a feel for how to apply the gilded transfers.  They work a little differently than your typical transfer.  It takes more patience, and just gentle pressure rather than hard rubbing to get these adhered.

Ultimately, I think this box turned out pretty cool.

I did paint the inside in Dixie Belle’s Anchor to freshen it up, so it would work well for storing stuff like your garden journals, hats and mittens, your old DVD collection, your stash of greeting cards, craft supplies … and with that hasp, you could even lock up your secret diaries in this box.

I staged my photos with this pretty little tea cup.

I still have a major weakness for pretty floral china, although aside from using it in photos I rarely do anything with it.

I’ve gotten rid of most of the floral china I once had with the exception of anything with birds on it.

How sweet are those little birds?

Anyway, back to the box.

Now that I have decided to embrace the imperfections and work with them instead of against them, I’m much happier with how this box turned out.

How about you?  Are you OK with imperfections?  Leave a comment and let me know.

By the way, this box is for sale.  I’ve added it to my ‘available for local sale‘ page, so you can check out the details there.  Also, FYI, I’ve created a new page for the mini’s that I have for sale and am willing to ship.  For clarity, I decided two separate pages might work better.  Be sure to check those out!

miniature crush.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

Earlier this week Mr. Q and I drove out to Savage, MN to visit Miniature Crush.

If you’ve been following along on my dollhouse renovation project, you may know that I found them on Etsy.  I initially ordered a couple of things from them through Etsy, but then I searched out their website and started ordering from them directly.

I’ve gotten quite a few things from them since, including this armoire …

and this bench …

and this pair of chairs …

and this hallway table.

I should point out that I painted all of those items myself, they didn’t arrive looking like that.

Anyway, a few weeks back the owners of Miniature Crush reached out to me.  They had seen my blog posts and knew that I was local (well, just across the other side of the Twin Cities from them anyway).  They invited me to come out and tour their facility.

They don’t have a brick and mortar shop that is open to the public, but I thought it would be fun to check out their set up.

They are very much a family run business, and they started out working out of their basement and selling online in 2018.  Over time the miniatures were taking over though, so now they rent space in an office complex to house their inventory of over 5,000 miniature items.

Hey look, here’s that armoire that I purchased …

Please excuse my poor quality photo, I haven’t got skills for taking good pics in fluorescent lighting.

They get their inventory from a wide variety of sources.  They carry quite a few items made by individual artisans like Warren Richardson who creates these spectacular chandeliers using Swarovski crystals.

I think my favorite items were the Sir Thomas Thumb pieces like this scoop.

They are so realistic looking!  Although I didn’t bring any of these home with me, I think I’m going to pop back onto the Miniature Crush website and order some.

They also have all kinds of the building supplies necessary for dollhouse making, such as these trim pieces from their ‘lumber yard’.

And they had quite a few shelves full of wallpaper.

Plus lots of options for flooring.

Of course, I did find a few things that I had to bring home with me.

I’m not even sure where I’m going to put this cupboard, let alone what colors I will use to paint it.

But I thought it was so sweet, I just had to have it.

I also purchased a set of books.

Because, you know, you can never have too many books.

I brought home this ceiling medallion and plan to use it in the dollhouse living room.  I’m not sure yet if I’ll leave it white, or paint it gold.

I’m told that the center of it is the perfect size for holding one of the magnets that many of the battery operated dollhouse lights use.  So I’m going to be on the hunt for the perfect light fixture to affix to it.

I’m looking forward to doing something fun to this door.

I don’t particularly have a spot for it, but Miniature Crush kindly gifted it to me when I mentioned that it would be perfect with some sort of transfer on the ‘glass’ (it’s actually really plexiglass).

They also gifted me with a little gold frame, and I’ve already filled it with a simple botanical image that I also brought home from Miniature Crush.

I just mounted the print on a piece of scrapbook paper that I cut to fit the frame.

The botanical print is from a box called Notes on Nature that contains 100 little cardstock prints.

I have no idea what I’m going to do with the other 99 prints, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something.

It was very interesting to learn more about Miniature Crush and to see their warehouse.  And I’ve already placed my next order (including that adorable Sir Thomas Thumb scoop) with them online.  I should point out that they make it their mission to ship most orders within 24 hours of receiving them, so I bet my stuff will arrive early next week!