Author: Quandie

toolbox week.

Published on by Quandie2 Comments

It may be shark week over on the Discovery Channel, but here on q is for quandie it’s ‘toolbox week’!

As you know, I’ve been picking up a lot of toolboxes lately, like this haul from the So. St. Paul garage sales.

And then this one from Spring Lake Park.

Then my friend Sue told me about a sale down the street from me where I found two more.

My friend Jackie also grabbed some toolboxes that were ‘free at the curb’ for me.

So, yeah, I have a lot of toolboxes to work on, so why not make a week of it!

Let’s start with this toolbox that I picked up at the So. St. Paul city wide garage sales.

I thought it had a bit of a homemade vibe.

As much as I liked the worn blue paint that was already on it, these metal boxes really don’t sell for me ‘as is’.  So of course I gave it a fresh paint job … on the outside anyway.  I left the inside alone.

It was clean, there wasn’t any rust, and I like that galvanized look.

I prepped the outside for paint by first giving it a good cleaning, then a light scuff sanding.  After rinsing away any dust, I applied a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss and left it to dry overnight.

Next I gave the toolbox two coats of Dixie Belle’s Ecru.  Then after sanding to distress the edges, I simply applied one of I.O.D.’s Seed Catalogue transfers.

I did have to cut off the “Northern Grown” portion of the transfer to then position it above the handle, but that was easy enough.

This transfer is a particularly good one for me since it makes this box feel local.

See it there at the bottom?  St. Paul, Minn.?  Perfect.

After adding a top coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax, I called this one done.

I wonder what the original purpose of this box was.  It’s a bit small for holding tools.  Could it have been used as a lunchbox?  What do you think it once held?  Be sure to leave a comment and let me know.

Regardless of its original purpose, I think it would work well for holding all of your ribbon and string.  I would also be perfect for your desk top, holding various office supplies like a stapler, tape and post-it notes.  And of course, you could also put it in the outhouse to keep the t.p. dry.

Remember Ellie who purchased my ‘rusty crustiest’ toolbox to use in her outhouse?  She followed through and sent me a photo.

I think it’s perfect!

If you need a toolbox for your outhouse, or for any other purpose, the Northern Grown toolbox is for sale locally, check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

hot, hot, hot.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

Well, sort of.

My sister and I snuck in a quick trip to visit our mom last weekend.  As many of you probably know by now, our mom lives in a suburb of Las Vegas.  And as many of you probably also know, it’s hot there in the summer.  July in particular is their hottest month of the year on average.

So why in the world did we plan a visit in July?  Well … it was really the only time that my sister and I could go together until possibly next spring.

Plus, it has been super hot the last two times my sister and I visited.  Last October they had record highs over 100° while we were there, and during our visit this past April the temps were in the upper 90’s (and average temps are usually in the upper 70’s to low 80’s in April).  So we figured it couldn’t be much worse.

In addition, at least in July the pool at my mom’s townhome complex is open!

We knew we wouldn’t be able to do much outside other than float in the pool, but we could certainly visit with mom in the a/c when we weren’t in the pool.

As it turned out, once again we were there for another above average hot spell.  The temps went from 109° on our first day to 112° on our last day.  And sure, it’s a dry heat.  But even a dry heat at 112° feels ridiculously hot!  Although, to be fair, it was quite comfortable floating in the pool.

My sister and I also got up each morning around 6 a.m. and went for a walk on the Harry Reid Union Pacific Railroad Trail and that brings me to why I’m categorizing this post as a ‘sunday mornings in the garden’ post.

A couple of years ago, my sister and I stumbled across the one small segment of this trail that offers some shade.

For any of you who may want to try and find this spot while in Henderson, NV, take Boulder Highway east to the Wagon Wheel exit.  At the light for Wagon Wheel, take a right and you’ll be on Nevada State Drive.  Head down Nevada State Drive towards the college.  There will be a small parking lot to the right just before you get to the railroad tracks.

Park there and head to the right (ie. west) down the trail and you’ll find yourself in this area.

The trail here is lined with trees …

and this may have been the first time I’ve ever seen this particular tree in bloom.

I’m not very familiar with the plants that don’t grow in my zone 4b/5a garden, but I’m fairly sure this is a Chilopsis linearis, or Desert Willow.  The hummingbirds seem to love this one, and looking around the area it appears to re-seed itself quite freely.

I have to admit I was amazed to find that there were quite a few other things in bloom along this section of the trail as well.

I saw what I thought was a buddleia, or butterfly bush, but it turns out that this is a Vitex, or Chastetree.

Proven Winners has a variety of this plant called Rock Steady, and I had to laugh when I read this about it on their website:

“Commonly known as the chastetree, Vitex agnus-castus was in ancient times thought to be an aphrodisiac. According to Wikipedia, the leaves and stems were once used in ladies’ bedding to “cool the heat of lust” when the men were off to war, thus the name chastetree. We’re not sure if this works or not, but we do know that it makes a wonderful landscape plant that is highly deer and drought resistant.”

It grows in zones 5 to 9 and is obviously heat and drought tolerant.

I also spotted this Angel’s Trumpet, or Datura innoxia.

And again, I’m pretty sure that’s what this is, but I’m not 100% certain.

But if so, this plant is extremely toxic so if you ever see it growing somewhere just leave it alone.

I think I was most amazed to find this though …

Is it a watermelon?  Or some other type of melon?  Or is it some kind of squash?  I’m not sure, but how in the world is it growing in this dry climate?

I should note that there is dripline irrigation provided to the trees and plants along this section of trail, so perhaps there is an errant drip emitter that this plant is taking advantage of.

Clearly gardening in the hot, dry climate of the Las Vegas area is something I know little about.  I came home last Tuesday evening, and when I woke up on Wednesday it was rainy and 50°.  I have to confess, I prefer 50° to 112° any day (I’ll try to remember that in January when it’s 10° below here, and 50° there).

How about you?  Are you a warm weather person, or a cool weather person?  Leave a comment and let me know.

a makeshift cupboard.

Published on by Quandie18 Comments

I purchased this vintage cupboard at a garage sale back in early May.

It was dirt cheap and I thought it would make a fun painting project.

The seller said that it was originally used for record album storage, but at some point someone added makeshift drawers to the interior which you’ll see in a minute.

After gluing down some loose veneer, I began by trying to decide whether to use Dixie Belle’s Smoky Mountains or Blue Grass.

The Blue Grass is one of their new chalk paint colors, while the Smoky Mountains is from their All-in-One Silk paint line.  The colors are quite similar with the Blue Grass being just a little bit lighter.

Ultimately, I chose to go with the Silk paint with its built in top-coat simply so that I could save that added step.  Although this cupboard is on the small side, there was a lot of painting involved since I painted the interior and each drawer fully as well.

Although the Silk paint also has a built in primer that should block stains, I opted to be absolutely sure that the original reddish colored stain on this piece wouldn’t bleed through my paint by applying a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss first.  I only did that on the outside of the cabinet because the inside wasn’t stained.

Once my paint was fully dry, I applied I.O.D.’s Joie des Roses transfer.

The transfer was actually a couple of inches taller than the cupboard, so before applying it I laid it out to make sure I wouldn’t be cutting off anything important at the top, like the top of a bird’s head or something.  In the end I only cut off the tips of a couple of flower buds, which was fine.

The transfer also wrapped almost all the way around each side.

It was fairly easy to accomplish this since this transfer comes on 8 separate sheets.

I’ve seen some complaints online about the seams between each sheet and how they can be rather obvious, but I think I got most of them fairly well disguised.  You can see them if you look closely …

but I think the faux crackle look of the transfer helps make them seem like part of the design too.

Although the Silk paint doesn’t require a top coat, the transfer does.  So once I had it in place I added a quick coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax over it.  I did not wax the inside or top of the cupboard.

And with that it was done.

It’s definitely a unique piece, but I could see using it to store extra linens … or possible even as a lingerie cupboard.  It would also work well to store your Dixie Belle paint or other craft supplies.  It would fit nicely into a bathroom to hold the extra t.p. or other toiletries too.

What would you use it for?  Leave a comment and let me know.

This cupboard is for sale locally, so be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page if interested in the details.

sometimes simple is the way to go.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

Today I thought I’d share just a few smaller projects that I’ve worked on recently.  None of them merit their own individual post, so I’ve been saving them up for a bit of a compilation.

First up, a simple painted bucket.

While going through my pile of decor books recently, the blue bucket on the cover of Romantic Prairie Style caught my eye.

See it there, over by the window?  Isn’t that a fabulous cobalt blue?

So I thought, hmmm … I have some old metal buckets, maybe I’ll paint one blue.

So I pulled out this one …

and then I pulled out the Soldier Blue milk paint from Homestead House.

I thought it would be the perfect match for the inspiration bucket.

I gave my bucket a quick wash with Dawn dish soap and hot water, and that was it for prep.  I find that milk paint tends to adhere quite well to old galvanized items, the key word being ‘old’.  The old ones usually have a rough surface that is fairly matte, while newer galvanized pieces have a slicker, shinier surface.  Also, keep in mind that any greasy or oily residue on an old galvanized piece will also resist milk paint so be aware of that.

I gave the bucket two coats of the Soldier Blue.

As you can see, I didn’t really get any chipping at all even though I did not using any bonding agent, or any special primer.

Once the paint was dry, I sanded it lightly with some 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface and add a little wear to the edges.  I followed that up with a coat of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta.  If you aren’t familiar with this product, I like to say that if hemp oil and wax had a baby it would be Big Mama’s Butta.

It’s super easy to apply with a brush or a rag, and it comes in some nice scents with Orange Grove being my favorite.  It works beautifully over milk paint.

I popped in a couple of lavender plants that I am attempting to grow this summer.

I think my blue bucket is a pretty good match for the one in the book, what do you think?

Next up I have another old galvanized piece.

This is the $2 watering can that I picked up at the MacGrove neighborhood sales.

I originally thought it would be kind of shabbily fabulous to just add a paint inlay to the watering can without painting it.  I did that recently on another bucket and it worked out great …

So after giving the can a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat, I applied the inlay face down into the wet clear coat.  I was fully aware that the watering can had some horizontal grooves, so I was very careful to press the inlay down into the grooves creating good contact.

Apparently, I wasn’t careful enough …

Drat!

I will say that it was absolutely pouring rain the day I worked on this, I believe the humidity level was literally 100% for a good chunk of the day.  So I did also have a problem getting the paint inlay to dry and ended up using a hair dryer to help it along.  So I’m not sure if it was the grooves or the humidity, but either way this inlay didn’t quite work out.

Well, you win some, you lose some.

One major bonus of a paint inlay is that you can wash it right off if you haven’t sealed it yet.  It wiped right off this watering can, and then I was back to square one.

Since the blue bucket turned out so nicely, I decided to give the watering can a simple milk paint treatment as well.  In this case, I went with Sweet Pickins milk paint in In a Pickle.

Once again, very little chipping, but I think it looks somewhat authentically old after a little distressing with 220 grit sandpaper.

I did debate putting a transfer over the green paint, but in the end sometimes keeping it simple is the way to go.

But then sometimes not so simple is a better option, which brings me to project no. 3.

This is the oval bucket that I purchased at the So. St. Paul city wide garage sales.

I decided to play around with some layering on this one.  So, after giving it a good cleaning, I added some of Dixie Belle’s Sea Spray texture additive to their Cottage Door paint.  I then applied just one coat of that to the bucket using a chip brush.

Once dry, I sanded with 150 grit sandpaper and then wiped away any dust.  I followed that up with a a coat of Rust-Oleum semi-gloss spray sealer.

I then mixed up some off-white milk paint using a combination of Fusion’s London Fog and Homestead House Sturbridge White.  The London Fog is too creamy, and the Sturbridge White is too white for me, so I salvaged both colors by mixing them together.

I was hoping to get a good crackle finish, like I did on the box I painted back in June.  I applied a layer of clear coat first, then brushed on the milk paint.  Only this time around I put the bucket out in the hot sun to dry rather than adding heat with a blow dryer.  I’ve inadvertently had milk paint crackle under the hot sun in the past, so I thought it would work here.

Ultimately I did get some crackling, but not enough to really reveal that underlayer of pink.  In hindsight, I made two mistakes with this treatment.  First, I shouldn’t have sanded the textured Cottage Door color as much as I did.  I basically removed most of the texture.  I should have waited until after adding the off white, and then sanded lightly to reveal the pink.  I also should have added some beeswax here and there over the pink to create a resist before adding that off white.

Regardless, after adding some of I.O.D.’s Rose Botanicals and a little wording from that retired Label Ephemera transfer, I love how this bucket turned out anyway.

I wrapped the roses around the back.

And I finished the whole thing off with a couple of coats of Rust-Oleum’s matte spray sealer.

Although sometimes keeping it simple is the way to go, other times dressing it up is definitely the way to go.

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

verbena bonariensis.

Published on by Quandie9 Comments

Good morning from the garden.

I’ve been a fan of the British gardening show Gardener’s World for many years, do any of you watch it?

I’d often notice tall, wispy sprays of purple flowers in the gardens they feature and I’d always wondered what they were.  Eventually I figured out that they were verbena bonariensis.

I badly wanted some verbena bonariensis in my own garden, but never could seem to find it here in Minnesota.  It got to the point where my neighbor, nnK, got tired of hearing me say the words ‘verbena bonariensis’ every time we visited a garden center (so of course I said it even more).

Every time I saw some of them on our trip to Europe in 2023, I took a photo and texted it to her saying “look, they have verbena bonariensis in Amsterdam!”  and “look, they have verbena bonariensis in Norway!”

I spotted them at Madurodam in the Netherlands …

and at Zaanse Schans near Amsterdam.

I also spotted them in Stavanger, Norway.

But I still wasn’t able to find them at any of our garden centers here.

Then, lo and behold, nnK and I were at a garden center out near her parents house in Wisconsin last summer and what did I spot?  Verbena bonariensis!  They had it.

I purchased a couple of them and put them in my garden near the carriage house.  They need 6 – 8 hours of sun to bloom well, and they didn’t quite get it in that spot.  They performed OK, but they weren’t spectacular.

However, as you may know, my neighbor Ken had a huge shade tree removed from his backyard late last summer.  As a result, I now have one section of garden that gets full sun.  So I was on the hunt for more verbena bonariensis this year so that I could try them in that spot.

I did find it at my local Bachman’s where one plant was $14.95!  Thank goodness I didn’t buy it there, because when nnK went back to that nursery in Wisconsin where I found them last year, they had them for $2.95 each.  So I had her pick up six of them for me.

Now, I will point out that I’m pretty sure the version at Bachman’s was the Proven Winners Meteor Shower, and I imagine that price is because of the Proven Winners branding.

I believe the plants nnK found were probably grown in house from seed.  When nnK was purchasing them the nursery owner mentioned wishing that more gardeners in our area knew about this plant.  It looks so unassuming and really rather unattractive on the shelf at the nursery, so they don’t sell particularly well.

But here we are in early July and mine are finally starting to bloom and look like I hoped they would.

Unfortunately, I found it nearly impossible to capture them in photos.

Let me try to describe them for you.  They grow quite tall, I would say that mine are at least 4′ to 5′ tall now.  They aren’t especially attractive looking plants at the base, but they are perfect for the back of the border where they can be seen poking just their flower stalks above everybody else in the garden.

They do re-seed freely, and at first I thought that was a bit of a myth, but last week I realized I did have some seedlings where I planted the two plants last year.  They are about 3″ tall so far, so I don’t think that I could rely solely on re-seeding to have more verbena bonariensis next year.  I’ll be lucky if those seedling start to look good by the end of August.

But I sure do hope I can continue to find verbena bonariensis at the garden center in the coming years because I definitely have a place for them in my garden.  How about you?  Have you ever grown it?  Or, have you not even heard of it before?  Leave a comment and let me know.

free from all irritating matter.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

First up, congrats to Sue P. who won my Brandywine Valley giveaway!  Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a comment, I wish you could all be winners 🙂

I picked up this stool while out garage saling a few weeks back.

It’s just your typical shop stool, but it’s got a vintage vibe that I like.

After giving it a good cleaning, I first painted the entire thing in Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky.

It seems like whenever I mention this paint color, at least one reader thinks it’s a dark blue based on the name.  It’s not.  It’s a soft black.  Not quite as black as Dixie Belle’s Caviar, but still black.  Here’s a comparison of a few of the different shades of black available from Dixie Belle that I did back in 2021.

The Anchor is from DB’s Silk Paint line (ie. a 3 in 1 acrylic paint with built in primer and top coat) and you can see that it has a little more sheen than the two chalk paint options.

Anyway …

I painted the stool with two coats of the Midnight Sky, then once fully dry I taped off a Swiss cross on the seat and painted it with DB’s Drop Cloth.

Then I decided to add just a little something extra.  I applied one of I.O.D.’s Floriography paint inlays to the seat.

At first I thought the wording on the inlay didn’t really work on a shop stool, but I liked the look of it anyway.

But then I thought, hey, the Swiss cross has long been a symbol denoting a pharmacy.  Originally they were red, until the Red Cross sort of commandeered it.  Now throughout Europe if you see a green Swiss cross you know immediately that it’s a pharmacy regardless of whatever language is written on the sign.

So … maybe this is an old stool from the Pacific Homeopathic Pharmacy in San Francisco advertising their Cocoanut Cream.

Apparently it’s the most elegant face dressing in the world.  And it’s also entirely free from all irritating matter.  Who couldn’t use a little more of that in their life?

After first sealing the paint inlay with some Rust-Oleum matte spray sealer (always seal your paint inlay before rubbing over it in any way), I then sanded spots here and there to add some faux wear.  Then I applied a coat of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta over the entire stool.

And that’s it.

I’m a pretty big fan of stools in general.  Currently I have 4 in my own home.  They are great for tucking into a spot that just needs something, like the space between my pantry door and my bathroom door.

  They also make a good nightstand in a pinch.

They work well as plant stands.

And they also make a great perch for a big stack of books.

So if any of you local readers think you have a good spot for a stool, this Swiss cross stool is for sale.  Check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying their products used in this makeover.

the flowering roots toolbox.

Published on by Quandie20 Comments

Speaking of yellow flowers (which I did in this past Sunday’s garden post), not only do I not typically plant them in my garden, I also don’t usually gravitate towards them for my toolbox makeovers.

One exception was the tackle box I did back in May using just the yellow roses from I.O.D.’s Botanical Roses.

In all honesty, I only did that because at the time I only had a bunch of yellow roses left over and I wanted to use them on something.

Another exception would be the Fresh as a Daisy lockbox that I did back in 2024.

Usually I lean more towards pretty pink florals though.

But I recently ordered the I.O.D. Sarah Featon’s Botanicals transfer, and as it turns out it features quite a few flowers with yellow in them, so once again I found myself using yellow flowers.

Let’s start with a before photo of the toolbox in question.

This was one of my finds at the South St. Paul city wide garage sales.

It was in pretty rough shape with plenty of dirt and some rust.  I began by using a razor blade to remove that “Craftsman’ label which was basically just a decal.  I then gave it a good scrub with some Dawn dish soap.  After using a hammer to pound out a couple of dents, I used 150 grit sandpaper and my Mouse sander to give it a good once over.  I then rinsed it off with the garden hose and left it to dry.

Once dry I gave it two coats of Rust-Oleum’s spray satin sealer.  This seems to work just as well as the Dixie Belle Bonding Boss that I usually use, but it’s much quicker.  Plus, I accidentally bought three cans of the stuff in the satin sheen by mistake (I meant to buy the matte version) and I was too lazy to return them.  So now I want to use them up.

Next up, I painted the interior in Dixie Belle’s Holy Guacamole.

This color is the perfect 70’s avocado green and I tend to use it a lot inside my toolboxes.

Next I painted the exterior of the toolbox in Dixie Belle’s Ecru.  This color is from their new Southern Roots collection and is a lovely very warm, nearly beige, white.

Then I pulled out that Sarah Featon’s Botanicals transfer and started adding florals.

I started with a couple of the larger ones, and then used smaller ones to fill in.

The transfer set does have flowers in other colors, but I chose to stick with mainly yellow and white, with just a little bit of pink.

Finally I pulled out the typography from an old re.design with prima transfer called Seeds.  One of my readers sent this to me a while back, thanks again for that Monica.

It just happened to fit perfectly across the toolbox.

As one final touch, I added a butterfly from the I.O.D. Saint Germain transfer.

He had the perfect coloring to work with the Sarah Featon’s Botanicals.

I finished off the exterior of the toolbox with some of Dixie Belle’s clear wax, and I used their flat clear coat to protect the Holy Guacamole interior.

This toolbox is for sale locally, so be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

never say never, garden edition.

Published on by Quandie8 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that I should never say never.  I once said that I would never use the Dixie Belle Secret Path color because it was too purple.

But then I did use it, and I loved it.

I also once said that I would never use the metallic gold transfers from I.O.D., but then I kept working with them and realized that they were much more versatile than I originally thought.

I also once said that I didn’t like yellow flowers and would never add them to my gardens.

I even went so far as to try and remove these yellow irises about 20 years ago.

But they were stubborn, and they came back.  And continued to multiply.

Now I rather like that pop of yellow over by the carriage house.

I have to admit, when my friend Jodie brought me some of the Evening Primrose from her garden I wasn’t sure I really wanted it.  But I put it in my shade garden, probably secretly thinking it wouldn’t do well there anyway because they like full sun.

But au contraire, they are flourishing.

When they are blooming (late June to early July) they look spectacular in the shade garden.

FYI, my shade garden does get late afternoon to evening sun, probably about 2 to 3 hours per day.

Next up is the Corydalis.

I purchased this plant at a garage sale, back when I used to do that.  As a sidebar, I no longer recommend buying garage sale plants unless you are absolutely sure the seller does not have jumping worms.  As I’ve mentioned here, I now have a raging case of jumping worms and it’s definitely possible they came from a garage sale purchase.  They could also have come in a batch of mulch that wasn’t properly heat treated.

Anyway, I purchased that Corydalis over a decade ago.  It blooms nearly all summer, and will grow in full to part shade.  However, be forewarned, it re-seeds itself all over the place.  I’m constantly pulling out Corydalis babies.  So if that’s the sort of thing that bugs you, don’t plant it.

I even added a pop of yellow to my fairy garden a couple of years ago with Golddust Mecardonia from Proven Winners.

Those little yellow flowers were perfectly scaled for a miniature garden.

Then there are the daffodils.  I’ll be honest, I really prefer tulips in pretty shades of pink when it comes to spring bulbs.

But I’ve given up on them since they seem to draw deer all the way over to my very suburban location to eat them in the spring.

Deer don’t like daffodils though, so here they are.

And I’ll admit, that bright pop of yellow in early spring is kind of a showstopper.

That being said, I did choose to plant some all white daffodils under the hydrangea hedge last fall.

So maybe I’m not quite a full-on yellow convert just yet, although I did put some yellow snap dragons in the garden this year.  I’m still waiting for them to bloom though.  I’ll have to wait until they get going before deciding whether or not I’ll plant them again in the future.

How about you?  Do you like yellow in the garden?  And if so, what are your favorite yellow flowers?  Leave a comment and let me know.

red, white and blue.

Published on by Quandie8 Comments

Happy 4th of July to my American readers!

I’ll be heading up to nnK’s family lake home to celebrate, but first I thought I’d share some red, white and blue.

One of my all time favorite 4th of July themed makeovers was this trio of chairs from back in 2016.

I loved how they turned out, especially the red and white chair.  I have another small chair to paint waiting in the wings, maybe I’ll try that look again.

Those old pics taken in the ‘photo cottage’, which is now the potting shed, remind me why I didn’t like taking pictures in there.  I could never get the lighting and/or white balance right.

But those chairs sure were cute.

I grabbed this pair of buoys from the thrift store one year and gave them a red, white and blue makeover.

My Norske toolbox was my favorite red, white and blue toolbox.

OK, so it’s not exactly an American version of red, white and blue, but hey, we don’t have a monopoly on those colors.  According to Google there are 29 countries that have red, white and blue flags including the U.K.  I often paint the union jack design in other colors, but I did paint a traditional one on this desk in Mr. Q’s study.

More than one of my red, white and blue projects were flops including this lunchbox makeover.

I ended up painting back over it and giving it an entirely different look, at which point it sold quite quickly.

I have to admit, I like that look much better myself.

I also had to makeover this patriotic themed desk.

It just didn’t sell with a simple blue and white paint job, so eventually I also converted it to a more floral look and was able to sell it.

So, I don’t know.  Maybe the red, white and blue is OK for the 4th of July, but not so much on furniture.

Regardless, I hope you’re having a great day whether you’re celebrating the 4th of July or not!

a three hour tour (with a giveaway).

Published on by Quandie59 Comments

I’ve gotten to the final post from the trip Mr. Q and I took out east in May.

As promised, I brought something home from this trip to give away so be sure to read to the end today!  Or, if you have absolutely no interest in Gettysburg, just go ahead and skip straight to the end now. I won’t mind 😉

For the final three days of our trip, we swung through Philly to pick up our nephew and then we headed to Gettysburg.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I got to see some of the most amazing public gardens on this trip, and in return for his patience, Mr. Q got to see some battlefields.

For those of you who were passing notes about your boyfriend in history class instead of paying attention, the Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest conflict of the Civil War with over 51,000 casualties.  The battle took place over three days in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in July 1863.

At the time the entire population of Gettysburg was only around 2,400, and it was surrounded by rural farmsteads.

Although I learned lots of facts about why this battle took place here (to prevent the Confederates from taking Harrisburg, PA which was then the capital of Pennsylvania and a crucial supply hub for the union army), and what divisions skirmished where (the 1st Minnesota Infantry charged the confederates near Cemetery Ridge and lost over 80% of their 262 men) , the details that were most interesting to me were how the 2,400 residents of Gettysburg were impacted.

We learned a lot about that on a ghost tour that we took on our first night in town.  This was a walking tour of the center of town and our guide pointed out specific buildings that dated back to the war and gave us lots of gruesome details about how the town was eventually inundated with casualties.  Certainly if any place was going to be haunted, the town of Gettysburg would be a prime location for it, but almost all Gettysburg ghost stories are complete fiction according to The American Battlefield Trust.

Up until this tour, I hadn’t realized that parts of the battle took place in the town itself, not just out in the surrounding farm fields (I was probably passing a note in class when they talked about that).  Some of the buildings in town still have artillery shells embedded in their walls.  Many of the women and children in town fled before the fighting began, and most of the rest took shelter in their cellars.  Amazingly enough, there was only one civilian casualty of the war and that was a young woman named Jennie Wade.  She was kneading dough in the kitchen to make more of the biscuits that she was handing out to soldiers when a bullet passed through two wooden doors and straight into her heart.

It seems miraculous to me that there was only one civilian casualty.

However, although only one civilian died during the battle, the town itself was rendered nearly uninhabitable after it was over.  Farm fields had been trampled and/or burned, any livestock was commandeered by the troops, and buildings were badly damaged.  But even worse, there were those over 50,000 casualties (the term ‘casualty’ refers to dead, wounded, missing or captured).  There were around 7,000 killed in the battle, and another 33,000 wounded.  Any large building in the area was turned into a field hospital for the wounded.  Many of the women in town were enlisted to act as nurses.

In addition it was a hot and steamy July, and there were 7,000+ dead bodies to be dealt with.  The air became incredibly foul, and so did the ground water.  I don’t even want to imagine what that was like.

On our 2nd day in Gettysburg, we hired a licensed battlefield guide to take us on a guided tour of the Gettysburg National Military Park.  If you ever go to Gettysburg, I can’t recommend this enough.  You can hire the guide right at the Visitor’s Center.  We paid $117 (plus tip) for a three hour tour in our own vehicle.  The guide drives your vehicle, and customizes the itinerary based on your interests.

In our case, Mr. Q wanted to see a bit of everything, but especially where the 1st Minnesota fought.

By the way, there are over 1,300 monuments in this park.  It’s a bit overwhelming.  In some areas they are just lined up one after another.

Some are a little more simple.

While some are impressively grandiose.

That is the Pennsylvania State Memorial, and the largest monument in Gettysburg which makes sense.

Our guide was a retired college professor and incredibly knowledgeable.  Mr. Q and the nephew were enthralled for the entire 3 hours (I may or may not have been passing notes, albeit via text rather than paper).

Once our 3 hour tour concluded, we headed off for lunch and then went back to the Visitor’s Center to see the film, the cyclorama and the museum.  It took most of the afternoon to see those, so if you’re planning a trip to Gettysburg keep that in mind.  I recommend planning at least a full day for the Military Park and another half day or full day to see the town, maybe do a ghost tour like we did, or tour some of the many historical buildings.

Mr. Q and I had an amazing time on our trip out to the east coast.  If you are a fan of gardens, you should add the Brandywine Valley to your bucket list.  We totally enjoyed our visits to Longwood Gardens, Winterthur, Nemours, and historic New Castle.  Those gardens were just the tip of the iceberg, there are over 30 public gardens in the Philadelphia area.

And if you are a fan of battlefields, the Brandywine Battlefield was very interesting and easy to see in half a day.  Gettysburg is about a 2.5 hour drive away, and obviously well worth adding on to your trip.

As I mentioned, I did pick up a couple of things to give away.

I purchased the book, A Year at Brandywine Cottage, at Longwood Gardens.

I’m also including the Vintage Garden Style magazine that I found at a grocery store out there.  I purchased the Jennie Wade of Gettysburg book at the National Military Park.  It’s a short read telling the story of that one civilian who was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.

I decided to throw in a few more garden themed items too, including the I.O.D. Lover of Flowers transfer and two of the Dixie Belle Heirloom Roses decoupage papers.

Finally I’m also including some Dixie Belle paint in English Ivy and Magnolia as well as some of their Big Mama’s Butta in a floral scent called Suzanne’s Garden and some of their newest gilding wax in a color called Antique Gold.

That last item, the gilding wax, is in homage to all of the gilding we saw at the Nemours Estate.

I wish I could give these things to each and every one of you, but unfortunately that isn’t possible.  But please know that I do appreciate all of you.  But unfortunately there will only be one winner of this drawing.

The rules for today’s giveaway:  Simply leave a comment on this blog post and let me know which location we visited was your favorite.

Your comment must be left on this blog post, not on Facebook or Instagram.

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Sunday, July 6, 2025 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $200, if the prize is not claimed by Wednesday, July 16, 2025 another name will be drawn at random to win, yada, yada, yada.

Good luck!

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying all of their items that I’m giving away today!