garage sales. – q is for quandie

a pair of pigs.

Published on July 9, 2026July 4, 2026 by Quandie15 Comments

While out garage saling a week or so ago I came across these wooden pigs.

There was a black one and a white one. I’m guessing that someone made them in shop class. They aren’t really cutting boards, because they seem to be cut out of simple plywood.

I thought they would make a fun stenciling project, and they were just a couple of dollars, so I snatched them up.

Now, I know that painted signs are no longer trendy and all of the YouTuber ‘decorating experts’ are saying you should get rid of them, but personally I’m still a fan.

I love my Flower Market sign that hangs on the deck.

And I don’t think I’ll ever tire of the ‘sign’ that I made out of an old headboard that hangs on the carriage house.

And then there are the ‘signs’ that I make with old sleds for Christmas time.

I’m still loving those too.

Maybe the thing about these is that they are a little more unique than your basic faux painted sign from Hobby Lobby.

I hope that will be true of my two pig signs as well, but let’s see what you think.

After giving each one a good cleaning and a scuff sanding, I painted them both with Dixie Belle’s Coffee Bean.

I’ve shared this color before calling it the ‘new black’. It’s a dark black-brown. I think it reads black until you put it up against a true black, and then you can see the warmer brown undertone.

The Coffee Bean was the final color for the first one, but I then added two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth to the second one. After the paint was dry, I sanded them to add back a more distressed look.

Then I pulled out my stencils to see what would fit nicely on the pigs. This General Store stencil from Wallcutz was perfect.

I did tape off the border because I didn’t think that would work well on the pigs.

Then I started with the Coffee Bean version and added a shadow of the “General Store” wording using Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage. Once that dried, I moved the stencil up and over by just a hair and stenciled the entire design (minus that border) in Dixie Belle’s Ecru.

Once dry again, I scuff sanded over the entire thing with 220 grit sandpaper and then finished it off with a coat of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta.

For the second pig, I just stenciled the design in Coffee Bean without adding a shadow.

In hindsight, I rather wish I hadn’t skipped that shadowing effect. It really does add a lot of dimension.

Not that this 2nd pig is bad, I just prefer the first one.

How about you, do you have a preference?

a suitable suitcase.

Published on July 2, 2026June 30, 2026 by Quandie10 Comments

Remember the cool vintage suitcase that I picked up at a garage sale a few weeks back?

I asked you all if I should just leave it ‘as is’ or if I should paint it and add a stencil or transfers of some kind.

Opinions were fairly evenly divided between the two.

So I sort of split the difference in that I didn’t paint the entire suitcase, but I did add a stencil.

But before we get to the end result, I have to tell you guys that I had my heart set on a specific stencil that I saw on Etsy.

The curved typography would have been perfect for the semi-round suitcase, and the subject matter was good too. I mean, obviously, this would be a suitable suitcase for your haute couture, right?

In addition, you can order the stencil in varying sizes, so I could have gotten just the right fit.

However, the size I wanted was $28.85 and the real kicker was that shipping was another $17.93 because it was coming from the U.K. So taxes would have pushed it over $50 … and that just wasn’t going to be worth it.

I did spend a bit of time surfing the web trying to find the same stencil for less. I found several sellers on Etsy, but all of them were from the U.K. I also found a very similar version on eBay, again coming from the U.K. and priced similarly.

I did end up also finding a somewhat smaller version of the stencil on Temu for about $6. However, Temu wouldn’t let me place an order for less than $50. Have you run into this with Temu? Apparently this rule can fluctuate based on your location and/or your purchase history.

Initially I thought “well, OK, I’ll just order some more miniatures from Temu” and I started filling up my cart. But then I discovered that not everything on Temu counted towards the minimum purchase total. It’s something to do with whether or not the items come from overseas or some such thing.

So even though I had over $50 of stuff in my cart (most of which I didn’t even really need or want), I still needed to spend yet another $35 to meet my minimum purchase amount.

And that’s when I gave up on Temu.

Can you imagine walking into Target to buy a pack of gum and having them say “oh, you can’t buy that unless you spend a minimum of $50 on other stuff … and not everything in the store will count towards that total …”

Yeah, I don’t think so.

Not only did I give up on Temu, I also gave up on finding the Haute Couture stencil. Instead I pulled out the fairly significant stash of stencils that I already own. Surely there would be one that would suffice, even if it wasn’t perfect.

That’s when I remembered the stencil that I used on this bookcase over six years ago.

Um, wait a minute, it might just be perfect.

It also has the curved typography, and it’s about the perfect size for the suitcase. Plus, it’s a logo for a hotel.

Suitcase, hotel logo, a match made in heaven.

Best of all, I didn’t have to spend a dime.

That left just one more decision, how to place the stencil. Do you place it with the suitcase standing upright? Or with the suitcase laying flat? Because those are two different directions.

Sometimes that’s an easy decision because a suitcase is tapered and thus wouldn’t lie flat anyway.

But with a non-tapered suitcase I like to give people the option of displaying it upright or flat.

So, I stenciled the bottom of the suitcase in the upright position …

and the top of the suitcase so that you could lie it flat.

See what I mean?

Versatility is always a good thing.

I used Dixie Belle’s Best Dang brush and their Ecru paint to do the stenciling.

Also, my jar of Ecru was nearly empty and the paint had thickened up a bit (as it does when you’re down to the last bit) which made it absolutely perfect for stenciling.

If you want some more stenciling tips, check out my how-to post.

By the way, if you’re curious, the inside of this suitcase is in pretty good condition.

So, it would be perfect for storing things like hats and mittens in the off season, or sewing supplies and the like.

Once my stencil paint was fully dry, I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax to the entire outside of the suitcase. That helped clean it up a bit more and added some much needed moisture to the dried out leather.

What do you think of the end result?

It looks pretty good next to the girls. Do I want to keep it? Well, sort of.

Wouldn’t it be fun to actually even use it for travel? I don’t know, would it fit in the overhead compartment on a plane?

For now I’m listing it for sale and we’ll see what happens. Check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

best sale ever?

Published on June 18, 2026June 16, 2026 by Quandie8 Comments

My sister and I have made it a tradition each summer to get to the Nokomis neighborhood garage sales in Minneapolis.

Our parents both grew up in the Nokomis neighborhood, so we usually take some extra time to drive by their old houses and reminisce. Last year we even stopped by my mom’s childhood home and the current owners gave us a tour. Some of my grandmother’s peonies were still going strong in the garden.

Considering that my grandmother probably planted them in the 1940’s, that’s pretty amazing.

The 2026 Nokomis sales were this past weekend, so even though I was a little burned out after having my own sale, my sister and I hopped in her car and headed out on Saturday morning.

We started out optimistic, there were over 60 homes participating.

The first sale we stopped at was obviously an antique dealer of some sort, but he had some reasonable prices on things. Many of his items were toys that we’d played with as kids. I have to admit, I always feel a bit old when my childhood toys are considered antiques, lol.

I did purchase one item from him, this vintage suitcase.

It’s in fairly good shape, and I love that it has a monogram.

I’m picturing it with a stencil added … something like this suitcase I painted back in 2022.

Or, maybe it needs some floral transfers like this one?

Unfortunately, things went pretty much downhill from that first sale.

We ended up at several sales with vintage items that had antique shop prices, and lots of sales with lots of cheap junk.

We were drawn in by this sign …

but it definitely was false advertising.

That award might actually go to the sale that opK and I went to last June in So. St. Paul.

I hope those people are having a sale again this year.

Eventually my sister and I gave up on the Nokomis sales, we didn’t even bother doing a drive by of our grandparent’s old houses.

Instead we got a table on the patio at the Tipsy Steer, had a couple of cocktails and a really delicious salad.

So all was not lost!

Now it’s time for you to weigh in, what would you do with that suitcase? Add a stencil? Add some floral transfers? Just leave it alone? Leave a comment and let me know!

a handful of finds.

Published on May 19, 2026May 17, 2026 by Quandie11 Comments

I feel a bit guilty that I have been slacking a bit with the blog posts.

But I have been busy, busy, busy.

Between getting the garden up and running, hitting the garage sales, and trying to keep up with my exercise routine (you have to make it a priority or it just doesn’t happen), I haven’t had much time for painting stuff.

But not to worry, I have a fun painting project to share later this week.

In the meantime I thought I’d share some of my garage sale finds from the last couple of weeks. I admit that I haven’t brought home huge hauls, but I definitely have found some really great vintage items starting with this set of travel books.

Wouldn’t they make a great gift for someone who loves travel? Even if they aren’t going to read them … because let’s face it, most of us wouldn’t actually read them … they would look fantastic on a mantel or bookshelf. Plus Google says the books by H.V. Morton “are celebrated for their charming, observational style”, so they might just be worth a read too.

The camera is a garage sale find as well, in fact I purchased three of them at one sale (only two made it into my photo).

I already have an example of each of them in my own non-collection (because I’m in denial about collecting anything!), so all three will make their way into my upcoming occasional sale.

I also brought home this fun darkroom beaker.

As you can see, it has measurements printed on it. It also has a big Kodak logo on it.

Apparently these were used in darkrooms to measure the developing chemicals. You know, from the olden days when people actually got photos developed.

I also brought home a pair of McCoy vases, and a pair of green floral frogs.

Well, only one of the vases has the McCoy mark on the bottom so the 2nd one may not be an authentic McCoy. That doesn’t really matter to me, and these two are destined for my own non-collection of matte white mid-century pottery. Yep, another thing I’m in denial about collecting.

Another fun find were these wrought iron garden edgers.

I just love the old fashioned appeal of these. I have a couple of them myself that I use in my herb planter.

I also purchased a couple of buckets, and have since added some stencils to them.

A couple of them got a simple French Market stencil.

And another one got a laundry themed stencil.

Once the stencil paint was dry, I added a couple of coats of Rust-Oleum matte spray sealer to protect them.

I’m sure no one wants to use these old heavy buckets for actual cleaning anymore, but I find they make great trash cans. I use bucket trash cans at my desk, in my bathroom, in Mr. Q’s study and the bedroom.

But a couple of the buckets have already had drainage holes drilled in the bottom, so that also makes them perfect as planters … and I have a couple of those at my house too.

All of these buckets are going into the inventory for my upcoming occasional sale, as are many of this items in this post.

When I picked up this enamelware coffee pot at one of the garage sales, it was unadorned of course. I thought it would be fun to add one of the I.O.D. transfers from their Home Sweet Home set.

It was the perfect fit.

While I had that set of transfers out, I also added one to this crock.

The crock itself and the vintage cookbooks were also garage sale finds from last week.

I always grab ironstone when I see it at a good price, and that was certainly true of this next pitcher.

Now and then I find them in this style, and I did hang onto one of them for myself in the past, but I’ve always sold off any others that I find. But now I’m starting to wish I’d kept them all! I find that this style appeals to me more now.

Hmmmm. Do I keep this one, or sell it? Decisions, decisions.

That brings me to my find of the day!

Eureka! A whole box of vintage ornaments!

It has been a while since I’ve found a good stash of ornaments. And some of these are really quite unique like this red one with children and their toys on it …

You just gotta love that little boy on his pogo stick.

A few of them are missing their caps, but I happen to have a stash of extras so hopefully I can match them up with ones that fit.

I did bring home a few other things, like some old metal buckets and another small wheeling stool. I’ll be sure to share those as I get them painted up, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, let me know which of my finds is your favorite.

the one that almost got away.

Published on May 12, 2026May 8, 2026 by Quandie13 Comments

Remember that adorable little dresser I picked up at a garage sale recently?

I’m going to call it the one that almost got away, because that other shopper almost snatched it up ahead of me.

Luckily it wasn’t the right color for her.

It wasn’t the right color for me either, but I’ve fixed that.

I started by taking off the little porcelain knobs and starting to give it a quick scuff sanding. However, at that point I realized that the existing paint was not properly adhered to the surface (hence all of those scratches and dings you can see in the ‘before’ photo). As I started sanding, the paint just flaked right off. So I had to sand it down completely.

Then I realized I should probably begin with a coat of Bonding Boss, just in case the bare wood wanted to bleed through my new paint. But also to make sure my new paint would adhere better than whatever that blue paint was.

I let the Bonding Boss dry overnight. My usual strategy is to quickly get a coat of Bonding Boss on something before bed knowing that I want to finish painting it the next day.

The next day, I painted the dresser inside and out with two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth. Once dry, I applied a design from I.O.D.’s Gloria paint inlay (for more on how to apply a paint inlay, check out this post).

I should mention that this was technically a “Christmas” themed paint inlay, and perhaps if I could actually read it (I think it’s in French) that would make sense to me. I’m guessing that it’s some sort of public notice, but how it relates to the holiday I do not know.

Regardless, it was the perfect size for the front of this little dresser.

Once the inlay was applied and fully dry, I gave it a quick spray with some Rust-Oleum matte spray sealer. Then I applied Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat over the entire piece.

Your q tip for today; it’s best to seal a paint inlay with a spray sealer first to avoid smearing it all over the place. I’ve ruined more than one by forgetting this step. I have seen others who say you can delicately brush a clear coat over them, but that never works out well for me. Maybe I’m just not all that good at being delicate 😉

Once the clear coat was dry, I lined the drawers with some of my October Afternoon scrapbook paper in a simple grey and white pin stripe.

The final step was to deal with the screws that hold the knobs on. They were just about a millimeter too long, which meant that the pointy ends of them were exposed on the inside of the drawer. And that won’t do.

So I consulted with my handyman Ken and he suggested just grinding down the ends a bit which worked perfectly. There’s no longer a sharp screw end waiting to snag anything you put in the drawers.

With that, I’m calling this one done.

What do you think? Do you like the simple white and grey color scheme, or do you prefer something more colorful and floral? If so, not to worry, you’ll see plenty of that coming up soon too!

Is $10 the new $5?

Published on May 7, 2026May 6, 2026 by Quandie10 Comments

It’s here! Garage sale season has kicked off in the Twin Cities!

Although there are a few garage sales here and there to be found in Minnesota in April, things don’t really start in earnest until the first weekend in May. Then we are spoiled for choice. There were no fewer than 38 neighborhood sales to choose from last weekend.

I have to admit, I’m not as ambitious as I once was. I used to do a three day marathon of garage sales, starting on Thursday and going through Saturday. But these days I run out of steam after Thursday and Friday.

My friend opK and I stuck close to home on Thursday with the North St. Paul city-wide sales, and then on Friday we headed to one of our favorite neighborhoods, Tangletown.

I found a few fun items to bring home with me.

I found a couple of very reasonably priced metal toolboxes, well, technically one is a tackle box.

The toolbox is quite rusty and in need of some work.

But at only $2, I couldn’t pass it up.

The trio of frames was also a good bargain.

The white with gold highlights feels a little dated to me, but I think I can do something fun with these.

I found a lovely set of green books.

That’s only five of them, but there are 9 altogether.

One thing we noticed while shopping was that prices seem to have gone up once again. Last year opK and I joked about how $5 seemed to be the go-to price at garage sales since Covid. We used to find lots of things priced lower than $5, but over the last several years it seemed like everyone just put $5 (or more) on everything. Maybe because anything less than $5 just isn’t worth bothering with?

But now it seems that $10 is the new $5. We picked up so many things that were priced at $10, it was almost comical. We’ll have to wait and see if that trend continues over the summer.

I did bring home some furniture, a pair of metal chairs with a mid-mod vibe and this cupboard.

I’m guessing it was originally intended for storing sheet music.

But with my handyman Ken’s help, I’m going to remove some of the shelves to make it a little more functional. It also needs its joints reglued in general, and a couple of other repairs. Of course, I also plan to give it a whole new look on the outside, so be sure to stay tuned for that.

I’m giving ‘Find of the Day’ status to this cute little dresser.

You know when you walk into a garage sale and some other shopper is holding up an item, trying to decide whether or not to buy it? And you are just hoping they put it back down so you can buy it? That was the case here. I held my breath waiting for another woman to put this back down on the table, and she did! As I snatched it up she said “that is really cute, but not the right color for me”.

Well … it’s not the right color for me either, but you know I can fix that!

So be sure to stay tuned to see what I end up doing with it.

back home once again.

Published on May 5, 2026May 4, 2026 by Quandie2 Comments

I’m back from a lovely 10 days spent at my mom’s place just outside Las Vegas.

The weather was nearly perfect with temps in the 70’s to low 80’s, along with brilliant sunshine every. single. day. Do the locals ever get tired of that unrelenting sun? You gotta wonder. Personally I appreciate the occasional rainy day for some contrast.

However, I loved being able to enjoy my coffee on the patio every morning while listening to the birds singing. Unfortunately here in Minnesota we’re still having morning temps in the 30’s and 40’s, which is just a bit too brisk for coffee on the deck.

I also really enjoyed the walking trail near my mom’s house. While most of the trail isn’t very green, there are some nice mountains off in the distance (and if you were to turn around and face the other direction you might catch some glimpses of the Vegas strip off in the distance).

But then there is my favorite section of the trail which someone has nicknamed Trail Heaven.

It has some lovely dappled shade.

I did do some painting while at my mom’s, the door into her garage was well overdue for a touch up. I purchased some Sherwin Williams “door and trim” paint from Lowes, and as I started using it I quickly realized how much nicer it is to work with Dixie Belle paint. The Sherwin Williams paint was rather thick, and if you brushed back over it at all it would drag back off. I ended up having to let the first coat dry, then had to sand it down again and start over. What a mess.

In hindsight, I wish I had brought some Dixie Belle paint with me like I did when I painted her front door.

I painted that in Dixie Belle’s Midnight Green Silk Paint back in March 2022 and it still looks great.

I also did some gardening … of a sort. I raked the matted pine needles out of the rock bed that runs alongside the sidewalk next to the fence.

I pulled out five grocery bags of pine needles!

But I’m back home now, and first of all I want to thank all of you who left comments on my re-run posts while I was gone. My mom doesn’t have wi-fi, and I’m practically incapable of typing comment responses on my teeny tiny phone. But I did read all of your comments, so thank you so much if you left one.

Now, onward. It’s starting to feel like spring in Minnesota. The muscari is blooming …

as is the white bleeding heart …

and the brunnera.

But as is always the case, I did suffer some losses over the winter. It looks like my favorite lungwort is not coming back this year. Here it was in 2023 …

But it was significantly diminished in size last summer, and now I don’t see any sign of it coming up at all. Bummer. Looks like I’m gonna need to do some plant shopping 😉

That being said, I didn’t suffer nearly as much damage this year as I did last year when the the frost line was deeper than any year since 2019. Thank goodness.

I always find it difficult to imagine that the garden that looks like this right now …

is going to look like this in just a few weeks.

I’m feeling very impatient and ready for it to warm up a bit more, and for things to grow!

I also have some fun makeover projects underway and hope to be sharing some of those with you soon, so be sure to stay tuned!

traveling back in time.

Published on March 23, 2026May 4, 2026 by Quandie16 Comments

My friend opK and I did a bit of time traveling last Friday.

It was a gorgeous, sunny spring day with temps near 60° F., so we headed slightly further afield than normal to an estate sale.

After first checking out a small shed and an even smaller little horse barn where we found plenty of spider webs, but not much else, we headed to the house.

Walking into the house felt a bit like going through some sort of magic portal and ending up back in 1976.

It was one of those places with multiple levels where the basement, a.k.a. the rec room, was on the lowest level.

The living room was half a floor up, and the kitchen and dining room were on yet another level. Then there were three bedrooms and a bathroom on the uppermost level. As you were coming up that last set of stairs and the floor was at about eye level, it was impossible to look away from the bright blue and green shag carpeting that was straight ahead.

That is, until you then spotted the wallpaper paired with the quintessential avocado green shag in the room next door.

It really felt surreal. And by the way, is it just me or does that off-center basement style window above the bed seem really out of place?

No 1970’s boy’s bedroom was complete without orange and avocado football player wallpaper.

And I don’t know, but was a carpeted bathroom de rigueur in the 70’s?

Ew.

To really set the scene, I should also note that the former occupants of the home were very obviously smokers and everything was coated in a yellow haze of tobacco. Yikes.

While the house itself was caught in a time warp, the prices were not.

You can always tell when someone has been looking up prices on the internet.

I did some quick research and was able to find that exact dresser on 1st Dibs for $1,500, but most of us know that the prices are 1st Dibs are always unrealistically high.

I did think these mid-mod pieces were pretty cool.

But there was a fairly deep scratch down the front of the low dresser that will be difficult to repair.

And the bigger problem really, as any of us furniture refinishers (or former furniture refinishers) know, is that it will be nearly impossible to eliminate the cigarette smell.

But hey, what do I know? Maybe someone will be happy to shell out $2,100 for the complete set. What do you think? Would you buy it at that price?

As for me, I did find some things to buy and luckily the items I purchased aren’t going to be found on 1st Dibs so I got all three at rock bottom prices.

I brought home three metal boxes; a toolbox, a lunchbox and a small galvanized box, all for $10 total. Not bad.

it ain’t over yet.

Published on October 13, 2025October 11, 2025 by Quandie6 Comments

This warmer than usual autumn weather seems to mean that garage sale season isn’t quite over yet. So last Thursday my friend opK and I headed out to a few sales.

Our first stop was an estate sale where I came across this mid-century painting.

I just can’t resist these city street scenes with their thin matchstick figures. I am guessing that they were a dime a dozen back in the 60’s and 70’s, but I don’t know much about them. Do you? If so, be sure to leave a comment and tell me more. I plan to hang this on the gallery wall in my q branch.

Our next stop was a vintage/garage sale that my friend Sue told me about. It was called JunkSmith Market, and if you’re local I highly recommend their sale.

It looks like they just have one sale per year in the fall, so unfortunately you’ve missed it for this year. But maybe next year (follow them on Facebook).

I purchased quite a few fun things from them including this birdbath and large watering can.

I also purchased this old cupboard door from them …

I plan to clean it up, replace the knob with something a bit more fabulous, and add some sort of stenciled signage.

I also brought home some vintage books and an old brush …

and some adorable vintage Christmas glasses.

Our next stop was the Picket Fence Gals sale in Lindstrom. If you’re from around here, you probably know about this one. I posted about this sale last year after one of the vendors there purchased a few things at my sale, and I then saw them in her booth …

She did the same this year, but I neglected to get any photos of her booth this time around, but I did buy a couple of lanterns from some other booths.

I plan to do these up for Christmas, much like this one I did a couple of years ago.

So, there you have it. I found a few fun goodies, not bad for the middle of October.

I’m going to have to get going on some Christmas projects this week, November is usually my best month for selling Christmas merch at the shop and that’s only three weeks away! Time flies, doesn’t it?

is it just me?

Published on August 26, 2025August 25, 2025 by Quandie14 Comments

Is it just me, or do you also think garage sales gone downhill lately?

Remember the good ol’ days when I would come home with a haul like this one?

Here’s another good one that’s more recent, from 2023.

I always had some pretty good finds of the day too.

How about the time I found this awesome ‘portable’ typewriter?

Or this lovely glass tree topper to add to my non-collection?

I used to find plenty of vintage glass Christmas ornaments.

But this year I haven’t found any.

OK, to be fair, it might be slightly my fault. I’m not getting out there nearly as much as I used to, especially this year.

Mr. Q and I took our trip to the Brandywine Valley in May, which caused me to miss a few of my favorite neighborhood sales. And now I’ve gone and done it again since we have a trip to Canada coming up and I will miss two big neighborhood sales for this one. I think May and September are probably the top two months for sales in my area (Twin Cities, MN).

That being said, I have found quite a few sleds this year.

And I also have quite the stash of ice skates to work some magic on for the coming holiday season.

I’ve also definitely found plenty of toolboxes over the summer.

That brings me to my latest ‘haul’ … if you can call three items a haul.

My friend opK and I went up to Chisago (yes, that’s Chisago, not Chicago, although autocorrect begs to differ) for their city wide sales a week ago or so, and I came home with just three things.

First up, this vintage laundry basket.

It has a fantastic patina and is in great shape. My plan is to fill it with dried hydrangeas and then put it in my fall sale (tentatively scheduled for October 4, FYI).

I also nabbed a pair of vintage pillow cases.

I love the feel of vintage linens like these. It’s hard to describe if you don’t know what I’m talking about, but suffice to say they just don’t make ’em like this anymore.

I will soak these in some Oxyclean (although I haven’t found any stains on them), then wash them and hang them on the line for our own use.