Category: garage sales.

these are some awesome finds.

far from faultless.

Published on by Quandie24 Comments

I suspect that not too many of us actually enjoy doing laundry, am I right?

Sorting, shoving things into the machines, realizing after washing that you left a kleenex in a pocket, drying, folding and then putting away.  Not exactly fun times.

But I have to admit that I actually do enjoy the process of laundering vintage linens.

They are so lovely to handle, and there’s something so satisfying about a crisp stack of freshly laundered and pressed white linens.

You may remember that I purchased a few vintage pillowcases at the Fridley garage sales earlier this summer.

After I took them out of the ziploc bags that they came in and inspected them a bit more closely, I found that they needed to be whitened up, and a couple of them also needed a bit of mending.  So I thought I’d share that process with you.

The first step for me is to soak them in some OxiClean, or in this case, a generic oxi-based cleaner from Target.

I usually soak them for at least a few hours, or even overnight.

Then, after removing them from their oxi bath, I wash them on the gentle setting in my washing machine.  Except for the more fragile ones, those just get rinsed by hand in the sink.

Next, I hang them on the line in the sun for a full day to get a little natural, non-chemical bleaching.

I have an ancient clothesline that is attached to the carriage house on one end with some serious looking hooks.

  It has probably been there forever, it was there when we moved in 34 years ago.  I wonder how many generations of laundry have been hung out to dry on that line?

Once they’ve had their day in the sun, I like to press old linens using starch.

I have a sneaking suspicion that very few people iron with starch anymore.  The last time I ran out I had a difficult time even finding it in the shops.  Comically enough, I came across two full cans of Faultless premium starch at an estate sale a while back for $1 each, so I snatched them up.  I’m fairly certain they’d never even been used.

You get a fabulously crisp result using starch.  In fact, I suspect that these vintage linens were originally meant to be starched.

I wish I could say that I press my linens outside in the garden on a pretty wooden ironing board while bluebirds sing in the trees nearby …

But that’s just for photo shoots.

I actually iron in my creepy, spidery, damp, very much non-blog worthy basement.  Maybe I need to rethink that?  Now I’m regretting all of the fabulous vintage wooden ironing boards that I’ve sold over the years.

The next time I see one I should snag it and then keep it handy in the carriage house, or maybe even the potting shed, for outdoor ironing.

Anyway, back to the starching.  This is usually the step where I find out that my vintage linens are far from faultless.  As I’m laying them out on the ironing board and pressing out each wrinkle, I find all of the flaws that I didn’t notice before.

I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m not much of a seamstress, despite my mom’s best efforts at teaching me to sew.  But I can manage a little simple mending with a needle and thread.

Does the fact that the needle packaging says “West Germany” give you an idea of how old those needles are?  I’m sure I purchased those at a garage/estate sale too.

This repair didn’t take much effort, and was easily accomplished while watching my favorite gardeners on YouTube.

My repair job isn’t quite faultless either, but it will do the job.

The amount of work that went into some of these pillowcases is quite amazing.

Sadly, some of them are just too far gone for my simple mending skills though.

Such is the case with the pillow case that I was using on the wicker chaise that used to be my front porch.

The work on this one is so beautiful, just check out the detailed embroidery on that monogram …

and that floral border.  And the cutwork is painstakingly detailed.

Living on the three-season porch for over a decade had really done a number on it though.  The fabric itself was deteriorating and basically shredding in some spots.

And unfortunately, even just a gentle soak weakened the fabric so much that when I hung it on the line it totally fell apart.

So sad.  I did get years of enjoyment out of it before this happened though, so I’ll console myself by remembering that.

If any of you locals are looking for some lovely vintage pillowcases, I took a few of these in to Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater last week.

I priced them low, ranging from $12/pair to $18/pair for the prettiest ones, so be sure to head down there soon!

 

simpler than simplicity.

Published on by Quandie19 Comments

A while back I picked up another simple wooden tote at a garage sale.

I love that the end pieces are curved at the top rather than cut straight like so many of them.

I planned to just do my usual, add paint and maybe some transfers.

Like I did on this one …

And this one …

And this one …

And even this one …

Although technically that is an I.O.D. paint inlay, not a transfer.

So after cleaning and then painting it with some of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, I went through my transfer stash to find just the right thing.

It wasn’t until I started holding bits of transfers up against the tote that I realized the sides were really rather short.  In fact, too short for most of the florals that I had thought about using.

Then I saw my old re.design with prima Simplicity transfer, which is a black toile.  I’m not even sure if you can get this one anymore.  I know there are several other options for a toile transfer out there though, if you’re looking for one.

I had used Simplicity on the upper drawers of a dresser once.

I thought it was pretty, but ultimately it didn’t sell and I ended up sanding it off and re-doing the dresser.

Maybe that was a little bit of foreshadowing as to how this project was going to go.

Or maybe I am just doomed to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over.

Either way, I pulled out Simplicity and decided to try it on this tote.

It was a little tricky to get the transfer situated as one full piece, so I ended up cutting out separate elements of the toile design and adding them one by one.

It was working out fairly well, as I wrapped the toile all the way around.

But then I got to the last side, and decided that I really wanted to use the roosters …

Ummm … yeah … maybe not my finest moment.  There is just too much white space all around them.  And they are almost centered, which gives them too much importance in the overall design.

Honestly, I just didn’t like it.  At all.

You know what they say, if at first you don’t succeed, try again.  So I sanded it off and started over with a fresh coat of Drop Cloth!

Then I decided to go much simpler than … well … Simplicity.

I just added the word ‘SEEDS’ from the I.O.D. Gregory’s Catalogue paint inlay.

It was the perfect fit.

Also, FYI, this is the 2nd use of this inlay.  I used the full inlay once already on this piece …

So I was OK with just taking out that one word and using it on this tote.  I can still use the rest of the inlay a 2nd time (and in fact, I do have plans for it).

I will note, as I have before, that I was unable to get the inlay off this tote in one piece, so that 2nd use will be it for this one.

After sealing the inlay with some clear matte spray sealer, I used Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat over the rest of the piece.  Then, while I had it out, I also used it to apply some re.design with prima decoupage tissue to the bottom inside.

So, in the end, it’s a much simpler look.

And I really like it.

How about you?

some mid-summer garage saling.

Published on by Quandie25 Comments

Last Thursday I headed out with opK (that’s oar painting Karen) to check out some garage sales in neighboring Stillwater.  But before we got to the garage sales, we stopped off at a vintage sale that I’ve been to off and on over the years.

In fact, I even shared a couple of blog posts about it back in 2016 and 2017.

They always have awesome vintage stuff, although I don’t usually buy much.

This time around I picked up some pretty bark cloth fabric from the ‘bargain tent’.

I thought this would be perfect for upholstering the seat on the vintage child-sized green wicker chair that I picked up a while back.  The chair is the perfect shade of vintage green and I loved the authentically distressed arms, so I didn’t paint it.

After soaking the barkcloth in some oxy-clean and letting it dry in the sun, I ironed it and then stapled it over some batting and a thin plywood seat that Ken cut to fit the chair.

This thing is so stinkin’ cute you guys.

I really struggled to come up with a way to show the size in my photos, it’s only 22″ tall, 18″ wide and 16″ deep.  The best I could come up with was adding a typically sized step ladder into the photo.

I also purchased a set of metal plant i.d. stakes.

I used to have a handful of these and earlier this spring I decided that they’d be perfect for labeling my herbs, but I couldn’t find them anywhere.  I then shopped around my local nurseries and hobby stores looking for more, but didn’t have any success.  So I was happy to find some at the barn sale.

The tricky part about these is finding a good way to add a plant name temporarily, but not so temporarily that it washes off in the rain.  I’ve discovered that painting them with some of Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky, and then writing on them with a chalk pencil tends to work out great.

You’d think that the chalk pencil would wash off, but it really doesn’t.  Of course, we’d also have to actually be getting some rain in order for that to be a problem.

After checking out the barn sale, we headed to a few garage sales in Stillwater.  I didn’t find a whole lot, but I seemed to find just one thing to purchase at each sale starting with this enamelware coffee pot.

It’s missing the glass percolator thingie from the lid, but that makes it perfect to use as a vase.  It also has some sort of really heavy crust built up inside it.  I’m not sure what that’s all about, but for that reason I chose to add a glass vase to hold the water and flowers.

After adding one of the French Labels from re.design with prima to the pot, I filled the glass with water and placed it inside the coffee pot.  All that was left was to fill it up with some flowers from the garden.

At another sale I picked up a small, vintage rake for $2.

It’s quite petite, but I’m not sure it’s small enough to have been a child’s toy.  I could have left it yellow, I’m not totally opposed to the rusty patina.  But I’m not a big fan of yellow, so I decided to paint it green.

I painted it with a coat of chalk style paint first, to help my milk paint stick.  Then I painted it with Sweet Pickens In a Pickle.  Once the paint was dry, I sanded lightly to distress the edges, which brought back some of that yellow.  Then I gave the entire rake a coat of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta.

This rake could be purely decorative, it would look great just hanging on the wall like the pair of kid sized tools I have in my potting shed.

But it also would be totally functional.  I have a small rake like this that I use to pull leaves out from between perennials in the garden.  It’s super handy.  And yes, this rake is for sale if any of you are interested (check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details).

At the next sale I purchased this little metal conversion chart.

When I turned it over, it still had the original Hearth & Hand logo on the back, and the Target price tag of $7.99.  But I really thought it was cute, and I found a spot for it hanging in front of my cutting board in the kitchen.

Last, but not least, I picked up this … thingie.

Do you know what it is?  The newspaper is a clue.

When I first glanced at it, I thought it was part of a ringer washer (it has a crank on the other side).  But that definitely wasn’t right.  Whatever it was, I thought it would make an awesome planter.

It didn’t have a price tag on it, so I asked the proprietor ‘how much?’ and he said $3.  Sold!  He also told me that it was a newspaper log roller.  These were once used to roll newspapers into logs for the fireplace.  Sure enough, I googled it and there are plenty of them out there.  I even found a YouTube video on how to use it.

After hitting up the garage sales, we stopped off at Abrahamson’s Nurseries and I picked up a few plants to put in it.

After giving the roller a good cleaning and then protecting the wooden handles with some clear wax, I even went so far as to plant them up.

But I quickly realized that even though it looked great initially, most of those plants would grow much bigger and totally envelope the newspaper roller.  In addition, I don’t think the roller holds enough dirt to keep them happy.

So I pulled them all out and filled it with succulents instead.

I hesitated before doing so because succulents have to be brought inside for the winter here, and this ‘planter’ will be difficult to water without making a mess.  I may just pull the succulents out in the fall and put them in regular pots to save them over the winter, we’ll see.

But for now, I love the way they look and thus I’m calling this my find of the day!

Not bad for 3 bucks, right?

I’m curious, what would you have picked as the find of the day?  Leave a comment and let me know.

big projects and little projects.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

You may have noticed that I didn’t have a blog post on Monday, or on Wednesday (maybe someone noticed?).  As it turned out, for the last week or so I had a number of irons in the fire, but nothing that was both completed and felt blog-worthy.

The first big project was fixing/replacing a section of our very rickety privacy fence.

Last winter the 24′ section that was 3′ tall behind my fern bed toppled over.  It was pretty well disguised by the ferns that grow tall enough to hide it, but here’s a photo that will give you just a hint of what it looked like.

Those ferns tend to die back early, so it was time for some sort of solution.  We debated just pulling out that section and going fenceless there.  That option seemed pretty reasonable when looking at the area in summer when the ferns are taller than the fence was anyway.

But that’s only good for about 3 months out of the year, for the rest of the year we needed something to block the multiple vehicles in the neighbor’s driveway.  Luckily I have some really awesome neighbors who are good at DIY, and have lots of tools, and access to cheap labor (high school kids who need a little cash).  So all of that added up to replacing that 3′ tall section of fence with a 6′ tall section instead.

It was still a big job and took about two days to complete.

The other big job I’m working on is painting that hutch that I purchased a few weeks back at a garage sale.

I have it mostly painted, but I’m waiting on some supplies for finishing it up, so it’s kind of at a standstill for now.

Meanwhile, I did squeeze in a couple of smaller projects in between the bigger ones, such as this cutting board.

It was a fun little project, but there is really only so much you can say about painting a cutting board, so it didn’t seem worthy of its own blog post.

I painted it in Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage, then I added the artichokes from I.O.D.’s Melange paint inlay.  Then I felt like it needed just a little something more, so I added the ‘Albert Ruoff’ and the ‘1842.’ from one of the 8″ German Grain Sack stencils from ellen j goods.

Another small project I completed this week was this pair of shoe forms.

I purchased these at a garage sale quite some time ago … dare I say several years ago?

If these had a really cool original patina, I would have left them alone.  But I thought they could be improved with a paint job.  So sometime last year I painted one of them in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth and one of them their Midnight Sky.  Then I attempted to add some transfers, but instead of the transfer sticking to the paint, the paint stuck to the transfers and pulled right off.  I suspect that these forms had been ‘spruced up’ with some kind of oil or wax before I purchased them, thus causing adherence problems.

So I ending up pushing them to the back of the shelf where they sat for the last year or so.

But I pulled them out recently and gave them both a good sanding.  I thought the one that was originally painted in Drop Cloth looked pretty good, so I simply added a crown and some small wording from a Tim Holtz transfer.

Wouldn’t it have been more fun if that transfer said ‘non-collector’??  LOL.

I decided to paint up the 2nd one in a similar way.  So I gave it two coats of Drop Cloth, and then sanded heavily to distress.  I followed that up with another crown and some wording.

I also added a little number to the heel.

And there you have it.  Two big projects, and two small projects.

Hopefully I’ll have a few more fun things to share with you guys next week, so be sure to stay tuned!

a virtual garage sale.

Published on by Quandie5 Comments

I’m doing something a little bit different today!

I’m having a bit of a virtual garage sale.

We’ve been doing some re-arranging here at our house.  It’s one of those chain reaction sort of things.  We’re turning the guest room into a studio for Mr. Q, and he’s gotten a bigger table for that space, thus freeing up his old desk to become my desk.  But a bigger desk for me means getting rid of my small farm table desk, and also moving the rooster cupboard out to the porch and thus getting rid of the black cupboard on the porch.  You get the idea, things are being shuffled around and as a result I have several pieces of furniture to sell at garage sale prices.

After listing a few of them on Facebook Marketplace, and then getting multiple spam messages about them (argh!  so annoying!), I decided to try a blog post.

Now, be advised, I’m not willing to ship any of my items, so you have to be within driving distance of St. Paul, MN to purchase any of them.  But maybe some of my local readers will be interested.

First up, the former guest room twin Jenny Lind headboard and bed frame.

The ancient mattress and box spring have already been picked up by my trash hauler, I’m just selling the headboard and the metal bed frame with wheels that I used with it.

All for $45, the headboard is 41.5″ wide by 40″ tall.

Next up, the wicker chaise lounge from my front porch.  It is 41.5″ tall, 64″ long and 40″ wide.

I’ve decided to replace that with another of Ken’s Adirondack chairs, so it has to go.  The cushion is slip covered in a basic beige linen, and the cover can be removed and washed, which is nice.  This is for sale at the same $45 price tag (throw pillows not included).

I’m considering spray painting it black and then asking a little more for it, but if you’re interested in it ‘as is’ be sure to leave a comment (or email me at qisforquandie@gmail.com) a.s.a.p. before I get out the spray paint!

I’m also selling the black cupboard from the front porch.

It’s an antique piece that I painted black a long time ago.  I added the Beautiful Botanist transfer to the inside back in 2019.

You can read all about that here.

I’m letting this one go for $195.  It is 79″ tall x 16.5″ deep x 38″ wide.

I also still have this square farmhouse style table for sale at $40.

The base is painted in Dixie Belle’s Kudzu.  These photos make it look just a bit brighter than it really is.  The top is finished with white wax.

It is 31″ tall and 34″ x 39″ wide, so not quite exactly square.

I added some casters to the feet after taking these photos, so this would be a great piece to use in a craft room, sewing room or studio since it can easily be moved around.

If any of you locals are interested in these pieces, leave a comment or email me at qisforquandie@gmail.com!

buyer’s remorse.

Published on by Quandie39 Comments

Last Friday I headed out to a neighborhood sale that was fairly new to me, with a companion who was totally new to me, Karen, the painter of the oars.  I think I’m going to call her opK, or ‘oar painting Karen’, to distinguish her from nnK (new neighbor Karen).

We headed out to the city wide sales in Fridley, MN.  I’d been to the Fridley sales before, but it was a long time ago … probably before I started blogging, so at least a decade or more.  Certainly long enough ago that I felt like it was new.  Fridley is one of the older Minneapolis burbs with many of the neighborhoods having a distinctly mid-century, or post-WWII feel.  There is also a smattering of really nice houses along the Mississippi River, which flows through Fridley, and pockets of newer homes here and there.

We did a pretty good job filling up opK’s SUV.

There are a few smaller items not in the photo above, which I’ll share in a minute.

But let’s start with those chairs.  To be honest, I’m having a bit of buyer’s remorse over those chairs.  They certainly aren’t my style at all, and I have no idea if there will be a market for selling a pair of modern looking chairs.

But they were only $2 each.  So in the end, I’ll only be out $4 total if I have to donate them to the Goodwill when they don’t sell.  Well, technically it will be $5.75 because I also purchased some new batting for 75¢ and some fabric to cover the seats with for $1.

I’ll need to do a bit of gluing on the chairs, but I’m not going to paint them, so that should be a fairly quick makeover.

And speaking of the fabric, I also purchased two other pieces of fabric for $1 each.

I’m going to try the one on the top of the pile with all of the bugs on that green wicker chair that I brought home last week.

The yardage on the bottom of the pile is pretty funky, opK and I both thought it might be fun on that pair of chairs.

But as we looked closer we realized it was sort of a Halloween fabric.

As we were studying it, the seller asked if we were fans of ‘the ghastlies’.  Um, the what now?  Apparently this is from a line of fabric by Alexander Henry called The Ghastlies.

It really is kind of fun.  I don’t know, would there be a market for a pair of chairs with this fabric on them?  Maybe in the fall?  What are your thoughts on that?

I grabbed the painting because I absolutely love the colors in it, and I liked its sort of mid-mod vibe too.  It’s a genuine oil painting, but I was totally unable to read the signature so I have no idea if it’s at all valuable.  I’m guessing not, since it is very cheaply framed.

And I really don’t love that frame.  I could paint it.  Or I could just take it off.

Hmmmm, not really sure about that either.

How about a few finds that I am sure about?

This ironstone pitcher and vintage cookbook were both a steal.

And this vintage lunchbox will be a fun makeover.

I purchased a pair of these iron crosses too.

And speaking of pairs, I purchased three pairs of vintage pillowcases.

You can always tell when these have been tucked away in someone’s linen closet for 50 years and never even used.  They are often yellowed, but not at all worn looking.  A little soaking in some OxyClean, followed by a day in the sun on the clothesline, will totally take care of that yellowing.

I tend to hang onto the all white versions because I love sleeping on these, and they work with our bedroom décor.

There is something about the quality and weight of the fabric that is so much better than modern linens.

And for that reason, I’m awarding them with ‘find of the day’ status.

Plus, believe it or not, these were only $2 per pair.  Where else can you get beautifully hand-worked pillowcases for $1 each?!

In the end, I may have a bit of buyer’s remorse over those chairs, but it is outweighed by my other fabulous finds.  But tell me, have you ever had buyers remorse over a garage sale purchase?  Leave a comment and let me know.

a french country rooster.

Published on by Quandie25 Comments

Remember this little cabinet that I found at the Linden Hills garage sales?

It’s just a simple, rustic sort of wooden cabinet that once had a door (you can see where the hinges were).

I thought it would be a fun little makeover.

I started by simply painting it in my usual Dixie Belle Drop Cloth.  Then I added the rooster from the I.O.D. Melange paint inlay (see this link for full instructions on applying a paint inlay).

He was an almost perfect fit for the back of the cupboard so it seemed meant to be.

Once the inlay was applied, I sprayed the interior of the cabinet with some Rust-Oleum matte clear spray to seal it.  Then I added some random French wording from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer to the edges of the cabinet.

Actually, full disclosure, I first added the “FRESH FARM TO TABLE’ wording from the old Delicious Menu transfer from redesign with prima to the edges.  But I really didn’t like the way it looked.  The font was too harsh and just didn’t jibe with the rooster.  I don’t know, he really kind of has a French country vibe don’t you think?

Not to speak ill of the Delicious Menu transfer, because I have used it successfully on a number of pieces, like this stool …

and this coffee pot …

It just wasn’t working on this piece, so I sanded it off, repainted the edge with some more Drop Cloth, and then added the French wording.

Finally I sanded the edges to distress and then applied a coat of clear wax.

You’re probably thinking that once the cabinet is full you won’t be able to see the rooster, and sure, that’s true if you fill it to bursting.

But you could artfully arrange a few favorite pieces in a way that lets the rooster still shine.

I added a couple of small books, a couple of my favorite little McCoy planters …

and some old flower frogs.

You could hang this cupboard on the wall, or place it on a tabletop or shelf.  I painted the back of it, so it doesn’t have to be up against a wall.  It’s perfect for displaying a small non-collection!

I think a little paint, a paint inlay and a few scraps of transfer gave this cupboard a fabulous new French country look.

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

This little cupboard is for sale, check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

 

half fancy.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

My garage sale hauls started out with a bang (and ended with a bit of a bust) last weekend. On Friday I went to my friend Lisa’s occasional sale, and then stopped off at Lowe’s on the way home.

OK, to be fair, Lisa’s sale is way too nice to be called a garage sale, and Lowe’s doesn’t really count at all.  But I did come home with some fantastic things at prices halfway between ‘garage sale’ and ‘fancy boutique’ at Lisa’s, and also some fun plants from Lowe’s that I wanted to share with you guys.

First up, I purchased a couple of plastic urn planters, a concrete pillar and an oval shaped galvanized bucket at Lisa’s sale.  I’ve already used the Dixie Belle patina paint on both of the urn planters to give them a rusty look.  I’m listing one for sale here on the blog, while making space for the other in my own garden.

Lately I’ve gotten really fond of placing planters like this right in the garden bed.

They are great for adding instant height where needed.  They also can be moved around to fill in a hole where a perennial has died back, where you’re waiting for a slower growing plant to fill in, or where you want a pop of color from annuals but don’t want to plant them in the ground.  The nice thing about these plastic pots is that they are lightweight and pretty easy to move around, even when filled with soil and plants.  And in my opinion, they totally pass for the real thing with the patina paint.

I use the Iron patina paint with the green spray to get my rusty results (the full process can be found in this post).  One thing to keep in mind is that the rust takes some time to develop, it’s not instantaneous.  I just finished rustifying these pots yesterday, so keep in mind that they will continue to get rustier.  But I thought you’d still like to see my results.

Here’s the first pot, before.

I have to say, it looks like legit concrete in the photo, but it’s plastic and had a lot of flaking paint.  You’ll have to trust me on that.

And here it is after …

It’s starting to show some good rust.

Here is pot number two, ‘before’ …

And here it is with it’s new rusty finish.

If any of you locals are interested, be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for that one.

  I’m also planning a paint treatment for the galvanized bucket that came from Lisa’s sale, stay tuned for that.

As for the pillar in the back of my ‘haul’ photo, I left that ‘as is’ and put it in the garden.

You might recognize that spot right behind my Chelsea chopped sedum.

As for Lowe’s, well, although it’s obviously not a garage sale of any kind, I just had to share the gorgeous plants that I found there.  First up is an astilbe from Proven Winners called Dark Side of the Moon.

Isn’t that dark foliage fantastic?  I have to admit, I don’t even know what the flowers on this one are supposed to look like.  I’m planting it just for the foliage color.  I’m hoping to have more success with this plant than I did with the heuchera that I planted for its foliage.  Fingers crossed.

I also picked up three of the Proven Winners Heart to Heart caladium in Tickle me Pink.

You know I just can’t seem to resist caladium, even though we really don’t have the best climate for it.  They perform best if the nighttime temps don’t fall below 60°.  A week or so ago we were still having temps in the 50’s at night, and even got down to the 40’s a couple of times.  It’s great for sleeping with the windows open, but not so great for caladium.

Also, caladium are rather pricey annuals.  I purchased a couple of them earlier in the year for just under $20 each, but these from Lowe’s were only $10.98.  A bargain for a caladium!  I made an unsuccessful attempt to overwinter caladium bulbs last year, so I was happy to find some selling at a reasonable price.  I have to say that I was really impressed with both the quality and the price of the perennials at the Stillwater Lowe’s.

And here are those caladium in my new rusty urn, plus another shorter one that I rusty-ed up last year.

On Saturday, my sister, niece and I headed out to check out a neighborhood sale that was new to me, the NEighbors Sale Days in Northeast Minneapolis.  There were several neighborhoods participating, so it looked like it could be promising.

I have to admit, that part of Minneapolis can be a bit of a mixed bag.  There are areas that are filled with fabulous mid-century modern homes with lovely gardens, and areas that are a bit sketchy to be honest.  It also includes the Arts District, which is filled with artist studios and lots of trendy eateries.

The garage sales were really hit or miss … but mostly a miss.  My sister purchased some plants, and my sole purchase was this …

Yep, just one simple wooden recipe box.  It will go in the stash and be good for a winter project.

We called it quits early after not finding much and decided to drown our sorrows in a pitcher of mimosa’s.

We did a bit of googling and ended up finding a place called Half Fancy that was only a few blocks away from where we were.

Somehow, Half Fancy seemed like the perfect way to describe the neighborhood … and maybe us.  Although to be honest, we might be more like only 1/4 fancy.

I ordered the purple hash which was made from red potatoes, braised red cabbage, onions and carrots and I added a scrambled egg on top.

Delicious!

As we were finishing up with our brunch I got a text from my friend Sue who suggested we head to some sales in White Bear Lake.  So on the way home we stopped there and I picked up another piece of furniture.

Seriously, I need to get going on some of this furniture I’m bringing home.  The summer is getting away from me!

Last, but not least, I also brought home this child sized vintage wicker chair.

You know I can’t resist smaller than normal sized anything.  It seemed like the best option for find of the day, but really, that status should probably go to the mimosas!  Or maybe those rusty pots!  Or even the plants.  I don’t know, what do you think?

up a creek.

Published on by Quandie23 Comments

Remember the oars that I found at the MacGrove garage sales?

Well, if you read the comments on my blog posts, you may have noticed that a neighbor of mine mentioned that she’d be willing to trade me some toolboxes for the oars.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with all of those oars.  I just couldn’t pass them up at only $2 each and I figured I’d come up with something.

But would I rather have some toolboxes?  Yes I would!

So I loaded up the oars and headed over to Karen’s house (not nnK, my neighbor across the street, another Karen, I may have to start calling her onK, or ‘other neighbor Karen’).

Turns out, this was an excellent decision.  As it happens, Karen is a bit of an oar (or paddle) artist.

The one shown above is still in progress, but isn’t that a cool design?

Karen does some very precise work, and she starts by drawing out her pattern on paper.

Then she even tries out her color selections on paper before painting the actual paddle.

Such a great way to make sure your colors are going to work together.

I really like the abstract fish design that she’s adding to this one …

As you can see in the upper right of that photo, Karen uses regular ol’ latex paint.  She gets the sample size jars and has them mixed up in whatever colors she wants to use.  It’s pretty cost effective, and she doesn’t need much of each color of paint.

Here’s another design that she has just started working on.

I don’t believe she ever does the same design more than once.

She created the Canadian flag version below for her husband who is originally from Canada.

Karen displays a number of her paddles around the perimeter of her sun room (which happens to have really cool wood clad walls and a corrugated metal ceiling).

I think it’s fair to say that Karen will never be up a creek without a paddle!

I’m so glad that the oars went to someone who is going to do something like this with them.  I would never have come up with anything as special for them.

Unfortunately, Karen doesn’t have any sort of social media presence so I can’t send you anywhere to look at her work.  But I’m sure she’ll be reading this blog post so be sure to leave a comment and let her know what you think of her gorgeous paddles and oars!

almost perfect.

Published on by Quandie24 Comments

Remember the vintage doll crib that I found a few weeks back?

When I saw that pile of pieces, I immediately thought that the two end pieces would make fun ‘remnants’ to hang on the wall.

So I dug through all of my possible embellishments; stencils, transfers, and paint inlays, and came up with a couple of good options.

The next step was to paint each end piece.  I painted the first in Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy, and the 2nd in their Midnight Sky.

For the Sawmill Gravy piece, I applied one of the paint inlays from the I.O.D. Melange set (see full instructions for applying a paint inlay here).

It fit on that center section almost perfectly, like it was meant to be.

I also decided to add a couple of wooden knobs under the inlay section and I painted those with the Sawmill Gravy as well.

After sealing the inlay with some spray clear matte sealer, I sanded everything to distress it and then finished it off with some clear wax.

You could hang anything from those knobs, but I chose to hang some small ironstone pitchers filled with herbs from them for my photos.

The original wooden casters were so charming that I opted to leave them in place.

The 2nd piece was painted in the Midnight Sky, and I decided to add the Farm Fresh Honey Bee stencil from Wallcutz.

Once again, an almost perfect fit.

I lost a little bit around the edges, but I still think it works.

I decided to forgo the wooden knobs on this version, but I may change my mind about that and go back and add them later.

For now I’ve decided that this piece looks really fab layered over the old chippy window that hangs on the wall in our dining room (but the Sawmill Gravy version is for sale).

What do you think?  Would you have put the doll crib back together again, or would you have repurposed those ends like I did?  Leave a comment and let me know.