Category: just stuff.

A while back one of my readers contacted me to ask if I wanted some old dresser drawers.  If so, she would send them up from Iowa with her son who happens to live in St. Paul.

So I thought, heck, why not?

In the past I’ve turned drawers into … well … what would you call them?  Boxes, I guess.

I simply asked my handyman Ken cut their depth in half or so, and like magic the drawers re-appeared in my workshop at half of their original size (I wish that worked for weight loss too).

Those drawers were a bit more plain on the front (and they had really cool drawer pulls), which made it easy to add interest using transfers.

The drawers in today’s post have a bit more detail to them including a raised panel on the front.

Oh, and full disclosure, that’s not a true ‘before’ photo.  I’d already sent them over to Ken’s workshop to be cut down, having forgotten to take a photo first.

Ken made quick work of cutting the drawers down to only 8″ deep.

To prep the drawers for paint, I removed the knobs and then first cleaned them and gave them a light scuff sanding.  Then I gave them all a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss to prevent any stains from bleeding through my paint.

I did end up having to add a 2nd coat of Bonding Boss over some of those stains inside the drawers.  I think that might have been ink.

My q tip for the day, if you still have stains bleeding through your paint after just one coat of Bonding Boss, add a 2nd coat (yes, over your first coat of paint) and be sure to let it dry for at least 24 hours.  That will usually do the trick for tough stains.

I painted up the two smaller drawers first.  I painted the first one in Dixie Belle’s English Ivy, and the 2nd one has English Ivy on the inside and Drop Cloth on the outside.

Then I applied I.O.D.’s Rose Chintz paint inlay to the raised part of the drawer fronts.

I used a spray sealer to seal the paint inlay sections, and then followed that up with Dixie Belle’s clear wax inside and out.

I have to admit, I kind of missed the boat on marketing for these two little boxes because they would have made perfect Mother’s Day gift boxes either filled with flowers …

or with some pretty vintage china.

They are the perfect unique alternative to a gift basket.

For the first of the larger drawers, I simply gave it one coat of Dixie Belle’s Caviar inside and out.  I planned to have a very distressed finish on this one, so one coat was sufficient coverage.

I sanded the heck out of it with some 220 grit sandpaper to rough it up.

After wiping away the dust, I added part of a stencil to the raised section on the front using Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.

It’s a super simple look, but I like it.

I finished it off with some of the Sweet Pickins Dark Oil Wax.

You may remember that I used this product on the flooring in a couple of my dollhouses.

By the way, sidebar, you may have noticed that I’ve put the Christmas Cottage dollhouse on the back burner for now.  I plan to bring it back out in the fall and finish it up for the Christmas season.

Anyway, I’d recently watched  YouTube video by Jonathan Marc Mendes where he used this topcoat on a piece of furniture that was going outside in his garden.  He suggested that the Oil Wax would provide reasonable protection for something going outside since it will repel water.  So I thought I’d give it a shot.

If you don’t have a window box, this would be a fun way to add one (if adding live plants, be sure to drill some drainage holes into the bottom of the box/drawer).

Of course, the box would hold up better in a protected location like on an enclosed porch.  But who cares if it only lasts for a season or two if you put it outside?

You may have already noticed that I used some of my lilacs to stage the photos of this drawer.

If you’ve been following me for long, you know I’ve struggled with my lilac hedge.  But I’ve decided to give it yet another chance.  I do love the flowers, although it’s unfortunate that they only stick around for a couple of weeks.  I found a few more Common Lilacs at my local Fleet Farm earlier this spring and I popped those in hoping that they’ll fill in where the fancy hybrids have gotten straggly.  We’ll see how it goes.

Now, as for the 4th and final drawer, I think I’m going to hang onto that one for the Christmas holiday season.  You’ll just have to stay tuned … for quite some time … to see how that one turns out.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of my drawer/boxes!  What would you do with one of them?

My friend opK and I are waiting with baited breath for garage sale season to begin here in Minnesota.  We have several weeks yet to go.  There are a handful of neighborhood sales in late April, but our season really kicks off the first weekend in May.

In the meantime, we’ve been trying to find things to do until then like visiting thrift shops and the occasional estate sale.  We aren’t finding much these days though.

So last week we decided to head to Junk Bonanza.

If you aren’t familiar, this is an indoor vintage market held in Shakopee, MN.  It has been around for a little over 20 years.  It was started by Ki Nassauer, but I am assuming she is no longer associated with it (if any of you know differently, leave a comment and let me know).

Back in 2014, I shared a booth at Junk Bonanza with my friend Lori who used to own a shop in Anoka.

Lori has amazing style, and our stuff blended together really well.

I mainly brought painted furniture such as the Union Jack piece above.

I also had quite a few painted and stenciled books.

And Lori always had amazing stuff both in her shop and at Junk Bonanza.

But I did only participate the one time.  I still had my day job back then, so I had to take several vacation days off at work to be there.  I also had to rent a truck in order to get all of my merch there during the allotted set up time.

Also, if I remember right, the booth fee wasn’t exactly cheap.  So in the end, it just wasn’t worth it for me.

All of that being said, the event itself was amazing.  There were so many fabulous vendors with really awesome vintage goods.  At that time vendors were only allowed to sell vintage items, nothing new or reproduction.

Well, apparently things have changed.  This year there were booths selling spices, hot sauce, cosmetics, candles, bath salts, honey, crystals, and bundt cakes.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Nothing Bundt Cakes (have you tried them?  the lemon one is my favorite).

I had to give that particular booth a wide berth to avoid binging on bundt cakes!

But I don’t think I should have to pay a $10 entrance fee to buy them.

Also, Junk Bonanza used to be huge with multiple spaces on two floors.  But this time there was just one room.

Now, it wasn’t all bad.  There were several booths that were fantastic like this one.

And this one.

But there just weren’t enough of them to justify the drive to Shakopee, or the $10 entrance fee.

That being said, I’ve heard that the fall Junk Bonanza is much better than the spring version.  Will I go back and give it one more try … well, to be honest, probably not.

How about any of you locals?  Do you still attend Junk Bonanza?  As for the rest of you, do you have a similar indoor vintage market where you are?  And is it still going strong?  Leave some comments and let me know!

I’ve got another box makeover for you today, and once again I forgot to take a ‘before’ photo.

Well, no worries, it was basically just a dark brown stained wood before I gave it its new look.

This box definitely appears to be homemade, maybe some sort of high school shop project?

See those grooves that have been cut in to either side of the box in front?  I think they were meant to be decorative, they are on all four sides.  But they are pretty wonky.

Anyway, as you can already see, after my usual prep of cleaning, scuff sanding and a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss, I painted the outside of the box in their Drop Cloth.

After sanding to distress the edges, I applied some of the florals from the new I.O.D. Flora Greca all the way around the box.

I’m calling this the front …

but you could just as easily call this the front …

As for the box top, I dug deep into my transfer stash and pulled out my old favorite, the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

As most of you know, it was retired years ago.  At this point, I buy one whenever I find it at a reasonable price, but they are getting harder and harder to find.

Now, I have to first apologize to any French speakers out there.  I re-arranged the layout of a few of the lines of text to get them to fit nicely on the box top.  I suspect they may not make a lot of sense now.  I hope it’s not too crazy.

As you can see, the top of the box is not hinged, it comes right off.

That brings me to the inside of the box.

It’s painted in Dixie Belle’s Blueberry with a top coat of their flat clear coat.

Along with the Madeleine lunchbox that I shared last week, I think this little box would make a super sweet Easter basket if you filled it with some chocolate bunnies and candy easter eggs.

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

This box is for sale locally, you can find all of those details here.

Well shucks.  I could have sworn that I took a ‘before’ photo of today’s project.  But if I did, I have no idea where I stored it.

Suffice to say that one of the shop owners at Reclaiming Beautiful gave this box to me because she thought it was a good candidate for a makeover (thanks again for that Monique).

It’s started out as just a simple wood box.  Monique had tried to strip it with mixed results.  I think in the end she just figured it wasn’t worth putzing with, so she gave it to me.

After removing the latch, I gave the box a quick scuff sanding and then a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss inside and out.  The wood definitely looked a bit red, ie. it would probably bleed through my paint.  The Bonding Boss will prevent that.

Then, well, the box sat for a while.  I wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted to finish it.  That gave the Bonding Boss plenty of time to cure.  Technically you are supposed to wait 24 hours before painting over it.  I find that it works best for preventing bleed through if you follow those instruction.

But I pulled the box back out a week or so ago and gave the interior a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Cactus.

Next up I painted the exterior in their French Villa.

Both of these colors are from their Silk All-In-One Mineral Paint line.  I tend to prefer using their chalk paint line usually, but every now and then it is nice to use a paint that doesn’t require a topcoat.  Well, technically it also has a built in primer so I’m not sure I really needed the Bonding Boss.  However, I hadn’t chosen my paint colors yet when I started with that step.

Next I brought out one of the new transfers from I.O.D., By Any Other Name.  There are four different images of white roses in that set.

I used all four on top of the box with the excess draping down on the sides.

I added some typography from the I.O.D. Saint Ouen transfer to the front of the box.

I then added a few insects here and there, also from the By Any Other Name transfer.  As a final touch I also added the “Tag No. 9757” which is from Tim Holtz.

OK, that takes me to the “latch” which really isn’t a functioning latch.  I didn’t really think it through when I decided to add that.  Somehow I thought it would work to actually keep the box closed, but of course it doesn’t.

But I liked the look of it so much that I kept it anyway.

That isn’t an original finish on it, I created that look using the Dixie Belle Patina Paint.  The latch started out in shiny brass, so I began by giving it a coat of the Bonding Boss to help my paint stick.  Then I gave it a quick coat of Dixie Belle’s Coffee Bean paint.  Once that was dry I dabbed on some of the Iron paint and some of the Bronze paint.  While the paint was still wet, I added the Green activating spray.

I just love the results you can get with the Patina Paint.

Now, although the paint doesn’t require a topcoat, the transfers do.  So I added a coat of clear wax over the outside of the box.

I have to admit, I wasn’t initially sure where I was going with this box.  However, in the end I quite like how it has turned out.

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

It is available for local sale, so check out the details here if you are interested.

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing their products used in this makeover.

 I fully admit, I’m a sucker for attractive packaging.  So the other day when I was at Home Depot waiting for some paint to be color matched (to touch up the Carriage House), I was browsing the spray paint aisle and came across this …

This is Behr spray chalk paint in a color called Surf.  Isn’t that a nice looking can of spray paint?  Somehow it’s much more appealing than your typical can of spray paint.

Am I right?  Or is it just me?

And I didn’t even know that Behr was making a spray chalk paint, did you?

It was priced at $9.99, which is just a tad steep for a can of spray paint.  But I went ahead and threw it in the cart to give it a try anyway.

I pulled out this metal plant stand that I’d purchased at a garage sale earlier this summer to be my guinea pig.

After giving it a good cleaning with soapy water, I gave it a few quick coats of the spray paint.

One thing I noticed right off is that this spray paint does not dry nearly as quickly as traditional spray paint.  Just something to keep in mind if you plan to try it.

But it went on beautifully, and it did have a nice matte finish similar to chalk paint.

I got some paint on my hand when I accidentally touched the plant stand before it was dry, and it was not as easy to wash off as chalk paint typically is.

I didn’t attempt to distress the plant stand, so I can’t speak to whether or not the spray chalk paint distresses as easily as other chalk style paints.  I’ll have to experiment with that on another project.

I checked out the Behr website and found a blurb in the description of the product calling it a “simple two-step paint and wax process.”  However, the instructions for use didn’t say anything about having to add a topcoat, wax or otherwise.

But I would guess that it needs a topcoat for durability based on them calling it a “two-step process”, and that you can use any topcoat that you would normally use with chalk paint.

However, I didn’t add a topcoat to mine because as it turns out, this color is a bit brighter than I thought it would be and truthfully it’s not really my vibe.

So in the end, I decided to go back to the drawing board.

After first spraying over the Surf color with a matte black spray paint, I then brushed on the Dixie Belle Patina Paint in Bronze.  While the paint was still wet, I sprayed it with the green activating spray (find a full tutorial on using the Patina Paint here).

Yep, that’s fits my aesthetic much more than the bright turquoise.

The green spray created a nice bit of verdigris.

After adding a small pot of ornamental kale, I put the plant stand in my recent sale.

It almost sold.  And by that I mean that someone put it in the ‘holding area’, but then they changed their mind and didn’t buy it.

Oh well.  Maybe next time.

Meanwhile, which version did you like better?

White, turquoise or bronze?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Every time I.O.D. comes out with a new release I tell myself I’m not going to go wild.  I’m not going to order a bunch of new stuff.  I have a large stash of older stuff that I should use up.  Etc., etc.

And then I see what’s on offer and I cave.

Such is the case with the new I.O.D. Clementine transfer.

I just couldn’t resist.  Look how pretty it is!

It is one of the smaller ones, so priced just under $25.  So maybe not too much of a splurge, right?

As you can see, although this is part of the I.O.D. 2025 Holiday Collection, it doesn’t have a super strong Christmas vibe.  I’d say the colors make it feel more fall-ish.

To begin with, I decided to try one out on a cannister that I brought home from the Goodwill store near my mom’s house (back right).

I clearly must not have been too impressed with the result the first time I painted it back in May because I never even shared it here on the blog.

I did put it in my spring sale, but it didn’t sell.

So clearly no one else was too impressed with it either, it was due for a do-over.

I sanded it down and then gave it a coat of Rust-Oleum’s Ultra Matte black spray paint.

Once the paint was fully dry, I simply applied one of the Clementine transfers.

Then I sanded the entire thing lightly using one of Dixie Belle’s sanding sponges.  I find that they work really nicely on a curved surface.

I will note that you can see some brush strokes under that Rust-Oleum paint.  Although it’s called ‘Ultra Matte’, it actually does have a bit more sheen that I expected.  And sheen always highlights brush strokes.  Just something to note.

I finished things off with a top coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

I loved the way the Clementine transfer looked over the black paint, so I pulled out a stash of French flower buckets that my friend Sue found at a garage sale for me.

After giving three of the buckets a couple of quick coats of the Rust-Oleum Ultra Matte black and letting them dry, I applied some more of the Clementine transfers.

You’ll notice that the finish is much smoother when not applied over previously brushed on paint.

Once again, after a quick, light sanding, I finished them off with some clear wax.

The colors in the one with the pink cabbage in particular inspired me to fill them with some of my dried hydrangeas.  The deep rose color of my Quick Fire Fab hydrangeas were a perfect match.

While my dried Limelights were perfect for the one with the oranges.

All of these will be available at my upcoming occasional sale.

I hope some of you locals can make it.

Stay turned for next week when I’ll be sure to share my address and any other sale details.

As for the rest of you, did you cave in and purchase any of the new I.O.D. transfers?  Or am I the only one who can’t seem to resist them?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Recently my friend Terri gifted me with a set of nesting boxes.

These are the real McCoy, made out of wood rather than heavy cardboard.

The green wasn’t really working for me, but not to worry, Terri knows me very well and intended for me to paint these.  She won’t be offended that I didn’t like the green.

I thought this might be a good opportunity to use some of the new Countryside Collection colors from Dixie Belle, so I pulled out 4 of them that I thought would work beautifully together on the boxes.

However, after painting each box in one of the colors, I decided that the Oxford Fog was out of place.

So I decided to add in a color from Dixie Belle called Gardenia instead.

So, from top to bottom we have Gardenia, Chantilly, French Villa and Truffle.

They created a lovely neutral ombré sort of look.

I don’t know, is ombré still in?  Apparently it depends who you ask, some sources say it’s out, others say it’s making a come back.  Either way, I’m loving it on these boxes.

After painting each box, I sanded them to distress the edges and then finished the bottom three with a mixture of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta mixed with some of their brown wax.

Before adding a topcoat to the top box I decided to add a paint inlay from I.O.D.

This is from the Floriography set.

After letting it dry, and then spraying the inlay with some Rust-Oleum matte clear spray to seal it, I also added a coat of the butta and wax mix to this box.

I staged my pictures using an urn that I picked up at a garage sale this summer.

I did debate leaving it ‘as is’, but it just didn’t feel quite right with that pinkish toned terracotta coming through the faux paint job.  So I gave it another kind of faux paint job using Dixie Belle’s Patina Paint in Iron paired with the Green Spray to give it a rusty look.

This was one of the items I did on my assembly line rustification day.

I filled it with some dried flowers from my new Quick Fire Fab hydrangea hedge.

These have a darker color than my usual Limelight or Vanilla Strawberry hydrangeas.

I also used a stack of old books.

I purchased that old bible at a garage sale, and I’ve never been able to figure out why there is paper lining the spine of the book.  I don’t think the spine was meant to be open, that just happened over time.  By when was it lined with that paper?  If any of you know when or why this technique was done, please let me know in a comment.

And also let me know what you think of the ombré nesting boxes!

I was so pleased with the results that I got with the books that I painted a couple of weeks ago that I decided to keep the black set for myself.

And then make some more!

So I went back to the thrift store and purchased another six books and got to painting.

This time I was a little smarter about my selection and I only purchased those books that were already black.  I still had to paint them, but it only took one coat, and I didn’t have to worry about getting the inside edges of the covers.

After painting all six books in Dixie Belle’s Caviar, I pulled out the same two I.O.D. transfers that I used last time to add to them; Wilde Bloemen and Étiquettes .

I also used the Dixie Belle Gold Pen to add some horizontal lines here and there.

I finished them off with a coat of Dixie Belle clear wax.

For the 2nd set of three books, I decided to try a different floral.  This time I went with the I.O.D. Saint Germain transfer.

Isn’t that pretty over black?

Now I’m thinking that I’ll need to use this combo on a toolbox!

Although that being said, I think those florals would look pretty over Dixie Belle’s Ecru or Drop Cloth too.  On books or toolboxes.

OK, so which floral do you like better?

Wilde Bloemen on the left or Saint Germain on the right?

Leave a comment and let me know.

I stopped off at the thrift store the other day to pick up a few books to add to my summer reading list.

LOL, just kidding.  I didn’t buy these to read, I bought them to paint.  which is not to say there aren’t a few options here that I might enjoy reading.

But I was surfing around on pinterest the other day and I came across this image …

and it inspired me to do some more book painting.

Is it just me, or does that image seem AI generated?  I don’t know, maybe it isn’t, but it just seems too perfect.  And I also saw the same exact image but in black and white.  I also couldn’t really track down the origin of this photo, it just has been shared and re-shared by individuals without any attribution.

Regardless, I was inspired by the colors and the florals on those books.

So I got out my Dixie Belle paint in Secret Path and in Kudzu to see what I could create.  After painting three of the books in each color, I started embellishing them.  I used a some floral transfers from a few different I.O.D. sets; Sarah Featon’s Botanicals, Rose Botanical and Wilde Bloemen.

Next I added a few random bits of gold typography from the I.O.D. Étiquettes transfer.

I also added some horizontal gold lines to the book spines using Dixie Belle’s Gold Marker.

Once all of those elements were in place, I gave the books a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.  Then I used some of their Dixie Dirt in the color called Earth to add a little faux wear.  Dixie Dirt is a powder pigment that you can use to … well … make things look a little dirty.

I use a small artist’s brush to apply a little of the Dixie Dirt to the top of each book spine.

I kept it fairly subtle, but it definitely helped the books not look quite so freshly painted.

I kept aside 3 of the books to paint based on another inspiration pic from pinterest.

Isn’t that gorgeous?

I first painted the last 3 books using Dixie Belle’s Caviar, then I added more of the same embellishments I used on the previous books.

Only this time I used one floral transfer and applied it across all three books instead of using an individual one on each book.

And isn’t that transfer perfect over black?  It’s from I.O.D.’s Wilde Bloemen set, and it definitely has that look of a Dutch still life floral.

I have to admit that I like the black books even better than the green and purple books.

The gold elements really pop over the black.

I love the way these turned out.  So much in fact, that I’m going to keep them for myself.  I’ve already ordered more of the Wilde Bloemen transfer so that I can paint up some more too.

What do you think of these painted books?  Leave a comment and let me know.