Category: just stuff.

I thought perhaps some of my regulars would like an update on various subjects that sort of got left hanging on my blog.

My cruise on the Danube is still ahead.  We are going during Christmas Market season, which means we will get to enjoy this …

And maybe even this …

I don’t usually choose winter travel, but I’m getting prepared (more on that later) and am really looking forward to it.

Remember the Curtis Jere wall sculpture?  Or as Mr. Q fondly calls it, the deathstar?

Yep.  I still have it.  Here’s an update.  I sent inquiries to two auction houses that specialize in mid-century modern.  Palm Beach Modern Auctions would love to take it.  They estimate it would sell for $800 to $1,000.  But, I would have to ship it to them, and then they take a 20% commission.  I also contacted Wright in Chicago.  They estimated its value at $2,000, but they felt it wouldn’t be worth it to ship it to them and pay their auction fees (they did not elaborate on what those are) so they suggested I try to find a local buyer.  I have also contacted two MCM dealers in the Twin Cities, and so far neither of them have followed up with me.  I plan to continue trying to find a local dealer that specializes in mid-century, but meanwhile I am storing the death star!

Remember my grandiose plans for my front hallway?

Well, we got as far as ripping off the carpet and then the whole project was derailed by my decision to have  a booth at Junk Bonanza, and then spring came and I was so busy, and then summer came and I was still busy.  Now fall is here, and guess what?  I’m still busy.  Hopefully I’ll revisit this project over the coming winter!

Now, who actually remembers this one?

This goes way back to last March.  Mr. Q and I picked it up north of the cities on a frigid winter’s night.  I still have this piece, but I haven’t worked on it.  The plan was to deal with it over the summer when I would have some space to spread out in the Carriage House.  Instead, it keeps getting shoved to the back of the list in favor of pieces that need less work.  Plus, the more I look at it, the more I think it’s a dresser that was “married” to two halves of a dressing table.  Right?  And once you have that visual in your head, you just can’t get it out and the whole piece just looks weird.  I think I need to consider taking these pieces apart again.  What do you think?

Finally, there is this bed.  This came as part of a set.

I already refurbished and sold the dresser and the vanity that went with this bed.  But the bed needs more work.  I have it pulled out front and center in the workshop.  I hope to get to work on it soon.

I think I’ve touched on everything that is left hanging.  Did I miss anything?

I’m not making any promises on any of this stuff … well, except the cruise on the Danube, I’m definitely doing that one!

This past Saturday some of my gal pals, Sue & Cathy, and I took a road trip just south of the Twin Cities.  There are some great shops down in that neck of the woods that I have always wanted to check out.

We stopped in Carver first for a visit to Carver Junk Co.  I had met the owners of Carver Junk at the Miss Mustard Seed retailer training that I did last winter.  I’ve always wanted to check out their shop.  Carver is a tiny little town with lots of charm.

Look at this fab gas station.

And this gorgeous house.

I got some great stuff at Carver Junk Co.  A scarf, some earrings, and this fab vintage book.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with this book, but I just loved the different fonts on the pages.  I hope I can come up with a cool idea for using these pages.

Unfortunately I didn’t get any pics inside the store, but they had some really gorgeous furniture pieces, many of them painted in Miss Mustard Seed milk paint of course.

Our next stop was Shop 501 in Chaska.

I could have spent hours digging around in this shop.  I’m sure there were lots of treasures that I overlooked.  I did pick up a dyed grain sack from this pile though.

I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with it, but it looks pretty good just draped on an old ladder.

They had tons of great vintage pieces in Shop 501 …

including some great vintage toy trucks.  I’m always on the look out for one in my fave aqua color.  I’d love to have one for display at Christmas time.  My friends spotted one for me, unfortunately at $92 it was way out of my price range!

This one was sweet too.

We had a beautiful sunny day for our road trip, and it was interesting to see what other people are doing with their furniture makeovers.  I came away with some fun finds, and some ideas for future projects.

Who’s the fairest one of all?

Certainly not these two!  At least not yet.

A friend gave me these mirrors.  She was going to chuck them, but asked if I wanted them first.  They actually look nicer in this picture than they really looked in person.  They were kind of chunky/heavy looking, plus they have that 80’s finish on them.  I figured if nothing else, they would be great fun to practice painting techniques on.

Then I saw this pin, and was inspired.

And as luck would have it, this pinspiration piece was painted in Annie Sloan’s Louis Blue and Old White, with a wash of Coco, all three of which I happened to have on hand.  Plus, I’ve been wanting to try using a wash, so here was my chance.

I started with two coats of Louis Blue over everything.  As you can see, I never tape off mirrors when I paint the frames.  I just have at it, then go back later with a razor blade to remove the paint from the mirror.  The sharper the blade, the easier this is to do.  I go through a lot of blades, but Mr. Q purchased a package of 200 for me, so I have plenty!

Next I painted Old White around the frame and on the carved details.  At this point the colors are far too crisp for my liking.  You can also see here that I am not super particular about the lines between the blue and white.  I know that later I will be sanding those lines, and adding dark wax in the creases, both of which hide a multitude of sins.  So no need to be overly particular at this stage.

Next I mixed equal parts water and Coco to make a wash.  The general directions I read about using a wash basically said to paint it on, then wipe some of the wash off with a clean cloth.  This was a super messy process. for me anyway.  Luckily I was able to do it in the yard, so it didn’t matter that watered down paint was splattering everywhere!  Turns out, I’m not so good at this.  I think with more practice, I would improve, but honestly I don’t think there will be many washes in my future.  It gives a finish that just leans a little too much towards that ‘faux’ look for me.

After the wash dried, I hand sanded the edges and the carved details, then used a coat of clear wax followed by some dark wax in the areas I wanted to define further.

So … to recap, this was two coats of Louis Blue, two coats of Old White, wash with Coco, sand, coat of clear wax, coat of dark wax.  Phew!  That is a lot more steps than I am used to doing.  I haven’t even finished the second mirror yet, but I wanted to get some pics for a blog post before I lost the light.

I think they turned out gorgeous.  However, I don’t think the wash was worth the effort.  I could have gotten just as fabulous an effect with just the dark wax, and I feel like the wax looks a little more natural than a wash.

How about you?  Have you ever tried a wash?  Are you pro-wash, or anti-wash?

I picked up this foot board at a garage sale.  The seller was the man of the house who explained that his wife went off on a girl’s weekend and left him in charge of the garage sale!  He had no idea why they had just a foot board, but his wife had stripped it and then never finished whatever project she had planned for it.  So he was selling it.  Cheap.

I made a snap decision to buy it because I loved the detail at the top, it was already stripped, I had plenty of room in the truck and I knew I could come up with some idea for it.

I was showing it to nnK, and she said “why don’t you turn it into another chalkboard?”  Duh.  Why didn’t I think of that?  Brilliant idea.

So that is what I did.  I painted the frame with a base coat of Sweetie Jane milk paint, followed by a top coat of MMSMP in Linen.  Then I painted the inset part with chalkboard paint.

I added a couple of vintage hooks, and an upside-down cup pull to hold the chalk.

I love how it turned out.  But then, I am a big fan of chalkboards.  I have several of my own, and I have several for my Carriage House Sale.

You will see this one at the sale, if you happen to be there!

A while back I got the nicest surprise.  Lisa from Maison de Stencils contacted me.  She had seen my bog and all of the things I have transformed using their stencils, and as a way of saying thanks, they offered me a discount on my next stencil purchase.  So, I wasted no time … well, maybe I wasted a little time surfing their website … but then I ordered a fab new stencil.

I wasn’t sure what I would use it on, but I loved the old-world flavor of this one.

A couple of days ago I was going through some of the stuff I have been saving up for my upcoming sale, and I saw an old ice cream parlor style chair that one of my husband’s friends gave me.  I had originally been planning to upholster the seat, but I thought ‘hey, this might be the perfect size for that new stencil!’

And sure enough, it was!

Once I saw how gorgeous this stencil was on a chair, I dug around for some more stuff to stencil.  How about an old window screen?

Fantastic!

An old cutting board?

Awesome!

Suffice to say, I love the new stencil.  Many thanks to Maison de Stencils for the discount.  Now I just need to find the perfect piece of furniture for this one!

My friend Vonda and I have been bff’s since before it was cool, or possibly even a thing, and today is her birthday!

Way, way, way back in 1973 my family moved from Chicago to Minnesota.  I was in the 4^th grade, and I was painfully shy.  In Chicago I had walked to school, and it was just across the street from my house.  We even went home at lunchtime.  When we came to Minnesota, I had to ride a bus and eat lunch at school, a terrifying prospect for a shy 4^th grader.  To make matters worse, the bus driver drove that bus right into a ladder that was sticking out of the back of a pickup truck during my first week of school.  I swear that ladder came straight for my face!  After that, I must have put up a huge fuss about riding the bus, so the school came up with a plan.  They assigned me a bus buddy.  Poor Vonda got called down to the principal’s office!  She was sure that she was in serious trouble for something.  Instead, she was informed that she had to sit with the new girl on the bus.  Can you imagine?  I’m sure she wasn’t thrilled.

Flash forward 40 some years, and here we are, bff’s.  There has been lots of water under the bridge in 40 years.  I’ve moved around … living in Florida, South Carolina and finally back here in Minnesota.  In general, our lives have often taken us in different directions.  But our friendship has gone along for the ride and we’ve always stayed in touch.

That’s Vonda on the left, me on the right.

We’ve traveled together with our husbands, including an amazing Mediterranean cruise (me with short hair, yikes!).

Our husbands still don’t believe our story about the two very handsome Italian men who tried to pick us up on the Spanish steps in Rome while they were off in search of beer and band-aids … but it really did happen.  They had Vespas, and wanted to show us the sights.  Wink, wink.  Vonda’s husband still insists that their names were Fic and Titious … get it?  Then there was our crazy afternoon spent in a Turkish market, where Vonda was sure she was going to be sold into white slavery, and we really just wanted some Turkish coffee but somehow we all ended up with leather jackets.

We also enjoyed a Caribbean cruise.  Here we are in our rented jeep in Aruba.

We switched it up, ladies in the front, gentlemen as back seat drivers!

Vonda and I don’t always share the same interests.  She sleeps in on Saturday’s, I get up bright and early to hit the garage sales.  She has some furniture that I wish she would paint, but she’s not a fan.  She loves trivia of any kind, I am hopeless at it.  Her favorite wine is Chardonnay, and I’ll drink any wine but that.  She prefers the elliptical machine; I’d rather take a Zumba class.  But, we both love sitting around a pool, drinking a cocktail, painting our toenails and reading trashy magazines and luckily we got some of that in this summer.

So today, I hope you all will join me in wishing Happy Birthday to my bff!  Here’s to 40 more years of friendship.  Love ya V!

Or at least I thought it was just as nice, if not nicer, than Chanel.

My grandmother knitted these Barbie outfits for me.  I had several, but this is the only one I preserved.

It was the 60’s.  I thought I had an incredibly chic wardrobe for my Barbie.  Heck, I still think this is an incredibly chic ensemble.  Can’t you just picture it on Jackie O?

A little back story about my grandparents on my mother’s side; my grandmother was 42 years old when my mother was born.  Yikes!  Right?  I believe my grandparents considered her quite the surprise. Anyway, by the time I came along my grandmother was already 66, and she passed away while I was still in school.  We lived in Chicago when I was younger, my grandparents were in Minneapolis.  All of these factors meant that I didn’t really know her that well.

But I do know that she was very handy with a needle, whether it was knitting, crochet or needlepoint.

In addition to my fantastic Barbie outfits, she made this darling crocheted dress for my mom when Mom was little.

Look at this picture of my mom, doesn’t she look like she is about to get into some mischief?

My mom was born in 1940, so these photos had to be taken right around WWII.  I know that my mom remembers rationing from those days.  I’m sure that the easiest way to come up with a special dress for my mom was to make one from nothing more than a ball of yarn.

These pictures were probably taken a little earlier, when my mom was just a toddler.  Can you see her peeking out of the window behind my grandparents?  And on the right is my mom with her older sister, Marilyn.

I’m afraid that grandma’s skill with a needle was not passed down to me.  I did a little cross-stitch back in the day, but I never learned to knit or crochet.  I’ll hang on to these mementos as they remind me of a much simpler time when Barbie’s wore home made Chanel and people made do with what they had.

I was chatting with my handyman/neighbor Ken the other day about vintage stuff.  He has an old portable manual typewriter that he still uses!  I was explaining that I’d love to borrow it sometime to stage a desk, and he said “would you ever want to use a Laurel & Hardy hat?”

Huh?  A Laurel & Hardy hat?  What is that?

Well, it’s a Derby or Bowler of course!

This belonged to Ken’s grandpa.  As I love to remind Ken, he’s ‘getting up there’ himself, so I imagine his grandpa hasn’t been around to wear hats for a long time.  I googled it and read that this hat style was popular from the 1850’s through the 1920’s.

The hatbox still has the postal label on it and a C.O.D. price of $5.98.  C.O.D.  I bet there are a few of you out there that don’t even know what that is.  Cash on delivery.  Can you imagine having something sent to you this way now, where the postman has to collect the money from you?

And here is a picture of Ken’s grandpa (on the left) in the hat!

Well, I’m kind of assuming it’s the same hat.  Ken isn’t sure.  But unless his grandpa had several Bowlers, it’s probably the same hat.

Anyway, of course I told Ken that I would love to borrow this sometime to stage a dresser or armoire.

Meanwhile, I took a few photos of it and then a few more with the pink hat stand I bought at an estate sale for my friend Michelle.  Since Michelle has a millinery background, I knew she’d love a vintage pink hat stand.

Ken however thought the pink hat stand was ALL wrong for his granddad’s hat!

I think it’s kind of fab, don’t you?

It is incredibly handy having a friend that is super creative and owns a fabulous shop and studio space in Stillwater.  I’m referring to my friend Michelle who owns Rose Mille.

The other night we got together for a craft night to make fairy crowns.  I brought the wine, my hot glue gun and an idea from pinterest, she provided just about everything else!

The idea for the wire and buttons came from pinterest, but Michelle thought to add the Dresden trim around the bottom.

It was awesome crafting with Michelle.  She knows lots of stuff and I learned from her.  This was not her first fairy crown.  Plus she has an excellent eye.  Here is her crown.

While we were playing anyway, we also decided to make some fairy wands using some of Michelle’s supplies and her fabulous German glass glitter in black (which you can order on her website, here).

I was originally hoping the crown would work for the gargoyle, but it was a bit too large for him.

I also tried it on Cossetta and on my buddha.  No dice.

But truthfully, this crown wouldn’t hold up outside anyway.

For now I think that Lulu will sport the crown.