Category: the carriage house.

A big thanks to everyone who came out to the sale!

After the dire forecast of heavy rain and flooding, we really only had a mild drizzle for most of the day on Thursday.  Normally I love a drizzly day.  They are perfect for sleeping in, or watching old movies.  They aren’t so great for setting up an occasional sale in your driveway though.  But, it was so much better than it could have been, and by the time of the sale it was only slightly drippy and it didn’t keep the shoppers away!  Friday dawned bright and sunny and was beautiful all day, we couldn’t have had a more fabulous day for day 2.

All of my plates with Cricut messages sold like hotcakes!

As did the vintage kitchen ware turned planters.

The furniture did not sell like hotcakes.  I didn’t sell a single large piece.  If anyone local is interested in any of the following pieces, let me know.

The wine bar – $275

The perfectly sweet armoire.

The garden bed.

The Bohemian desk .

The Union Jack desk.

Sue’s settee – $195

The cottage striped dresser.

We still have the two  one darling play size cupboards too!  (update:  the white one is sold)

We have some smaller stuff left as well, so if there was something you had your eye on, but you weren’t able to make it to the sale, just drop me an email at oakdalecarriagehouse@gmail.com and we’ll work something out (local only please, I’m not a fan of shipping).

Despite the lack of furniture sales, it was still a really awesome event!  Thanks again to everyone who came out.

I’m off to enjoy my weekend of rest!

I often struggle for words when someone asks me to describe my sale.  If they give me a blank look when I say “occasional sale” then I try to explain what that means.  Obviously, it’s a sale that is held only occasionally (or in our case, only twice a year).

But how do I describe my sale specifically?  Well, of course, it takes place in my Carriage House.

It’s not fancied up like a shop or anything.  99.9% of the year it is just my workshop and where I park my car.  Every year I tell myself that I should paint the walls inside, but I never actually do.  I try to vacuum up the cobwebs and wash the windows, but that’s about it.  Honestly, everyone is in and out so fast that it hardly seems worthwhile to paint those walls when I could be painting furniture.

Enough about the location, what about the stuff?

Of course, we have some painted furniture.  That’s a given, right?

We also have some straight-up vintage.  These yellow suitcases are only $6 each.

The clocks are $8.

We group our vintage wares by color, just because it looks so pretty that way.  If there is a particular color group that you are drawn to, remember this … green, yellow, blue, red, aqua is all on the left side of the Carriage House (as you’re facing it) …

Black, white, silver and earth tones are on the right side.  The black and white scale is $18, isn’t it fab?  I love the black and white combo.  No promises on this one guys, I may not be able to resist its siren’s call.

In some ways the sale is simply a curated collection of really fab vintage finds.  You don’t have to scour every Minneapolis neighborhood garage sale to find them yourself, we have them all right here.

And then we have some upcycled vintage, the Adventurer suitcase is $38.

How about some pretty vintage linens turned into throw pillows for $12 each?

We still have stacks of both white and floral vintage platters.  Consider buying a white one and adding your house number to it with a Cricut (or just number decals from Home Depot) like I did with mine.

At our June sale we also like to have lots of garden stuff including perennials.  For a reminder, Sue’s yard looks like this.

So as you can imagine, she has plenty of lovely perennials to divide.  I’ve potted up a couple myself too.  She’s also brought over some great vintage garden tools and other garden ornaments.

Or how about some painted pots to fill with annuals?

A chalkboard bucket for $8 to plant your herbs in.

Some lavender.

After I put together the vintage hose reel “sign” in my first picture, I almost decided I should keep it as future sale signage.

If it doesn’t sell, I might do just that.  But it will have a price tag on it.  It would be fantastic for a grad party, birthday party or garden wedding.  Or just put it in the garden with a happy message on it.  Jeesh, now I’m talking myself into keeping it again!

Nearly everything you’ve seen in these pictures is available at the sale.  I have to say ‘nearly’ because some of the staging items used in the furniture pics are not for sale. And of course my house number platter is not for sale, but you can create your own with one of our many platters.  Everything else will be there though, and I hope you will be there too!

As a reminder, the Carriage House sale takes place tomorrow evening and Friday during the day.

It looks like we are going to have rain, but I have several tents to keep things fairly dry.  And a little rain never hurt anybody, right?  Let’s all embrace our inner pluviophile.

Once it’s over, I plan to take a much needed break to dry out.  It will involve sleeping in, taking naps, reading a book, or perhaps just drinking a cocktail on the deck.  That should last about a day probably, but don’t panic if I don’t have any new posts for a bit.  Truly, I need a break.  But I’ll be back soon with some fun projects I have been saving up so I could devote some time to them.  Stay tuned!

Way back last year sometime I got this pair of mirrors from a friend.

They looked prettier in this picture than there were in person.  Of course, I painted them and then they looked like this.

But they were really heavy.  I wouldn’t have wanted to attempt to hang them on my plaster walls.  Not that I’m keeping them, but if I don’t want to hang them, I imagine no one else will either.  So I decided to remove the mirror and make them chalk boards instead.

I just have Ken cut some fiber board to size.  Then I paint it with chalk board paint (not to be confused with chalk paint), and secure it back in the frames.  Easy as can be.

Now they look like this.

And they are much lighter.

Now these I would be willing to hang on my wall.  I’m not going to, because I don’t have a spot for them, but you could!  They will be available at the Carriage House sale, as will the union jack suitcase.

A while back I promised to share a settee that my friend and Carriage House co-host, Sue, made over, and here it is.

Sue and her husband came by last night with all of her larger pieces for the sale.  If I had been thinking clearly, I would have gotten pictures of all of them before it got dark, but I missed the boat on that.

But I did get a few shots of the settee.

Don’t you just love that Cafe Paris fabric on the back?

The detail on this piece is amazing.

If you remember the tour I gave of Sue’s home last summer, you’ll remember that she is a big fan of white.  This is the buffet in her dining room.

So it was no surprise when she and her husband pulled up with a truck full of mostly white furniture (there was a little grey thrown in too).  It makes for a perfect combination with my somewhat more colorful pieces.

If you know me at all, then you will know I had to wipe away a little drool when I saw this little baby coming off the truck.

I really wanted to just walk this one straight in my front door.

This little darling is only about 33″ tall.  How cute would it be sitting on the counter top in a kitchen, or on top of a low dresser?

Did you notice the fab detail of that curved drawer?

You could also use it in a craft room and fill it up with crafting supplies.  Or hang it on the wall in your bathroom and fill it with toiletries.

I staged it with another little set of play china.

Both of these fabulous white pieces will be at the Carriage House sale, along with a few more.

Hope you can swing by and see them in person!

The Carriage House sale is just one week away!  I hope you’ve marked your calendars, scheduled a baby sitter, taken time off work, or whatever else it might take for you to be there!

Here is a sampling of some of the items that will be available.

The Oh Darling suitcase.

The Family and Friends chalkboard.

Storage with Style boxes.

Lucky is a State of Mind shelf.

Faux french hatboxes.

Painted shoe trees.

Orphaned hankie drawers.

The union jack desk.

The fun cupboard.

A pair of trashy chairs.

The bohemian rhapsody desk.

And so much more!  This is just the tip of the iceberg!

Take note:  no one, and I mean no one, gets in before 5 pm, but as soon as the clock strikes 5 it’s every man, woman and child for himself!  Also, we do not accept personal checks.  Credit cards are accepted for purchases over $50 only.  So hit the cash machine on your way over!

First, a big thanks to all who left a comment yesterday.  I wasn’t able to respond to everyone, but I’ve read all the comments and everyone’s name will go in the hat to potentially win the big Fusion grand prize!

Mr. Q delivered the herb toolbox to his mom yesterday and she was thrilled with it!  It even brought a tear to her eye, so sweet!  They met up at the senior facility where his grandparents live.  Yes, you read that right, both of my m-i-l’s parents are still with us at the age of 98 (they are the same age).  Apparently there were quite a few ladies there admiring the toolbox!

Next, I want to take just a moment to plug my Carriage House sale.  OMG – it is only one month away!  I admit, I feel a little panicky when I put that in writing!  The Carriage House itself is currently full of unpainted pieces of furniture.  I have stuff scattered everywhere!  I haven’t even begun to clear things out in anticipation of setting up for the sale.

But, the show will go on!  Luckily I have my sister here now to help me!

This is just a quick post to remind all of you locals to pencil it in on your calendars.

Where:  The Carriage House (stay tuned as the sale date gets closer for more details)

When:  Thursday, June 11 from 5 pm to 7 pm and Friday, June 12 from 9 am to 2 pm

Back before I started q is for quandie, I dabbled for a bit with a Facebook page.  I eventually mostly gave that up because there just wasn’t enough flexibility and I couldn’t tell the stories the way I wanted to.  That’s what motivated me to start a blog instead.

So anyway, those of you who were readers of my Facebook page have already heard this story … but for everyone else, it’s brand new!

A couple of summers ago, Mr. Q and I decided it was high time to go deep inside the lean-to on the back of the Carriage House and clean out whatever we found there.  Now, you might be thinking to yourself, ‘hey, haven’t they lived in that house for like 27 years or something?  how can they possibly not have done this sooner?’  And to that question, I really don’t have a good answer.  Fear of spiders and mice comes to mind.  Out of sight, out of mind is also a good one.  Even I shake my head over this one.  There could have been a big chest full of gold doubloons back there, and we wouldn’t have known about it (unfortunately, there wasn’t).

So, yes, high time to clean it out.  Fortunately, Mr. Q took this job on while I was off at the day job (no spider worries for me!).  When I got home, he said “well, there wasn’t much back there, just this bunch of old doors, what should we do with these?”

Well, if you know me at all, you know that this was nearly as good as a trunk full of buried treasure!  Just look at these babies!  The patina!  The style!  The vintage hardware!

First, I hosed them all down and gave them a good scrubbing with my trusty magic eraser.  Then, I developed a plan for each one.   The grey two-paneled door got a coat of white paint, then chalk board paint inside the panels.  I also added an enameled metal number tag.  The yellow door just got a really good cleaning and sanding.  The door with the glass window got stenciled with “OFFICE”.  I used my Cricut to cut the letters out of contact paper.  I adhered them to the window, masked off around the outer edge of the window and sprayed a couple of coats of Krylon Frosted Glass Finish over the entire glass.  Once dry, I peeled off the contact paper letters to leave “OFFICE” in clear glass.

The green six-paneled door was originally a pocket door.  It had the classic pocket door handle and hardware.  I am guessing that at some point there was a pocket door in my house because the style of the door matches all of my other doors.  I really wish I knew where it was.  Maybe between the kitchen and the dining room?  Or perhaps between my study and the dining room?  I don’t think I will ever know.

I turned the pocket door into a headboard of sorts.  Really, all I did was turn it on its side and add the rub-on sentiment.

All that remained was to mount it on the wall at the appropriate height for a headboard.

In hindsight, this is another piece that has come and gone and I kind of wish I had hung on to it.  But, because of my 1/2 story walls upstairs, this would only have worked in the master bedroom, and it just didn’t even occur to me that I could ditch my current sleigh bed in favor of this.

So in the end, all of these doors found new purposes and new homes.  I may not have found gold, but I did find buried treasure of the vintage kind!

I should have trusted that a little cold and blustery weather wouldn’t keep Minnesotans (and a few Wisconsinites) away!  In the end, a good time was had by all at the Carriage House sale.  I tried to get decent pictures, but most of them were total crap.  I got only 2 that were even remotely blog worthy!

Let’s see … both of my painted chairs sold (more on the blue one soon).  The cute little “Let it Snow” suitcase sold, but the striped one did not.  The globe is long gone (people still love globes!), but the table and the mystery cabinet didn’t sell.  Darn.

As for this one .. um, well, absolutely nothing pictured here sold.  I still have it all.  Anyone need a chalkboard door?  This door was inspired by a photo on pinterest:

I’d keep it myself, except I already have a chalkboard door at my house.  I try not to get too redundant at home.  I may put this one on craigslist and see if it sells that way, unless any of you need a chalkboard door ($40).  It has a fantastic vintage doorknob plate that you can see in my photo.

Despite that fact that not much in these two pictures sold, I actually sold quite a bit of furniture.  Probably more pieces than I’ve ever sold at my sale before.  So that was pretty exciting.  I was really thrilled that three of my little painted miniature cabinets sold.  I was worried that perhaps I was the only one with such a fascination for all things tiny, but apparently not!

Best of all, the sale was just a lot of fun.  I love to see familiar faces that have been coming to my sale for years as well as some new faces.  And I also am very grateful each year for my friends that come and help me out.  I couldn’t do it without them, and they all are willing to help year after year, which is quite awesome.

Now it’s time to clear out the Carriage House to make room for the vehicles, bring all of the supplies inside the house so they don’t freeze, and start thinking about how I’m going to get my furniture painting fix indoors again this winter.  Thanks goodness MMS’s milk paint has zero VOC’s!

Today is the day!  And we are going to freeze our buns off.  I hope the cold doesn’t keep the shoppers away!  Unfortunately, my team and I will be out in it for about 6 hours or so (including set up).  We aren’t quite ready for this weather yet.  Heck, last weekend it was 80 and sunny!  Remind me why we didn’t pick that weekend for our sale?  Oh yeah, I didn’t want to compete with Junk Bonanza (as if I could).  That was foolish.  Next year we might have to rethink that idea.

But meanwhile, here we are.  It’s supposed to be 36 degrees and cloudy at 10 a.m.  Oh my.  But, the show must go on!

We have tons of great stuff.  I tried my darndest to get some good photos to share with you, but it was gloomy yesterday and the Carriage House does not have the best lighting.

 Remember I said we had lots of plates?  Yep, we do.

Also, since this is our last sale of the year, we brought out all of our holiday goodies from Halloween …

through Christmas …

We also just have a slew of super fab vintage stuff.  Like this Super Lectric fan and mercury glass thermos …

And I just love this little framed map of Minnesota.  It has a great vintage look, wouldn’t it be cute hanging in a cabin?

We have a nice selection of vintage silver.

My farmhouse style table painted in MMS Boxwood would work great as a desk.

There really is so much more, but this is all I have time to show you!  I’m off to try and stay warm, and cross my fingers that customers are going to show up.  Wish me luck!

We’ve been preparing for months.  Slaving away with a paintbrush, gathering up fab vintage finds, re-purposing other people’s cast offs and just generally enjoying the process.  And now, it’s here!

We have furniture galore!

And lots of fabulous vintage finds!

Special note:  new this sale, we will be accepting credit cards for purchases over $50!

If you live in the Twin Cities, we hope you can swing by!  Please remember, no one gets in early.  Doors open at 10 a.m. on Saturday, October 4.