the method to my madness.

Published on by Quandie14 Comments

Whenever I share photos of the haul from a Saturday spent garage saling I get lots of comments from people who say they wish they could find such great stuff themselves.

So I thought I’d share some garage saling tips with you guys today.  Because there definitely is a method to my madness.

Tip no. 1 – shop neighborhood sales.

This is a biggie.  It’s my number one tip because it’s definitely the most important one.

I like to focus on neighborhood sales for the simple reason that it’s efficient.  My sister and I can often hit 50 – 60 sales in one morning at a neighborhood sale because they are all close together.  The more sales you visit, the greater your chances of finding something good.  I’d say there is about one good sale for every 10 or so lame ones.  You know, the ones where you wonder why the people didn’t just rent a dumpster.

If you don’t know whether or not there are any neighborhood sales in your area, try checking the Craigslist garage sale postings frequently.  Some of our neighborhoods are still really old school and post ads in the newspaper too.  Once you find them, be sure to keep track of when they are held.  Most neighborhoods stick with the same weekend (like the 3rd weekend in August for example) every year.

There are two distinct neighborhood garage sale seasons here in the Twin Cities.  The spring season starts the last weekend in April and runs until the end of June.  The sales totally dry up by the 4th of July and tend to not resume again until late August and then run through the end of September.  I’m trying to wait patiently for them to kick in again this year.

Tip no. 2 – the early bird gets the worm.

I can’t stress this one enough.  The good stuff goes fast.  You have to get out there as soon as the sales open.  In general we usually find our best buys before 10 a.m.  After that the finds are hit or miss.

Tip no. 3 – shop the first day.

Everything I said above also applies to shopping the first day of a sale.  As you all know, I have a day job.  Every once in a while I can take a Thursday or Friday off work to get to one of the sales that starts on those days, but for the most part I stick with ‘Saturday only’ sales.

Tip no. 4 – going back for something.

At the Linden Hills sales earlier this year I purchased three large pieces of furniture plus two chairs at the very first sale we stopped at that morning.  Clearly all of that would have filled up my sister’s SUV and we would have been done for the day, which was not an option.  So instead I asked the proprietor if I could come back for everything later in the day.  I’ve done this quite a few times and I have yet to have anyone refuse to allow it.

However, if you’re worried about whether or not your stuff will still be there when you come back I have a great tip for you.  Take just one drawer (or shelf) with you.

Brilliant, right?  I learned that tip from my garage sale mentor’s sister.

If you take a drawer there is no chance the person can sell the piece out from under you.

Also, be sure to make note of the address and get the proprietor’s phone number.

Tip no. 5 – study the map ahead of time.

Most of the neighborhood sales around here provide a map and a listing of the sales.  Oftentimes they also include either a little blurb from the seller about what they have, or a chart of some kind indicating whether they have kid’s clothes, baby stuff, furniture, antiques, etc.  In most cases (although not always) the map and listing is available online in advance of the sale, usually at the neighborhood’s website.

For an example, check out this link to see the map and listing from the Linden Hills sales last May.  The sale we went to first was the one that listed “Vintage furniture, linens & books. Some small antiques.”  And that’s where I scored all of that furniture!

So if possible, study the map ahead of time.  Find the sales that have the sort of items you are looking for and be sure to head to those first.

Tip no. 6 – when all else fails.

When all else fails, money is no object, and you just can’t find any neighborhood sales, it’s time to head to your favorite outdoor antique market instead.  We have quite a few of these in our area and next weekend is one of the best, Oronoco Gold Rush.

My sister and I plan to head there again this year.  We don’t usually buy a lot because the prices are definitely higher than garage sale prices, but we do enjoy checking it all out.

And if nothing else, we’ll definitely come home with some homemade fudge.

I hope some of these tips were useful to you.  Do you have a favorite neighborhood sale in your area?  Or maybe an outdoor antique market that you always like to visit?  Anybody else going to Gold Rush this year?  If so, I’d love to hear from you in a comment.

the scented garden, part 2.

Published on by Quandie14 Comments

Welcome to part two of our tour of Jackie’s beautiful scented garden (if you missed part one, you can find it here).

Today I thought we’d start at the front of the house and then work our way back to the potting shed and greenhouse.

Right out at the street Jackie has a ‘free library’.  Do they have these where you live?

The basic concept is simple.  People put books in, people take books out.  Anyone can just help themselves.  My neighbor nnK has one and it’s amazing how many people stop off to exchange books.

I love the way Jackie’s fountain is surrounded by different varieties of hosta.

And check out this guy hanging out on the edge …

We don’t generally have a lot of gators here in Minnesota, but that one looks pretty content.

I have to admit that I felt quite a bit of envy when I saw Jackie’s amazing front porch.

Jackie mentioned that when they added this porch on they wanted it to be spacious enough, but when it was finished it seemed a bit too expansive while still empty.  But once she had some furniture in place, it was just right.

Doesn’t that look like the ideal spot to sit and have your morning coffee?

I love that she has that giant glass front cupboard out there.  She says it stays out there year round.  It’s somewhat protected from the elements because the porch is covered.

The porch makes a great spot in summer for plants that can’t handle full sun.

You’ll pass lots of beautiful flowers on your way from the front of Jackie’s house towards the back.

You can just see the edge of the potting shed from the sidewalk.

I absolutely love those white spiky flowers.  They are called Actaea racemosa, or Fairy Candles or Black Cohosh or Bugbane (boy, this one has a lot of names!)  I think I need to add some to my own garden.

As you’re about to find out, Jackie doesn’t really use her potting shed for potting.

Instead it is filled with many of Jackie’s vintage goodies.

Besides, in addition to the potting shed, Jackie also has a greenhouse where she can do her actual potting.  I didn’t do a great job of getting photos of it though because I was distracted by the Black & Blue Salvia that she had growing all around it.

There was a hummingbird flitting around these plants too, so it was hard for me to focus on the job at hand.

You can catch a glimpse of it off to the right in this next photo though.

If you follow that brick pathway around the corner you’ll end up at this lovely spot.

And this is where our tour concludes.  I hope you enjoyed seeing Jackie’s garden as much as Debbie and I did.  A big thank you goes out to Jackie for letting me share it here on the blog!

it’s a million miles from the morning light.

Published on by Quandie17 Comments

It’s the darkest hour
Of the darkest night
It’s a million miles
From the morning light

Anybody else remember that song by Gary Moore, Midnight Blues?  I’m probably dating myself again.  Well, if you’re in the mood for some bluesy guitar riffs check it out on YouTube.

But if you’re in the mood for some bluesy furniture, stick with me.

Let’s start at the beginning with a ‘before’ photo.

If you’re paying attention to details in the photo you might guess that I brought this dresser home last spring before there were any leaves on the trees.  But actually I brought this dresser home in spring of 2017.

I initially wanted it for its mirror frame.  I turned that into a chalkboard way back then, but I’ll be darned if I can find the blog post about it!  I’ve done so many that they are all starting to blend together in my mind.

But anyway … that left the dresser.  Which then sat in my carriage house for over a year.  I hate storing furniture that long.  It’s not good for the furniture.  My carriage house is damp, stinky and full of critters like spiders and mice and possums, oh my!

However, as you can see from the photo, this one was already in terrible shape so I suppose another 16 months or so in storage didn’t do too much additional damage.  I finally pulled it out a few weeks ago to get started on it.

First my handyman Ken had to do some work.  The top of the dresser had split its seam, so he took it off and repaired it with glue and dowel pins.  Then reattached it to the dresser.  Ken wasn’t entirely happy with the repair because he wanted the seam to be invisible.

I try to explain to him that I like the rustic look.  As long as the piece is sturdily glued and isn’t going to fall apart, I’m happy with a non-perfect look.

Once the repair was done, I stripped the finish from the top, sanded it down and then waxed it with Miss Mustard Seed’s Antiquing Wax.

I painted the rest of the piece with Homestead House milk paint in Midnight Blue.

I’d say this color is certainly a million miles from the morning light.  It’s the most gorgeous deep, rich, navy blue.  The color of darkest night.

You might be wondering why I chose the milk paint version of the paint rather than the Fusion acrylic version of the paint, because both come in Midnight Blue (and if you didn’t already know this, Fusion Mineral Paint and Homestead House Milk Paint come from the same company, as does Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint).  However, I wanted a more aged looking finish on this dresser.  Something that looked more authentically old to match the age of the dresser itself.

Plus, there was quite a lot of texture left on this piece from the previous finish.  I could have sanded that down to bare wood, or stripped it, but I like the look of that texture.  Especially with milk paint.

I also wanted to distress the piece and that is easier to do with milk paint.  You can do it with Fusion, but it just doesn’t have quite the same look and it takes just a little bit more elbow grease (or pre-treatment with Homestead House Salad Bowl Finish, but that’s another subject altogether).

After two coats of the milk paint were dry, I sanded with 180 grit paper and then added a coat of Miss Mustard Seed’s Hemp Oil to give me the darkest version of the color.  Hemp oil will give you a deeper, darker version of your milk paint color while wax will leave the color a little bit lighter.

Also, keep in mind that most water based sealers like the Miss Mustard Seed Tough Coat or The Real Milk Paint Co’s Finishing Cream may look cloudy or streaky over dark colors and neither product is recommended for use over deep, dark colors like this one.

The final obstacle in the makeover of this dresser was the drawer pulls.  Looking at the before picture you might be tempted to think that the originals were pretty fab and could be put back on.  However, in reality they were pretty beat up; bent out of shape, rusty and crusty.  Plus one was missing its bail.  I wanted to replace them with some brass cup pulls but I had a heck of time finding just what I wanted at a reasonable price.

I found what I thought was a great option on Amazon until I realized they came in a five-pack.  Ugh.  A five-pack?  What are they thinking?  Who needs an odd number of pulls?  Well, maybe for a kitchen I suppose.  But I would have had to order two packs at around $25 each and then would have had 4 left over.  I may have been able to use 4 pulls down the road, but who knows.

So instead I ended up with these pulls from Target.  These came in a six-pack which was perfect.  They were $27.99 plus tax.  They also happened to fit the existing holes from the original hardware.

The drawer bottoms for this piece weren’t in really awful shape, but they did show some signs of their age.  So I opted to line them with some fabric that I purchased at a garage sale a couple of years back.

I didn’t have enough of either fabric for all three drawers, so the top drawer got the paisley and the bottom two got the coordinating stripe.  To line drawers with fabric I simply cut the fabric to fit and then use some spray adhesive to hold it in place.  If the future buyer wants to remove it down the road, it will be easy for them to pull it back out and clean off the adhesive residue.  It comes out much more easily than contact paper or, heaven forbid, paper that was decoupaged into place.

I think it goes without saying that this piece was definitely improved.

The cup pulls give it an updated feel.  It’s all spruced up and ready for a new home.

If you are local and need a Midnight Blue dresser check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details!

I’ll be sharing the rest of the tour of Jackie’s garden on Wednesday this week, so be sure to stay tuned.

Please note that Homestead House provided the milk paint used on this dresser, but all opinions are my own.

 

the scented garden.

Published on by Quandie30 Comments

A while back one of my readers, Jackie, contacted me to ask if I wanted a free dresser.  After a few messages exchanged and life intervening a bit, Mr. Q and I finally drove to St. Paul to pick it up a little over a week ago.  You guys saw the dresser itself in its ‘before’ state last Friday …

When we pulled up to Jackie’s house to pick it up I immediately knew I was in for a treat.  Her gardens were spectacular.

Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera with me at the time.  But it didn’t take me long to convince Jackie to let me come back the next day with my camera so that I could share her garden with all of you.

Not only did I bring my camera when I went back, but I also brought my sister so that she could take notes and ask questions while I took photos.  Plus I just knew that Debbie would really enjoy meeting Jackie and seeing her lovely gardens.

That is a breadseed or opium poppy above.

We’d actually been wandering around Jackie’s garden for quite a while before we realized that there was an underlying theme to most of the plants … scent.  Jackie is partial to plants that are known for their scent.

For example, the plant in that no. 8 crock is Popcorn Cassia, and guess what it smells like … yep, hot buttered popcorn.  It really does!

Some of Jackie’s other scented plants included Lemon Verbena, Soapwort (or Bouncing Bet), a variety of herbs and a fantastic collection of scented geraniums.

Much like the common white garden geraniums in my photo of the dresser above, scented geraniums are also not true geraniums.  Both are actually Pelargoniums, but while the common garden geraniums are grown for their flowers, the scented versions are grown for their amazing fragrance.  Some of the scents include rose, lemon, mint, apple and cinnamon.

Pelargoniums are not hardy enough to face a Minnesota winter outdoors, but you can easily overwinter them in the house.

But lest you think that Jackie’s garden is all about smell, there is also plenty to delight the eye as well.

I fell in love with quite a few of her beautiful statues, planters and other garden ornaments.

And I quickly realized we were kindred spirits because her most frequent answer when asked where she got something was ‘an estate sale’.

Jackie also clearly shares my love of all things rusty …

as well as all things vintage …

I love the way she has used indoor pieces outside like this stool that holds a potted plant.

She has several mirrors placed strategically throughout the garden that make the view seem expansive.

She has a couple of old bikes in her garden which reminded me that I’ve always wanted one myself.  I need to be on the lookout for one of my own.

Jackie has some unique plants in her garden that I’m definitely going to look into adding to my own too.

I have no idea what that plant is called, but Jackie is fairly sure that she purchased it at Tangletown Gardens so next year when Debbie and I hit the Tangletown neighborhood garage sales we’re definitely going to stop in at the nursery and see if they have this plant.

I’m not sure what this next flower is either, but the bees sure loved it.

I’m totally envious of the bricks that Jackie has used throughout the garden, both as pathways and as edging.

Once upon a time all of the streets in Minneapolis and St. Paul were made of brick.  Over the years those brick surfaces were either simply covered over with asphalt or ripped up and redone.  When they were ripped up, the bricks were just up for grabs.

There has been some effort made lately to salvage and restore some of the few remaining brick streets in the cities though, which is a fabulous thing.

If you pay attention, you may see a few other interesting items interspersed throughout Jackie’s paths and patios too.

There is so much more to see, but I’m going to have to break this out into two separate posts because I’m running out of time to get this post finished.

But I’ll be back next week to share Jackie’s potting shed, front porch and green house so be sure to stay tuned!

And in the meantime, have a fabulous weekend.  I hope to get some furniture painted and maybe I’ll get in a little gardening too, how about you?

you’re gonna need a bigger boat.

Published on by Quandie31 Comments

A week ago Monday evening Mr. Q and I were chilling out watching Jaws.  Did you know that Jaws was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry?  They deemed it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.  Some people consider it one of the greatest movies of all time.

I think it’s the whole ‘summer at the beach’ vibe of the movie that really appeals to me.  It’s certainly not the incredibly hokey looking shark.

The beach scene with Chief Brody looking tense as he scans the water for shark fins while everyone else is laughing, playing and simply enjoying the day is one of my favorites.  I bet we can all relate to feeling like the one person who is responsible, who can’t just sit back and have fun but has to make sure that everyone else is safe.  Or is it just me?

Or maybe it’s just simply all of the 70’s details that really speak to me.  The can of Tab that someone is drinking, the floppy hats, all of those people totally unconcerned about skin cancer and the sound of Olivia Newton John singing “I Honestly Love You” on the radio in the background.  Ahhhh, those were the days.

Whatever it is, Mr. Q and I tend to watch Jaws every summer.  That fact really has very little to do with today’s blog post except that while we were watching the movie I got an email from one of my readers, Monique, who was offering me a free bed frame and mirror.  Not only were they free, but she was willing to swing by with them if I wasn’t busy.

I figured watching Jaws didn’t really constitute being busy, so I said sure!

Monique and her husband pulled in the driveway right as Richard Dreyfus was being lowered into the sea in the shark cage.  So we hit the pause button and went out to see what I was getting myself into.

Fortunately it was nothing nearly as scary as shark infested waters.

In fact, I was a little speechless as Monique started hauling this amazing bed out of her vehicle.

Granted, at that point in time the headboard was actually in two pieces.  The top half had come unglued from the bottom half.  But I knew my handyman Ken would make quick work of using fresh glue and dowel pins to put them back together again.  As it turned out, he was so quick about it that it was already done before I could get around to the ‘before’ picture.  So technically this isn’t a true ‘before’ photo, it’s more of an ‘in between’ shot, post-repairs.

I’m guessing that there are a few of you who are looking at that photo and thinking ‘oh no, she’s not going to paint that bed!’  Yes, it had beautiful veneer.  Yes, I think it’s probably burled walnut.  But the finish was not in good shape and there are a few bits of trim here and there that are missing.  This bed could have been stripped and refinished, but that would have been a fair amount of work due to all of the carved detail.

Plus, the reality is that this bed will most likely sell much more quickly painted than it would refinished (I hope, fingers crossed).  Dark reddish stained pieces are just not popular right now.

Bottom line, I paint furniture, so this one got painted.  It’s not life and death, there aren’t any giant man-eating sharks involved, it’s just paint.  Down the road when painted furniture is back out, and stained furniture is back in, someone can strip this bed and it will still be gorgeous.

But in the meantime, I’ve painted the bed black using two coats of Dixie Belle’s Caviar.

Once the paint was dry, I sanded to distress the details and then finished it with Fusion’s Black Wax.  I have to tell you guys, Fusion wax is my favorite.  I think it’s the creamiest and easiest to apply of all the waxes I’ve tried.  I apply the wax with a brush, remove the excess with a cloth (or in this case, an old pair of black yoga pants cut into rags) and then wait an hour or two and buff slightly to bring out just a little sheen.  I use a cut up flannel shirt for the buffing.

The carved details on this bed are simply beautiful.

I think a distressed paint job helps make those details more noticeable.

I threw in a few vintage suitcases along with Collette, the dress form, for the photos.

Collette is wearing some lovely vintage jewelry for the occasion.

By the way, the bed does include side rails and slats.  It didn’t come with slats, but I happened to have some on hand and nnK cut them to size for me.

Personally I love the look of a black bed against a white wall … in my case preferably a white ship lap wall like in my own bedroom.

Check out my pinterest board devoted to ‘a pop of black‘ for more inspiration on using black pieces in your home.

For those of you who are local, this bed is for sale.  Be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details!

resistance is futile.

Published on by Quandie31 Comments

For a while now people have been telling me that I really need to get on Instagram.  I’ve resisted up until now for a couple of reasons.

First of all, it’s not like I have a bunch of spare time on my hands to learn a new medium.  I’m pretty busy with the day job, the gardening, the garage saling, the socializing (thanks again for that amazing pool day bff), the furniture painting and of course the blog writing.

Second of all, I needed to upgrade my phone first.  It’s embarrassing to admit, but I had an ancient windows phone that was not very compatible with Instagram or anything else for that matter.

OK, it wasn’t quite that bad, but close.

So not only did I have to learn how to use Instagram, but I also had to learn how to use a new phone.

And then there is the square photo format.  Not really a big deal, unless you are used to composing all of your shots for a rectangular format.  Suddenly you have to start thinking about how they will look as a square.  Lots of my photos are totally wrong for turning into a square.

But I bit the bullet last week and purchased a new phone.  Once I had the basics down, like being able to answer a call, I decided to download the Instagram app.  Just to explore what it was like.

I set up my account, qisforquandie, and then I followed some of my favorites; missmustardseed, vibekedesign, dreamywhiteslifestyle, savvycityfarmer, lizmariegalvan and frenchcountrycottage.

And you know what I discovered?  Turns out Instagram is like porn for blog readers.  Let’s face it, it’s all about looking at the pictures with very limited text.  It’s total eye candy.

And it all looks so pretty on my new phone, it was hard not be sucked in.

As they say, #resistanceisfutile, #youwillbeassimilated, #wearetheinstagram.

Any other trekkies out there?

Anyway, it’s official, I’m on Instagram.  No worries at this point, I have no plans to give up blogging.  If you still want some substance with your pretty pictures, you need more than Instagram.

But if you are already assimilated, I hope you’ll follow me on Instagram.  And if any of you have favorites that you follow, let me know.  I can always use a little more eye candy in my life.

refreshing chair no 6.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

Several years ago … gosh, I’m not even sure how many … I went through a numbering phase.  I added numbers to everything and the stuff that got ‘numbered’ sold like hotcakes at my Carriage House occasional sales.

It must be the accountant in me, but I love things with numbers on them.  At the time it appeared that others did as well.

I painted a chair for myself back then and I gave it a no. 6.

Chair no. 6 was in my own kitchen for several years, but eventually I swapped it out for something else.  I recovered the seat and put it in my last occasional sale (fall of 2016), but no one bought it.  I guess the numbering phase is over.  So then it sat in my carriage house for almost two years, lost and forlorn.

I’ve been trying to go through everything that I have stored out there this summer and either revamp it to sell, donate it, or put it at the curb.

So I pulled it out and did a little re-gluing of the joints.  Then I sanded down the ‘6’, gave it a good cleaning and re-painted it with a fresh coat of creamy white using Fusion’s Limestone.

Then I pulled out the small version of Prima Marketing’s Seeds transfer.

I knew the entire thing wouldn’t fit, but it’s so easy to cut these up and just use parts of them.  I cut out a couple of sections of the transfer and played around with placement on the chair back.  Once I had them where I wanted them, I taped them in place.

Then I just used the applicator stick that comes with the transfer to rub it onto the chair.  It couldn’t have been easier and took all of about five minutes to do.

And thus chair no. 6 becomes a garden themed chair instead.

By the way, in case you were curious, I used a plain beige fabric that I painted with a grain sack stripe using black acrylic craft paint for the seat.

Then a couple of evenings ago I had some fun setting up a potting shed themed photo shoot with the chair.

First I pulled out a dresser that I just picked up last weekend.  One of my readers offered this dresser to me free of charge and you’ll read more about that next week.  But for today I thought it was the perfect stand in for a potting bench for some photos.

I love the crackle finish on those drawer fronts, but I don’t know that I’ll be able to save that.

But before I even get to that part, Ken is going to have to do a bit of work on this one so it may be a while before you see it again.

Anyway, I also grabbed some clay pots, a small hand held garden shovel, and yes I even yanked a geranium right out of one of my window boxes just for these photos.

It is possible that I have completely lost my mind.

But don’t worry.  No plants were harmed in the making of this blog post.  I simply tucked that geranium right back in place when I was done and gave it a good soaking.  It will be fine.

All of that, just to take a photo of a chair.

But it sure was fun.

This chair will likely make its way to Reclaiming Beautiful to be sold.  Unless of course one of you local readers wants to purchase it from me first.  Be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

fairy garden refresh.

Published on by Quandie15 Comments

‘Refresh’ seems to be the catch-phrase of the moment on social media.  We don’t redecorate, renovate, restore or remodel anymore, now we ‘refresh’.

Well, OK, I can get on board with that.  It seems like the refresh is a refreshing concept.   Less involved than completely renovating or restoring something.  Like sprucing up a room with a couple of new things, re-arranging the furniture or maybe adding fresh coat of paint.

A refresh sounds like something you should be able to accomplish in a day or less.

I decided this past weekend was the perfect time to refresh my fairy garden.

It had an evergreen tree in it that had completely outgrown the space.  The canopy of the tree had gotten larger than the container, which is an old cracked birdbath.

Plus it was getting overrun with miniature violets.

I don’t actually know where these violets came from.  I didn’t plant them.  They just started appearing one year in the cracks of my flagstone patio.  From there they migrated into the fairy garden.  They are perfect when they stay small, but they are greedy little monsters and once they start to takeover, they crowd out everything else.

I began by heading over to my local Bachman’s where I was hoping to find some miniature Cypress style trees.  They had some earlier in the season, but as luck would have it they were all gone.  They still had quite a few other options though, so I came home with Cole’s Prostrate Canadian Hemlock (what an awesome name) …

which I’m pretty sure is the same tree that I am taking out.  That one started out this small too.

And I also purchased this Berberis thunbergii ‘Concorde’ …

As you can see from the tags, both of these plants were a little pricey even for perennials.  I think they are getting away with charging top dollar because mini’s are so hot right now.

However, both of these plants will come back from year to year so let’s just call them an ‘investment’ shall we?

By the way, we take the birdbath top off its pedestal before the first hard freeze in the fall and bury it right up next to the house under piles of leaves to protect it for the winter.  That seems to do the trick for both the current tree and the mini hostas.  I just learned this past weekend that this process is called ‘heeling in’.

I also purchased this adorable Katydid’s Baby Tears to use as a mini ground cover.

This was much more affordable at $3.99, but it will only survive the rest of this season and can’t be over-wintered (well, technically it could if I dug it up and put it in a pot inside the house, but that’s not going to happen).

After pulling out all of my fairy garden decor, I also removed all of the existing plants.

Check out this hosta, you can easily see that it will divide out into multiple plants now that it’s out of the dirt.

I was able to get six plants out of it.

Once I had all of the plants out I added a little fresh dirt.  Now I have a blank canvas.

Finally I just started layering everything back in starting with the larger items and then filling in with the smaller ones.

Although you can buy faux mini flagstones, my flagstone path is made from layers that flaked off of my life size flagstones.

Gosh!  If only all gardening was this easy.  This wasn’t back-breaking at all.  If I didn’t like the arrangement of something I just pulled it out and moved it which took about two seconds.  If you have back issues that keep you from gardening, then a fairy garden is perfect for you!

Even the ‘big, heavy statue’ is easy to move around.

If you don’t happen to have a cracked birdbath on hand you could use an old wagon or any sort of galvanized container.  I even saw one done in an old Weber grill once.

I had to wait until dusk to be able to see the string of fairy lights that I added.  You can’t have a fairy garden without some fairy lights, right?

I found the lights in the dollar section at Target a couple of months ago.  They aren’t intended for outdoor use and probably won’t hold up forever, but for a couple of bucks I don’t mind.  I’ve had them out since May and so far they are doing fine.  I have had to change the batteries once already, mainly because I just leave the lights on 24/7.

I finished up by giving my refreshed fairy garden a good soaking from the hose, and now I can just sit back and wait for it to fill in a little … but not too much.

think pink.

Published on by Quandie37 Comments

I brought this Thomasville dresser home a couple of months ago.

This is how the drawers were arranged for the seller’s Craigslist ad photo, so I left them like this for my ‘before’ photo too.  I wonder, did they not realize they were in the wrong spots?  Or did they just think the dresser was supposed to look like this?  Or did they just not care?

Either way, this dresser was an amazing deal.  Probably for two reasons; because it’s laminate and because one drawer pull is missing.  I’m bummed about that missing pull because those original pulls were perfectly themed for the faux bamboo style of this piece.

This piece is made entirely out of laminate fiberboard rather than real wood.  Let’s talk veneer v. laminate for a minute.  I think these terms sometimes throw people off.  What is the difference?

Technically the term veneer refers to a thin layer of hardwood that is bonded, or glued with adhesive, to a cheaper sub-surface that is hidden below.  I sometimes call it ‘wood veneer’ to make it clear that it is still a wood surface, just not solid wood.  When working with a wood veneer you can finish it in much the same way as solid wood.  You can strip an existing finish from it and then wax, stain, oil, paint, etc.  The main thing to keep in mind is that the veneer is very thin so you need to be careful when sanding it so that you don’t sand right through it.

Laminate on the other hand is a man-made plastic product.  It can be manufactured to sort of look like wood or marble or granite, but it also can be just a solid color (like on this piece) … really, I think the sky is the limit with the look of laminate.

But laminate cannot be treated just like wood.  It is a slick, impervious surface that can’t be stained or waxed and gives paint absolutely nothing to hang on to.  However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t paint it.  With the proper prep and primer you are able to paint laminate and once the paint has cured (usually about 30 days) it will be just as durable as other painted surfaces.

You may remember that I tested out Dixie Belle’s Slick Stick on a laminate tabletop recently.  It worked really well, so I knew that I would have success using it on this piece too.

Once again I followed the directions carefully.  I started by cleaning my piece thoroughly using TSP Substitute.  Next I used a damp brush to apply one thin coat of Slick Stick and allowed that to dry for 3 hours.  Then I added a second coat of Slick Stick and left it to dry overnight.

I want to also remind you that the Slick Stick dries white.  I didn’t distress this piece, so the white worked fine for me.

As soon as I saw this dresser I knew I wanted to paint it in a vibrant color.  I had recently seen something painted in Dixie Belle’s gorgeous color called Peony.  So I reached out to them and asked if they’d like to sponsor this project.

They jumped on board and provided me with all of the products I needed for this piece including the paint, the Slick Stick and the Clear Coat.  Although they provided this stuff for free, all opinions are my own.

I went way outside my comfort zone with this color choice and I got quite the reaction from pretty much everyone who saw me working on this piece including Ken, nnK, Mr. Q and my sister.  I think they were all wondering if I’d lost my mind.

But I went for it with three coats of the Peony.  I used the Dixie Belle recommended technique of dipping my paint brush in a cup of water every 2nd or 3rd time before I dipped it in the paint.  This basically waters the paint down allowing it to go on more smoothly.  If you leave the paint thick you will see more texture, ie. brush strokes.  However, to get good coverage with the bright pink over the white Slick Stick I needed three thinned coats of paint.

Once the final coat of paint dried I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s Clear Coat in the satin finish.  I wanted just a hint of shine rather than a flat finish.

I have to admit, there is more than one reason why I generally prefer working with a flat finish.  The first reason is that I love the look, of course.  But the second reason is that a shinier finish highlights any flaws there may be in the paint job.  Working on this piece reminded me that I am good at flaws and it’s probably best if I stick to a flat finish in the future.

Part of the reason for my delay in working on this piece was that missing drawer pull.  I so very badly wanted to find an exact replacement.  That hardware would have looked amazing with some gold wax on it.  I searched for weeks.  I tried Etsy, any number of hardware suppliers, and some Facebook hardware exchange groups, all to no avail.  I found a few similar vintage pulls, but none that were an exact match.  I even would have purchased three that matched each other and replaced all three if I could have found them, but no luck on that either.

So I finally gave up on that idea and purchased these white rose knobs from Hobby Lobby.  Wait … are they roses or are they cabbages?  I’m really not sure.  No, they’re roses, right?

Anyway, I’d gone crazy wild with the color after all, so why not go a little over the top with the knobs too?  I filled the holes left by the original drawer pulls using Dixie Belle’s Mud in brown and then drilled new holes so that the knobs lined up all the way down.

In the end, I think the new knobs give it a slightly more updated look, although I still would have loved to have that original hardware!

I staged this piece very simply with just a couple of books and a pretty floral arrangement.

Let’s face it, nothing was going to be able to compete with that amazing color!

So, there you have it.  A gorgeously bright pink bamboo dresser.

What do you think?  Have I lost my mind going with this vibrant color?  Or do you think someone out there is going to love it?  Ken predicts that it will take no longer than two weeks to sell.  I hope he’s right.

I’m going to hang onto it for the full curing time before I list it for sale though, just to be on the safe side.  However, if you are local and interested in knowing when it’s ready to go be sure to let me know in a comment or via email (qisforquandie@gmail.com).

my picker’s finds.

Published on by Quandie20 Comments

It’s official, I have a picker!  What’s a picker, you ask?

Here’s the official definition.

pick·er ˈpikər/ noun

a person or machine that gathers or collects something. “a tomato picker”

a person who plays a plucked instrument, especially a guitar, banjo, or mandolin.

“banjo pickers”

My picker doesn’t play the banjo or pick tomatoes (although she does pick strawberries every year), but when she sees something at a garage sale that she thinks I might like she buys it for me.  My picker is my friend Sue, who is also my partner for the Carriage House sales (which are currently on an indefinite hiatus) and also a co-worker at my day job, and also a neighbor, but most importantly she is my garage sale mentor.  If it weren’t for Sue, I probably never would have even tried garage saling.  She taught me the ins and outs of finding the good stuff over 20 years ago.  I shared a tour of Sue’s beautiful home and garden back in the early days of my blog (you can see that here and here).  I’ve been wanting to update that house tour this summer but haven’t found time yet.

But today I’m sharing a couple of fun pieces that she picked for me lately.

The first is this cute little stool.

OK, well maybe not so cute in its ‘before’ state.  But it’s very sturdy and I like the little slot that can be used as a handle to carry it around.  This would make a great gardening stool.

I started by sanding it down, especially trying to remove all of those paint drips.  If you don’t get all of those off of there, they will come back to haunt you when you later sand to distress your paint job as you may notice in my ‘after’ photos below.

Next I mixed up the same custom color of milk paint that I used on the bookcase I shared on Monday.  Mostly Homestead House’s Craftsman with a little of Homestead House’s Loyalist mixed in.

After two coats of paint, I sanded it well to distress, then wiped the dust off and added my favorite Prima Marketing transfer.  This is the small version of the Seeds transfer.

For you hosta lovers out there, that one on the upper left is called Lakeside Dragonfly.  It’s perfect for the front of the garden because it doesn’t get huge.

 By the way, I had to cut the transfer in half to space it around the handle opening and I didn’t use the entire thing.  I’m sure I’ll find somewhere to use the rest of the transfer.

After the transfer was applied, I lightly sanded over the whole top again and then added a top coat of the Real Milk Paint Co’s Dead Flat Finishing Cream.

I really do love using this finish over milk paint.  It’s so easy to apply and it provides a little more protection than wax or hemp oil.  It has a thick gel-like consistency, so you don’t have to worry about drips.  It will also provide plenty of protection for the transfer.

Sue also found a simple wooden tote (or toolbox if you prefer) for me.  I neglected to get a ‘before’ photo of it though.  Drat.  But it was made out of fresh, new wood and had never been painted.

So I added a couple of coats of different colored paints to give it a little fake history.  First a coat of Fusion’s Laurentien, then a coat of Miss Mustard Seed’s French Enamel, and finally a coat of Homestead House milk paint in Raw Silk.

I sanded the edges to distress down to some of those other layers of color.

Initially I was going to stencil this tote, but the stencil I had in mind didn’t fit so I used a remnant of another one of my Prima Marketing transfers instead, this time the large Seeds transfer.  I’d already used the rest of this transfer on a dresser.

That’s one of the things I love about these Prima Marketing transfers, you can cut them up and create several masterpieces with just one of them.

I originally filled the tote with books for the photos, but then I thought ‘what the heck, it’s summer, let’s fill it with greenery instead.’

Plus, I used a portion of the transfer on both sides of the tote so I wanted to show the other side anyway.

By the way, that gorgeous purple flower is a purple astilbe.  It just started blooming last week.

Since both sides of this tote have a design, one could easily use it in the center of the dining room table.

In case you are wondering what in the world I do with all of this smaller stuff after I transform it, the answer is that I take it to Reclaiming Beautiful (a shop in nearby Stillwater) to sell on consignment.

The stool is already sold, but this week I’ll be bringing in the tote along with a few other fun things I’ve finished up lately.

Some stenciled buckets …

The blue bucket is painted with Miss Mustard Seed milk paint in French Enamel.  As I’ve mentioned before, milk paint works beautifully over dull galvanized metal (it may chip more if the metal has a shiny coating over it).

A vibrant aqua toy truck …

Yes, I painted it this color.  It had also been painted by the previous owner, so I wasn’t defacing a collectible toy or anything.  This is Cece Caldwell chalk paint in Santa Fe Turquoise.  Just for fun I also added a small rub-on transfer to the hood too.

My sister picked up that truck for me at a garage sale one of her neighbor’s was having, so technically I guess I have two pickers!

I also have another painted wood tote (this one I found at a garage sale myself).  It’s also painted in Miss Mustard Seed’s French Enamel and then stenciled with a warm white acrylic craft paint.

So if you’re local, be sure to swing by Reclaiming Beautiful this weekend to see what other fab items they have in stock (open Thursday – Sunday only).