lynnhurst/fulton 2018.

Published on by Quandie36 Comments

Last Saturday my sister and I had several neighborhood sales to pick from.  I wish these neighborhood organizations would get together and divvy up the weekends so that we wouldn’t have to choose between several good ones one week, and then have none the next.

But alas, we chose the Lynnhurst/Fulton neighborhoods because they had a nice online list and map available while the others didn’t (or at least not that I found).

And I think we chose well.

Once again we filled up my sister’s SUV, and once again there were lots of lovely houses to admire as we made our rounds.

The day started out with a bang when the second sale we went to was giving away free Mimosa’s with a $10 purchase.

What an awesome combo, Mimosa’s and garage sales.  You can’t go wrong!  Somehow I easily managed to spend enough for a free drink, but Debbie was driving so she had to pass.

I finally got lucky and found a few vintage ornaments this time.

But I think everyone is shaking their heads in bewilderment at my purchase of the Mary statue.

But as soon as I saw her I was picturing all of those Jeanne d’Arc Living magazines …

A beautiful statue of Mary seems to be a staple in those gorgeous French Nordic homes filled with brocante.

I thought she was beautiful despite her missing arms.  I’m debating trying to find a way to make that look more intentional instead of just broken.  We’ll see.

My sister and I each purchased a rusty metal obelisk for the garden.  The only odd thing about them was that someone painted just the tops with silver spray paint …

That looked kind of tacky, but I knew that would be an easy fix using the Dixie Belle Patina paint that I used on my rusty garden pedestal.

I also came home with a couple of pieces of furniture.  I’m calling the china cabinet my find of the day.

Mainly because it was an incredible bargain, and it was a bit of a miracle that we fit it into the back of my sister’s vehicle.

It needs a bit of work, but my handyman Ken has already started on it, and once he’s done I plan to give it a completely new look.

My sister and I always stop somewhere for lunch on our way home from the sales, and last Saturday was no exception.  We had stopped at Applebee’s and were just starting to enjoy our peach sangria’s when my friend (and official picker) Sue texted to tell me about a sale near my house where everything was a quarter.  She said they had a nice twin size headboard and foot board and I should check it out.

So Debbie and I stopped there on our way home and sure enough they had the bed …

And as advertised, everything was a quarter.  Including this bed!

It’s missing its side rails though, so now I’m debating, do I try to find side rails that will work and keep it a bed?  Or do I team up with Ken and turn it into a bench?

Our other bench still hasn’t sold, so I’m a little hesitant to go with another bench.  But this would make a nice one, wouldn’t it?  Hmmmm.  Decisions, decisions.

 

 

the imperial garden dresser.

Published on by Quandie40 Comments

You probably remember this beautiful dresser that I shared a couple of weeks ago with its amazing … and huge … Prima Marketing Rose Celebration transfer.

Prima had sent me several of the new transfers in their re.design line and this was the first one I tried.  What I didn’t mention when I shared this was that I chose my ‘least favorite’ of all the transfers they sent to try first, just in case I got it wrong and wrecked it somehow (which obviously didn’t happen).

Now, before you take that wrong, that definitely doesn’t mean that I didn’t love this transfer.  What that really means is that the rest of them are even more fantastic.  If that one was my ‘least favorite’, just imagine what the rest of them are like!

As soon as I finished that dresser I was on the hunt for another dresser to add a mammoth transfer to .

To be specific, this time it’s the Imperial Garden transfer (this one is 44″ wide x 30″ tall) and it looks like this.

If you look closely at the background you might guess why I fell in love with this transfer at first sight.  Do you see it?  It’s Venice!  See the gondola (lower left)?  And those classically Venetian buildings?  Since I’ll be spending my 55th birthday in Venice this year, this transfer felt special.

I wanted to find a dresser that would accommodate most, if not all, of the design.  If you’ll remember I had to trim about 6″ off of the sides of the transfer on that previous dresser.

So when nnK sent me the Facebook Marketplace ad for a dresser that someone she knew was selling, I jumped at it.  It looked right about the perfect size.

Mr. Q picked it up while I was at work one day last week, but as soon as I got home I took some measurements and discovered I was right.  It’s the perfect size!

The next step was to pick a paint color.  There were so many possibilities.  I could have gone with an off-white, of course.  But I also could have chosen a pale pink, either Dixie Belle’s Pink Champagne or Fusion’s Little Piggy (both of which I had on hand).  Either of those would have been gorgeous.  I also debated using Fusion’s Lichen, which is a pale green grey.  It was a perfect match for some of the greens in the leaves.

But I ended up choosing Fusion’s Inglenook.  I absolutely love the pale blue green color and I thought it would work beautifully with the colors in the transfer.

I also made the decision to leave the top ‘as is’.  I think this is a first for me.  But the dresser had been recently refinished and although the finish is a bit shinier than I would have chosen, it was in really good shape so I left it.

I figured that if I didn’t love the way it looked after finishing the rest of the dresser, I could always paint it later.

I also made the decision to remove the existing hardware and not put it back on.

These pulls might work for another piece down the road, but they would have fought with the design of the transfer.  So I filled the holes for the original hardware using Dixie Belle’s Mud before painting and I added glass knobs instead.

I followed my usual protocol of sanding lightly and cleaning with a damp rag, then I added two coats of Fusion’s Inglenook.  Once the paint was dry, I distressed the edges of the dresser by hand sanding them with 180 grit sandpaper.

Next I applied the transfer.  I used the same method I used last time (find that here).

Once the transfer was applied, I sanded over it very lightly by hand with 220 grit sandpaper to give it a more faded, vintage look.  That’s totally optional and just a matter of preference.  Some of you may prefer the look of the transfer without sanding it.

Adding the transfer completely transformed this dresser.

Although it was in nice shape before, it was kind of ho hum.  The previous owners did a nice job refinishing it, but I think they robbed it of its character.

But now it has plenty of personality again.

The little chair in the photos is from the Mac-Grove sales.  I started out painting it grey, but it ended up being a bleeder (ie. the red stain bled through the paint) so I zapped it with some spray on shellac and then ended up giving it a coat of the Inglenook while I was painting the dresser.

Then I used the left over remnants from another Prima Marketing transfer to dress it up a bit.

I love the petite size of the chair.

I also used a few of my hydrangeas to stage this piece.

They are looking pretty much amazing at the moment, so it was hard to resist getting them in a few photos!

If you’re wondering where to purchase the Prima Marketing products, check out their ‘where to buy‘ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy the Fusion paint, check out their ‘where to buy‘ page.

If you’re wondering where to buy the Dixie Belle Mud that I used to fill the old drawer pull holes, you can shop with them directly online or find a retailer near you.

If you’d like to order the glass knobs I used on this piece, you can find them at D Lawless Hardware.

And finally, if you happen to be local (Twin Cities, MN) and in need of a gorgeous dresser, check out my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details on the Imperial Garden dresser!

 

waste not, want not.

Published on by Quandie24 Comments

Remember the bed bench that my handyman Ken made out of a headboard and foot board?

When I posted about it, I mentioned that he didn’t use the entire foot board.  He cut a chunk out of the middle because we only wanted the bench to be about 20″ deep, so we only needed about 21″ off each end.

He was going to just toss that middle section, but he always checks with me first before he throws any excess pieces in the trash because he knows me pretty well.  He knows how much I enjoy salvaging things.  It’s so much fun to take something that seemed like trash and turn it into something new.  After all, waste not, want not, right?

So I took a look at the chunk of foot board that was left and and then asked Ken to add some trim pieces onto the sides for me, and here’s what he came up with.

And just coincidentally, it happened to be about the perfect size for one of the new transfers that Prima Marketing sent my way from their Always Fresh set.

 

I painted the piece using Fusion’s Plaster first.  I think Plaster is an underappreciated color in the Fusion line.  I feel like I hardly ever see anyone using it, but I love it.  It’s the perfect cream.

Once the paint was dry, I lightly distressed the edges and then added the transfer.

These solid transfers are incredibly easy to apply.

I also painted some wooden knobs in Plaster, and then added some of the Farm Fresh knob transfers from the Re.Design line.

And it was that simple to take a piece that would have been thrown away and turn it into an adorable Farm Fresh sign.

I hung it on the door to my photo cottage to get some photos.

That actually does seem somewhat appropriate since our property was originally a dairy farm until suburbia grew up around it.

I’m not at all sure how well these transfers would hold up to outdoor use though, so I don’t want to give the impression that this could be hung outdoors.  I’m planning to do a bit of an experiment on that down the road though, so I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

But in the meantime, I took the sign to Reclaiming Beautiful on Wednesday and hopefully it will go to a new home soon!

east isles and lowry hill 2018.

Published on by Quandie25 Comments

Last Saturday my sister and I headed out to side by side neighborhood garage sales; East Isles and Lowry Hill.  Both are Minneapolis neighborhoods just off Hennepin Avenue.

It was the perfect day for garage sales.  Temps in the upper 60’s with a brilliant blue sky.

And both of these neighborhoods are worth the trip just to enjoy the gorgeous houses.

I had to snap a photo of this one with its German schmear finish.  Do you suppose they did that before or after Joanna Gaines made that technique more popular?

Either way, I kind of love this look.

Here’s one of my sister’s favorites …

She loves anything in Tudor style.

We didn’t come home with a huge haul this time.

I know, it doesn’t look like much.  My sister’s amazing girl scout packing skills were not required.  But it was still worth the trip for a handful of fab finds.

My first buy of the day was a pile of gorgeous ‘french’ dishes.

I put the ‘french’ in parentheses because even though those café au lait bowls look fabulously french, they are actually from Williams Sonoma.

There are no markings on the bottom of the little pitcher, so it’s hard to say if it’s authentically french or not.

But I do think this little plate is gen-u-ine.

It is marked with a Paris address on the back.

I know these little plates are sometimes called Bistro Tip Plates, but I can’t seem to find any information online about exactly how they were used.  Do any of you know?  I’d love to know more of the history behind them so be sure to leave a comment if you do.

I also grabbed this set of small plates with European cities on them.

And a lovely rectangular ironstone platter.

I’m guessing that those metal number thingies are from an old cash register.  I was hoping to find one with my lucky ’22’ on it, but I had to make do with a ’20’ and a ’02’.  I thought they might be fun to add to my lavender plants.

What can I say?  I just like numbers.

I’m sure you noticed the sweet little washstand with the very orange finish.

It will definitely be getting some sort of makeover in the near future.  It’s calling out for some chippy milk paint.

There are two more items that I didn’t include in that first photo.  First, this fountain …

I took a chance purchasing it.  It has a repaired crack.  The seller promised me it doesn’t leak, but you’re always taking a risk with garage sale buys.  But it was pretty cheap at $25 and I figured it would look fab in the garden even if it doesn’t function as a fountain.  I filled it up with water when I got it home and it does leak if the water is filled to the brim, but once it got down to the level it’s at now it stopped leaking.  So, my next step is to put the pump in and see if it actually functions OK as a fountain.

And finally, the item I’m considering the ‘find of the day’ …

A beautiful vintage glass tree topper to add to my non-collection (because I swear I’m not a collector!) …

Last year I found tons and tons of vintage glass Christmas ornaments at garage sales.  I’m fairly certain I brought some home from almost every sale …

Remember them all?

Boxes, and boxes of ’em.

This year I have found almost none.  I think I purchased two individual ornaments and that’s it.  So it was fun to find that gorgeous tree topper this time out.

Next Saturday we have a couple of neighborhoods to choose from for garage sales, but after that things are going to start to dwindle here in the Twin Cities.  It’s definitely starting to feel like fall around here and I have mixed feelings about that.  I love the cooler weather, but I am not a fan of the shorter hours of daylight.  How about you?

I went to sh*t, and the hogs ate me.

Published on by Quandie38 Comments

My mom was in town last week.  She was officially here for her 60th class reunion, but when she comes out she always tries to make time to go visit her cousins in South Dakota.  So for the first half of last week my sister, mom, niece and I drove out for a visit.

My mom’s mother, Carrie, was born on the family farm in Arlington, South Dakota in 1898.  If you’re trying to make some sense of dates and ages, Carrie was 42 years old when my mother was born in 1940.  My mom is now 78, thus the 60th class reunion.

Anyway, Carrie was born on the Moe farm and that farm is still in the family.  It’s now run by my cousin Travis.

The farm was passed down from Carrie’s parents to her brothers Gerhard and Knute Moe, and from there to Knute’s daughter Elaine and from there to her son Travis.  Travis has six really adorable children so I hope that at least one of them will be willing to continue on with the farm one day, thus keeping it in the family.

These days Travis just has goats, and a couple of llamas.

And currently quite a few adorable kittens who would not hold still for photos.  The beautiful grey one was my favorite.

I’m always tempted to take one home with me, but I’m pretty sure my cat Lucy would not approve of an interloper.

Although my mom grew up as a city kid in Minneapolis, she would spend several weeks every summer out at the farm so she developed some very close relationships with her cousins.  So whenever it was possible, my mom sent us out to stay in Arlington when we were kids too.  That was where I learned that potatoes grew in the ground, not on bushes or trees.  I definitely was a city kid.

These days we still love going out to visit the cousins.  They are the nicest people and we always have so much fun with them.  We tend to do a lot of laughing when we’re there.

While we were out there this time we were playing cards with a bunch of the cousins and at one point one of them looked at his hand and said ‘Well, I went to shit, and the hogs ate me.’  I burst out laughing, wondering what in the world that meant.

Apparently that translates to something along the lines of ‘things went from bad to worse.’  A trip to the outhouse being bad, being eaten by hogs even worse.

After I quit laughing I said ‘that would make an awesome blog post title, if only I could remember it’, so my niece whipped out her phone and texted it to me.  So now I have a record of it for posterity, or at least as long as I have my current phone.

Speaking of which, I took all of the photos for today’s post with my new phone.  I hadn’t really played around with that yet, and now I’m realizing I might want to change the picture size setting … at least the ratio.  But these long skinny photos were fun for today’s post.  They certainly do a good job of emphasizing the wide open spaces of the mid-west’s farmland.

Maybe I will just leave it on this setting after all.

And the next time I have a colossal fail while painting a piece of furniture, I’m going to try to remember to use that blog post title again!

a sweet floral nightstand.

Published on by Quandie49 Comments

I purchased this sweet little nightstand at one of the neighborhood garage sales earlier this summer.

I sort of threw it in at the last minute because the price was right and I thought it would make a great smaller project for winter when I have to go back to painting in my living room.

But then Prima Marketing sent me a few of the new transfers from their re.design line, including the Floral Home set.

And I realized that the one on the lower right would be perfect on this piece.

Shortly after that, Dixie Belle sent me some of their paint in a color called Pink Champagne.  It’s the most delicate pale, pale pink and I thought it might just be perfect behind that beautiful transfer.  So I simply couldn’t wait until winter to get started on this makeover.

Before I got started painting though I wanted to remove that carved rose detail from the front of the top drawer.  It looks OK in that ‘before’ photo, but in real life it looked really plastic-like.  I had to chip it off with a putty knife because it was made out of some strange rubbery, plastic, waxy, I don’t know what, kind of material.

But I got it off, did a little patching with some of Dixie Belle’s Mud and then painted the nightstand with three coats of the Pink Champagne.  Next I sanded the edges and the detailed trim to distress.

Then came the fun part.  Adding the Prima Marketing transfer.  The transfer design had a pretty scroll-y frame around it, but I cut that off because it was just a tad bigger than my drawer fronts with the frame included.

One detail you might notice in that photo is that I don’t just apply the transfer to the drawer fronts leaving gaps where those cross pieces are between the drawers.  I did that once and I thought it looked kind of funny.  I prefer to put the drawers back in place and then apply the transfer without any blank spaces between the drawers.

If you use this technique, just be absolutely sure that your drawers are back in the right spots before you begin because there’s no going back.

Once the transfer was applied, I went over it ever so lightly with some fine grit sandpaper to give it a little bit of a distressed look as well.  I finished the piece with some of Dixie Belle’s Spray On Wax.  I used it right over the transfer and it worked beautifully.  That stuff is just so darn easy to use.

I replaced the original wood knobs with some petite glass knobs that I purchased from D Lawless.  These are the 1″ version.

Let’s face it, something this pink and flowery was just calling out for glass knobs.

I’m still dying to put those gorgeous Prima Marketing knob transfers that I shared with you a couple of weeks ago to work, but obviously it would have been a bit much to have knobs with transfers on top of a larger transfer.

I’m sure I will come across just the right piece for some knob transfers soon though.

In keeping with my ‘never say never’ motto, I once again lined the drawers with pretty paper.  I just happened to have this old roll of wallpaper in my workshop, so why not?

By the way, after working on this piece I came to the conclusion that it was probably originally one half of a dressing table.  There are some screw holes on one side, plus the wood on one side looked a little bit rough around where it would have connected to a center piece between the two sides (although you have to look closely in person to notice those details, they don’t show up at all in a photo).

I wonder what happened to its other half.

Didn’t this one turn out sweet?

As usual, if you are local and in need of a new nightstand, be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

faking it with a little bit of faux.

Published on by Quandie29 Comments

While my sister and I were driving around the Mac-Grove neighborhood looking for garage sales the other day, my sister admired the window boxes at one house that were full of blooms.  I looked over to see what she was looking at and immediately knew they were fake.  Mainly because I know that you can’t have wisteria flowers coming right out of the dirt in a window box, and you also can’t have them in late August.

Aside from that, they looked pretty good from a distance.  Obviously good enough that my sister thought they were real.

I’ve always been a bit of a plant/flower snob.  Having fake ones just feels like cheating to me.

But for the past several months I’ve been trying to decide what to do with this amazing old toolbox that I display in my dining room window.

I found this at a garage sale several years ago, and I added the stencil to the side.

Last year around this time I filled it up with flowers from my Limelight hydrangea.  They were fresh when I took that photo, but they dried in place and looked really pretty for the most of the winter.  But when summer came, I felt like they were starting to look pretty dusty and drab and I needed to come up with another plan.

I thought about putting a row of three small topiaries in the box.  That probably would have looked amazing, but I have a history of killing off topiaries.  And those thing aren’t cheap.

Then I saw some lavender plants at my local Bachman’s (plant nursery) and thought they would look gorgeous in the toolbox.

But I knew that I would never be able to keep these blooming over the winter, even in a south facing window.  In fact, I’ve even tried growing these outside over the summer and haven’t been able to keep them blooming.  After all, lavender likes hot, sunny, dry weather.  We don’t have much of that here in Minnesota, especially in the winter.

So initially I nixed the idea of lavender.  But then I mentioned this conundrum at work and my co-worker Jodie suggested I add a couple of fake flower stems to the real plants.

Eureka!

It had never occurred to me that you could supplement real plants with a few fake flowers.  As long as I can keep the plants themselves alive, I’ll be good to go.

So I waited for the fake flowers to go on sale at Hobby Lobby and then I picked some up for around $2 each.  Then I went back to Bachman’s and purchased three lavender plants for $12.99 each.

I brought them home and popped them into the toolbox.

Perfect fit.

Then I cut the faux flowers down a bit …

and simply added them to the real plants.

One benefit to using real plants is that they smell amazing.

I think the fake flowers look pretty good, although of course anyone who knows plants is going to realize they can’t possibly be real.  Especially in the middle of January.

It also remains to be seen whether or not I can at least keep the plant itself looking good through winter, but I have read up on it and I should be able to grow lavender indoors in a sunny south facing window, even in Minnesota.

If I can pull it off, I think it’s going to be nice to have something ‘blooming’ in my window all winter long.

 

going someplace.

Published on by Quandie24 Comments

For those of you who aren’t from around here, today is a holiday here in the U.S.  It’s Labor Day.  Most of us have no idea why we have this holiday, and there really aren’t any traditions associated with it that are practiced across the board (like a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, fireworks on the 4th of July, or visiting the graves of loved ones on Memorial Day).

Usually it’s just a good excuse for squeezing in one more barbecue before summer is over.

I did a little research and apparently Labor Day was initially brought about by workers organizing and fighting for shorter work weeks.  Now that’s an idea I can get behind!  In fact, I’m honoring the spirit of Labor Day by taking this entire week off work.  Well, to be honest, mainly that’s really because my mom is in town for her 60th class reunion.  She graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1958.  My sister, mom, niece and I will also be driving out to South Dakota for a few days to visit our cousins while Mr. Q stays home to man the fort.  So if I’m not responding to comments with my usual speed, it’s because I’m busy admiring the cattle on the old family farm.

Even though I’m taking a break from my labors, I have a quick project to share today that I finished up a couple of weeks ago.

Have you been wondering what I did with the mirror that came with the dresser that I shared last Monday (and by the way, that dresser sold in less than two days and I attribute that entirely to the gorgeous transfer from Prima Marketing)?

 Obviously I didn’t put the mirror back on the dresser.

That’s because I love turning mirror harps like this into chalkboards that can be hung on the wall.

I started by removing the inner framed mirror from the harp.  Comically enough, the mirror was the only thing holding that harp together.  As soon as I took it out the entire thing fell apart.  Believe it or not, that’s actually a good thing.  My handyman Ken prefers it that way because it gives him the opportunity to completely re-glue all of the joints.

So he glued it all back together and then cut a piece of hardboard to fit the opening so I could turn it into a chalkboard.  He sent it back like this.

I opted to paint the frame in a pale grey using Homestead House milk paint in Bedford.  I took a calculated risk and did very little prep work.  I wiped it down with a damp rag and that was about it.  If you do this, keep in mind that you are taking a chance that your paint won’t adhere.  With milk paint it’s even possible that all of the paint will flake right back off, especially if there is furniture polish or something similar on the surface of your piece.

But I was willing to risk it since it was just a frame, not an entire piece of furniture.  Worst case scenario I would have to sand it down entirely and re-paint.  Plus I wanted to get some chipping.

As it turned out, it was a good call.  I got the perfect amount of chippy-ness.

As you can see, I chose black for the chalkboard.  I was planning to paint it using black milk paint (you can find my tutorial for using milk paint for chalkboards here).  I thought I had plenty of it on hand, but as it turned out I couldn’t find it.  So I went with Rustoleum’s black chalkboard paint.

To give the piece a little extra something, I used a couple of sections from Prima Marketing’s smaller Seeds transfer at the top …

and bottom of the frame.

I used one of my favorite techniques for adding a chalked design to the chalkboard.  I print the design out on paper, rub chalk all over the back of it, and then trace it onto the chalkboard (you can read the full tutorial on that here).

I’m sure that many of you could do this free-hand, but I’m never happy with my free-hand work so this is how I fake it.

I often have my handyman Ken add a shelf across the bottom of the mirror frames that I turn into chalkboards, but this frame came with its own little shelves already.  They make the perfect spot to display a vintage camera …

or a charming old photo.

I’ll likely take this piece in to Reclaiming Beautiful to sell, unless any of my local readers want to snatch it up first.  See my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details.

the mid mod madness continues.

Published on by Quandie33 Comments

I told you guys all about my July dry spell, only one piece of furniture sold in the entire month.  As a result of the dry spell, I spent some time re-evaluating my business plan (that’s a fancy way of saying that I obsessed about this while I was in the shower every morning) and decided to look for a few more mid-century pieces because they seem to sell more quickly.

So I picked up a few mid-mod pieces in the first part of August and got to work.

And then while I was working on those, I sold eight pieces.  All of them vintage farmhouse style rather than mid-century.

Naturally.

Well, of course that’s a good thing because those are the pieces that I love working on.  So now I feel confident in doing more of them.

In fact, sales really took off in August.  I went from having my worst month ever in July to having my best month ever in August.  Such is the world of furniture sales I guess, it’s like a roller coaster.

Meanwhile, I finished up one more mid-mod piece last week.  It’s the third piece in a set of three.  You’ll remember the first two that I painted in Fusion’s Ash.  Unfortunately I totally neglected to get a ‘before’ photo of this last piece, but suffice to say it looked just like the other two …

But this time, instead of the Ash, I went with my go-to color for mid-century low boys … Fusion’s Park Bench.

This shade of green just works beautifully with the mid-mod vibe.

I followed my usual m.o. of sanding lightly, cleaning with Krud Kutter kitchen degreaser, rinsing with clear water and then painting with two coats of Park Bench.

You may remember that I spruced up the hardware on the dark grey pieces using Prima Marketing’s Metallique wax in Bronze Age.  But for this piece I wanted to retain the light gold on the drawer pulls, so I just washed those with soapy water and put them back on.  But the little round knobs were a much darker brass color than the pulls.  To get a better match, I again used the Metallique wax, but this time in a color called White Gold.

It ended up being the perfect match for the existing color on the pulls.

Just for fun, I staged the piece as a buffet.

These pieces are really very versatile.  Of course you can just use them in a bedroom, but they also work beautifully as a sideboard in the dining room or to hold a wide screen TV in the living room.

Remember my fake ice cube purchase at a garage sale?  I still just love the fake ice and how much fun it is for photo shoots!

You may also remember that I purchased an old Atlas at a garage sale earlier this summer because I thought the predominantly green maps inside would be perfect for styling pieces painted in Park Bench.

Yep, perfect shade of green.

Have you noticed that there are a lot of furniture re-finishers out there who line their drawers with really pretty paper.  I think that looks gorgeous, but I rarely do it.  Mainly that’s because I find lining drawers to be an annoying little task.  But also, the really pretty paper is kind of expensive.

I’ve checked Spoonflower.com and a 26″ x 72″ roll is typically about $15 plus shipping unless you spend at least $60, then shipping is free.  I would need three rolls to line all of the drawers in this dresser … so yep, $45 plus shipping.  Yikes!  That adds up fast.

However, when my sister and were out at the Mac-Grove sales last Saturday we stopped for lunch at Billy’s on Grand and right next door was the Paper Source.  The full price for most of their rolls of paper was $9.95 and the rolls contain two sheets of 27″ x 39″ paper, so just a tad more paper for a bit less money than the Spoonflower rolls, but still a bit pricey.

They also have loose sheets of 20″ x 30″ paper starting at $4.95 per sheet.

But the real bargain turned out to be the summer clearance rack where the loose sheets of paper were 50% off.  That’s where I found the perfect paper to go with the Park Bench green.

Unfortunately there weren’t enough sheets to do all of the drawers, so I just lined the top three.  But I was able to do it for less than $5.

I wish they’d had more of this paper, it would work really well with the Millennial Pink mid-mod pieces I do too.

I’ll be listing this piece online today and I’m hoping it sells as quickly as my previous Park Bench pieces.

Fingers crossed!

And of course, if any of my local readers need a fabulous green dresser, be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

mac-grove 2018.

Published on by Quandie24 Comments

Woo hoo, the late summer neighborhood garage sale season has started!  My sister and I headed out to one of our favorite St. Paul neighborhoods last Saturday, Macalester-Groveland.

After day long torrential rains on Friday, Saturday morning was at least dry although not exactly sunny.  The overcast skies were probably a good thing though because it kept the temperature down and we didn’t have to sweat our way through Mac-Grove.

We were on a mission, and we managed to come home with a full vehicle.

Yep, all of that fit into the back of my sister’s mid-size SUV.

As you can see, once again it was a good day for chairs.  I found another library chair that I’ll be painting at some point.

And I’ve been looking for an Eastlake style chair for a while now.  I want to attempt the ‘deconstructed’ look, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of money in case it’s a dismal failure.  This chair was only $15, so if it’s a bust I’m not out too much cash.

I found a pile of galvanized flower buckets at the first sale we stopped at, so I grabbed all of them.  These are always fun to paint or to add transfers to.

I’ve already had some fun with the galvanized watering can that you can see in the first photo next to these flower buckets.  I removed the green plastic spout, washed the can with soapy water and then added one of the Prima Marketing transfers from their French Pots IV set.

I was curious to find out whether or not the transfers would look good over galvanized metal.  As it turns out, the answer is yes.  As long as you like a somewhat subtle look.

By the way, those are my Little Lime hydrangeas.  They are advertised as a dwarf version of the Limelight hydrangeas.  I can report that this bush is about half the size of my Limelights.  However, the flowers are much more green and they are starting to turn that pretty pinkish-bronze color while the Limelights are still fairly white.

Here are the Limelights for comparison …

Another purchase from Mac-Grove that I’ve already revamped is this simple chrome stool.  It was pretty dirty and had a skanky old vinyl seat.

I started by removing the seat.  When I flipped the stool over I found that there were metal tabs that were folded over to hold the seat in place.  It’s easy to lift them up and take the seat right off.

Ewwwwww!  It was pretty gross under that seat.

And as it turned out, there was an original layer of red vinyl underneath that boring grey vinyl too.

So I ripped off the disgusting vinyl and then cleaned all of the chrome with Brasso.  Then I recovered the seat with a layer of fresh cotton batting and the remnant from a feed sack that I had on hand and then just put it back on.

Easy peasy makeover!

I saved the Mac-Grove ‘find of the day’ status for this bed.

It was one of the very last things I purchased, and I was determined to get it in the SUV.  My sister’s girl scout packing skills really come in handy at moments like these.  And she’s always game to try to fit at least one more thing in the car.

It’s going to be so pretty painted, and I think that foot board is just calling out for a Prima Marketing transfer, don’t you?