worth the wait.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

Sometimes things are absolutely worth the wait.

And in this case it felt like a rather long wait.  I placed my order for the items that you’ll see in a minute on February 17 through Etsy, and they arrived on March 27.  So yeah, a bit of a wait.  But well worth it.

I’m talking about some miniatures that I ordered from Twelve Times More Teeny.  She is located in Oviedo, Spain, and her items are made to order.  Hence the wait.

This wasn’t like the time I ordered a paint can and roller from Sweden without realizing it.  I’ve learned my lesson since then and I always check to see where items are coming from now.

So even though I realized that this shop was in Spain, I just had to give it a go.

But I bet you want to see what I’m talking about.

Well, I ordered some miniature china.

First up, a set of cannisters.

Aren’t they awesome?  I have found that they don’t quite fit where I wanted to put them though, which is on the shelves of the hutch in the kitchen.  The shelves on that piece are so narrow!

So I’ll have to put them on the work surface instead.

For now I’ve added some inexpensive white plates that I purchased at Hobby Lobby to the shelves.

Next up, I ordered a set of cheese plates …

I’ve hung them on the wall in the dining room.

I may move those to hang over that kitchen door though instead of beside it, we’ll see.

Finally, I just had to have these Union Jack plates for my U.K. hallway.

Again, these are also going on the wall.

By the way, in case you are wondering, none of the plates I got from Twelve Times More Teeny will fit on the kitchen hutch shelves.  But hmmm, I may just have to order some smaller ones!

Also in case you are wondering, I use tacky wax to stick things in place in my dollhouse.

I unexpectedly came across this Department 56 version at the Bachman’s After-Christmas sale last year.  It was considered Christmas merch, don’t know why, and thus was 75% off.  Miniature Crush carries a couple of versions of tacky wax as well.

In the end I was so pleased with my china from Spain that I ordered some more.  This time I ordered a set of floral dishes for the dining room table.  You’ll have to stay tuned to see those, since it will probably be another month before they arrive!

some late April thrifting.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

After the rather poor results from my garage saling and thrifting forays in Las Vegas, I had to get a fix as soon as I returned home from the trip I took out to my mom’s last week.

Luckily, I came home last Wednesday and my friend opK is always up for a little thrifting on Thursdays.  So I was able to jump right in for some good upper mid-west thrifting.

We decided to head a little further afield this time, across the border into Wisconsin.  My hairdresser had recently told me that her favorite thrift store is River Revival in Star Prairie, so we decided to check it out.

As soon as we walked in the door we knew we were in a well done thrift store.  You know they’ve taken some time with their displays when you are greeted by this sight.

How cool is that?

Their prices were really good, and they had quite a few nice pieces of furniture.  I found a few goodies to bring home.

I couldn’t resist the little blue and white creamer.  I think it will make the perfect vase for smaller flowers such as the scilla that is currently blooming in my garden.

Lily of the Valley will be pretty in it as well.

The price on these salt & pepper shakers made them too good to pass up.

For now I’ll be adding them to my own non-collection …

But to be honest, I’ve been considering pricing all of these up for my next sale and moving on.  Then again … maybe I’ll keep them 😉

I was inspired to grab the coffee cannister by Ginger Chick Rehab.

She has done quite a few fun projects with these, usually adding floral foam and then a variety of fillers like bottle brush trees, vintage ornaments, and such.  Check out her YouTube channel for more details and inspiration.

At only .99 for the tin, I knew I had to give it a whirl.  The fact that the lid was missing was a bonus, because this way I don’t have to feel guilty about removing and discarding a lid.

I also grabbed a wooden recipe box.

I’ve been keeping an eye out for these while thrifting over the winter, and I haven’t been finding any of them.  Which is a bit odd since I used to see them all the time.

This one needed just a quick repair with some glue and clamps.

Once repaired, I gave it a quick scuff sanding and after wiping it with a damp cloth, I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss.  There was a distinct possibility that the existing finish would bleed through my paint, so better safe than sorry.  The Bonding Boss will prevent that bleed thru.

I then gave it a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Cottage Door on the inside.

That was followed by a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth on the outside.

Next I decided to once again try my hand at stamping.  I pulled out the I.O.D. Ephemeral Type stamps and my VersaFine Clair ink in Pinecone and applied a stamp to the top of the box.  Then, like a complete novice, I decided it would be OK to apply transfers to the sides of the box while I waited for the ink to dry.  Of course, I then handled the top of the box without thinking and smeared the freshly stamped image.  Duh.  So, I painted back over it and tried again.  That is definitely a bonus with the stamps over transfers.  If you mess one up, you can reapply over and over if necessary.

The 2nd time around I waited for the stamp to fully dry before adding my transfers.  Dry time will depend upon your environment.  If it’s humid it will take longer.

Finally I added some florals from a three different I.O.D. transfers, Rose Botanical, Wilde Bloemen, and Catharina.

I finished it all off with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax on the outside and their flat clear coat on the inside.

Finally, I also picked up another toolbox at River Revival.

It was within my designated price range ($10 or less), so I snatched it up.  I’ve already given it a makeover, but I think I’ll save that for a separate post.

After our stop at River Revival we planned to hit up a garage sale that wasn’t too far away.  Unfortunately, we hadn’t read the fine print and after driving out to it we discovered that they weren’t going to be opening until 1 pm.  Since it was only around 11 a.m., we didn’t want to hang about for 2 hours.

So instead we headed to Acme Junk Co in Amery, Wisconsin.

I’ve popped in here a few times, and unfortunately I tend to find that their prices are a bit out of range for me.

They have some amazing dress forms …

But, at $350 or so, they are too rich for my blood.

That being said, I did find something to splurge on.

I just fell in love with that little painting in its ornate gold frame.

I thought it would be a perfect addition to the gallery wall in my q branch.

For now I’ve hung it just above my desk, but I may end up re-arranging the entire gallery to give it a place of honor.  Then again, it’s in the perfect spot for me to admire it while I sit here typing up blog posts!

These thrifting trips are just tiding me over until garage sale season starts here in Minnesota.  The big neighborhood sales start in earnest the first weekend in May, so it’s just around the corner.  Be sure to stay tuned!

french flower buckets.

Published on by Quandie16 Comments

I have a definite fondness for French flower buckets.

I was planning to fill this post with some interesting history about them, but these days it seems like all the internet wants to do is tell us where to buy stuff.  Have any of you noticed that?  You google something hoping to get some background info on it, and all you get are links to purchase one.

I eventually found this definition:  the phrase “French flower buckets” likely refers to the galvanized metal buckets used to transport and store flowers, which are a common sight in the European floral industry, and are sometimes associated with French floral markets.

Well, OK then.  Not terribly enlightening.  True, they are usually galvanized metal.  But they are also tall and are often tapered from top to bottom.  They also typically have handles at the top, but not always.

They also are usually round.  But I think you can still count this next one as a French flower bucket even though it is oval instead.

Although they are often just galvanized metal, sometimes they are enameled.  I have a lovely vintage yellow enameled one.

While I would never paint one of the vintage enameled buckets, I have painted quite a few of the galvanized ones over the years, usually in white.

Although I have tried other colors as well, like the Dixie Belle Dried Sage on this next one.

That brings me to the pair of French flower buckets that I thrifted recently.

The first bucket has a black rim, and I always love the contrast of the black with a warm white so I went with my standby Dixie Belle Drop Cloth on that one.

To prep it for paint I simply washed it well with some Dawn dish soap and hot water.  Then I applied two coats of the Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I sanded to distress it and after wiping away any dust, I applied one of the I.O.D. Traditional Pots transfers.

For the 2nd bucket I decided I wanted to step outside of my warm white comfort zone, so after the same prep I gave it two coats of Dixie Belle’s Apricot.

After the paint dried and I had distressed it a bit, I added one of the roses from the I.O.D. Rose Botanical transfer.

So pretty!  Perfect for spring.

By the way, I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat over both of these buckets for durability.

I don’t think I can pick a favorite, how about you?

a visit to sin city.

Published on by Quandie7 Comments

I’m back from my latest visit with my mom.  For any of you readers who may be new here, my mom lives just outside Las Vegas, Nevada and I am just outside St. Paul, Minnesota.  So a visit with my mom is usually a great way to get away from cold weather.  The typical temps in her area in early April are in the upper 70’s or low 80’s, which is about perfect.

Unfortunately, they were having above average temps this year.  The day we arrived it was 97°.  In fact, the first 4 or 5 days were in the upper 90’s and then it ‘cooled down’ to the upper 80’s on our last two days.  I was definitely not acclimated to that kind of heat!

We still managed to get out and about a bit despite the heat.

My mom lives just around the corner from her local Goodwill store, so I always try to get in there to see if I can find any goodies that will fit in my luggage.

I did come home with a few things this time around.

OK, I admit, it doesn’t look like much.  But I’m looking forward to giving these items a makeover.

My sister and I also decided to check out a few garage sales on Saturday morning, but as per usual they were pretty pathetic.

I guess throwing a bunch of unmarked boxes of stuff on your driveway counts as a garage sale in Nevada.

Also, everything is generally no more than 10 to 20 years old or so.  Certainly nothing that would qualify as ‘vintage’.

I think that speaks to the fact that the population in Henderson, NV grew from approx. 175,000 people in 2000 to nearly 350,000 today.  In other words, most of those people moved to the area within the last 25 years.  And apparently they bought a lot of cheap decor when they did.

For those of you who always comment on how awesome the garage sales look around here …

I get it.  We are lucky to have some pretty darn good garage sales in the midwest.

After stopping at a few different sales, my sister and I gave up and decided to head to a ‘vintage & craft market’.  Quite honestly, that was equally as bad.  Unless you happened to be in the market for some bedazzled horseshoes, in which case it would have been perfect for you.

I’m always suffering from massive garage sale withdrawal in early spring as I wait for our season to start in May, so I tend to be optimistic about the sales near my mom even though I’m always disappointed.

We also decided to spend a night on the strip this visit.  It has been more then 10 years since we’ve been down to the strip and it has definitely changed.  We ended up strolling down the LINQ Promenade.

This is an outdoor shopping area that leads to the High Roller, which is the Las Vegas version of the London Eye (if you’re familiar).  According to my online research the Las Vegas version is 170′ taller than the London Eye, and it did hold the record as the tallest ‘Ferris wheel’ in the world until it was surpassed by the one in Dubai.

By the way, if you look closely at the sky in that photo above you can see the lines for the Fly LINQ zipline.  People were whizzing by overhead, which was a bit freaky.

I will also say that this area had a stronger aroma in the air than Amsterdam … if you know what I mean.

Some things on the strip haven’t changed much.  Caesar’s Palace still looks the same.

As does New York, New York …

and Paris.

You can also still see the fountain show at the Bellagio.

Speaking of the Bellagio, that is where we stayed for our one night on the town.

The view from our room on the 19th floor was amazing.

It was fun to watch the fountain show from there, especially at night.

But otherwise there isn’t much to recommend about the Bellagio aside from its fairly central location, and the conservatory (which I’ll be sharing on Sunday).  The hallways and rooms are feeling a bit tired, and were also a bit smelly.  The hallway carpet looked quite dirty to me.  Considering that we paid $485 for one night’s stay, I expected something a bit nicer.  While there are quite a few restaurants to choose from within the hotel, most of them are also quite pricey.  The buffet is $75/person for dinner and the prices go way up from there.  So if you want a quick bite to eat at a reasonable price, you have to walk somewhere else.

That’s probably not a big deal for most, but when you’re there with your 84 year old mother who uses a walker, it’s a bit of a problem.

We ended up having to leave mom at the hotel with a take-away sandwich while my sister and I walked across the street to Ole Red where we enjoyed some live music with our dinner.

That was an unexpected bonus since the band was really pretty entertaining, and we had a ring side seat.

All in all, it was a nice visit.  But as always, I’m happy to be home again.  I’ve got a few projects to get going on, and I think I’ll even be able to get out in the garden this weekend.  So be sure to stay tuned to see what I get up to!

the miniature crush blanket chest.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

After meeting the owners of Miniature Crush and taking a tour of their facility, I approached them with an offer to become a content creator for them.

We’re still not precisely sure how that is going to work, but for now they have sent me an unfinished piece of furniture to see what I can do with it as a sort of trial run.  This blog post is written with Miniature Crush customers in mind.  They may not be familiar with the products and techniques I use, so it may seem a bit overly detailed for some of my long-time readers who are already familiar with things like chalk style paint and transfers.

This is the 1:12 scale Blanket Cabinet and it sells for $20.99.

The top doors open to reveal some shelving inside.

As you can see above, this piece comes with the drawer pulls and knobs already in place.  But I wanted to paint it, without painting the hardware.  So I used a razor blade to gently get behind those pulls and pop them off, taking care not to bend them.

Then after giving the cabinet a light sanding with a 220 grit sanding sponge, I gave it a base coat of Dixie Belle Paint Co’s Coffee Bean.

The purpose of this base coat of paint is to provide a color to add some dimension when I later sand my final color to distress it.  I didn’t need to get perfect coverage with that first coat.

I followed that up with a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Cottage Door, a beautiful coral/pink.

If you aren’t familiar with Dixie Belle paint, it is a chalk mineral paint which is why it looks quite flat at this point.  Although it doesn’t technically require a top coat for durability, a top coat will add some sheen to the paint and also protect it from dirt and moisture.  Personally I prefer working with a chalk style paint because it distresses really nicely in miniature.  I do water my chalk paint down just a bit to reduce brush strokes which also helps a miniature piece look more realistic.

Once the Cottage Door paint was dry, I sanded it lightly with the 220 grit sponge again to distress those edges.

You can just see a hint of that dark brown Coffee Bean color.

Next up I pulled out the Iron Orchid Designs gilded transfer set called Etiquettes.  I cut out various bits and pieces from that to fill in the recessed sections of those upper doors.

Now you can see why I wanted to keep that hardware in its original gold color.  I knew it would play well with the gilded transfer.

If you aren’t familiar with transfers, they are also called rub-on’s or rub-on transfers.  Wikipedia does a good job of describing them:  “Dry transfers (also called rub-ons or rubdowns) are decals that can be applied without the use of water or other solvent. The decal itself is on a backing material such as paper or plastic sheeting much like a transparency. The dry transfer is placed in the desired location with the backing side up. The decal is then applied by burnishing the backing with a stylus or similar object such as a ballpoint pen. The contact side of the decal includes a pressure-sensitive adhesive; the combination of heat and pressure causes the decal to stick more strongly to the new surface than to the backing. When the backing is removed, the decal remains. This allows for ink only where needed even if the pattern is delicate, because the backing supports the decal while it is being applied.”

Once I had the gilded transfers in place, I re-attached the knobs and drawer pulls using some super glue.  Then I added a top coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax over the entire exterior of the blanket cabinet.

You have a number of different top coat options available when using a chalk style paint.  I personally like a buffed wax finish for it’s subtle sheen and because it deepens the color ever so slightly.  But you could also choose to use a water based top coat meant for use over chalk paint.  Dixie Belle, for example, has a flat, a satin and a gloss water based clear coat.

One important note, be sure to apply your transfers and/or glue on any hardware before applying wax.  Those items won’t stick very well to a waxed surface.

Now for the inside of the cupboard.  I started by painting it in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, which is a very warm white.  Then I pulled out the Worn Wallpaper Scraps by Tim Holtz.  This is a little packet of 5″ x 8″ sheets of faded, worn floral wallpaper designs.  They are perfect for lining miniature cupboards.  Of course, you could also use any of the dollhouse wallpapers from Miniature Crush for this as well.

One 5″ x 8″ sheet was just enough paper to line the back and the shelves of this blanket cabinet.  I cut pieces of the paper to size, and then used some Mod Podge to adhere them to the cabinet.

I also had enough left over to line the drawers too.

It’s so much fun to see what you can do with these unfinished pieces.  Be sure to check out the complete inventory of them at Miniature Crush.

I’m adding this piece to my ‘miniatures for sale‘ page because I don’t have a spot for it in my own dollhouse.  I am willing to ship my miniatures and can accept Venmo or PayPal payment for them, so be sure to check that out if you’re interested!

it has to go.

Published on by Quandie16 Comments

As you know, I spent most of the winter working on my dollhouse reno.

And frankly, I’m getting rather tired of having it sitting on my baby grand piano right smack in the middle of the house.  It takes up the entire surface of the piano, leaving not much room for anything else.  If you’ve followed me for long, you’ll know that this is usually where I fold laundry, wrap presents, and paint smalls throughout the winter when I can’t use my carriage house workshop.

So it has to go!

OK, that sounds drastic.  It didn’t have to go far, just out to the three season porch.  The weather is warming up, and I think I can finish up any future work on it out there.

This will be where it stays going forward.  At least for the foreseeable future anyway.  Our house is rather small and I don’t really have any other spot where it would work.

I have to give myself credit for finishing almost all of the rooms over the winter.

I started with the dining room.

Then I worked on the main bedroom.

That was followed by the 2nd floor hallway …

and then the bathroom.

I’ve also completed the 2nd bedroom …

the 3rd floor U.K. hallway …

and the kitchen.

I filled up the attic space.

And I outfitted the attic rec room.

As I’m reviewing the photos for this post, I’m realizing that I’ve already added some new details to some of these rooms since I last shared them.

For example, I added some framed botanicals to the bathroom.

I added a hand-painted Union Jack rug to the upper hallway (more on how I did that in a future post).

I added the sconces and a painted chair to the master bedroom.

And I added a mirror to the 2nd floor hallway.

After all of that, I still haven’t quite finished the interior reno completely.  I have reached a bit of a standstill on the living room because I can’t quite decided what I want to do in that room.  So rather than rush it, I’ve decided to just wait for inspiration to strike.

I also need to do something with the tower room.

Although that may be nothing more than filling up the bookshelves.  I couldn’t actually reach that room while the house was up on the piano, so now that it’s a bit lower out on the porch I can get to it, but I’m not sure I want to tackle trying to paint that space.

Finally, I still have the exterior gardens and porches to work on.  Those may wait until next winter at this point though.  We’ll have to see how busy I get this summer.

But for now, I’m happy to have the surface of my baby grand piano back as a work space for other things.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the dollhouse project over the winter, I know I was quite focused on it at the expense of working on other vintage item makeovers.  Now that spring is here, I’ll be back out in the garden and am hoping to resume my ‘Sunday mornings in the garden’ posts soon.  I also plan to work on some more significant makeover projects, maybe even some furniture!  I’ll definitely sprinkle in a few more miniature projects here and there though.  Spoiler alert, I have a fun one coming up on Wednesday.

So be sure to stay tuned.

In the meantime, leave a comment and let me know which room in the dollhouse was your favorite!

planning ahead.

Published on by Quandie2 Comments

I’m starting to plan ahead to my 2025 Carriage House Sale.  We’ve tentatively chosen Thursday, May 29 and Friday, May 30 as the dates for the sale.

While on the one hand it’s 7 weeks away, and that should be plenty of time to prepare, on the other hand I have a couple of trips coming up between now and then so it will be here before I know it.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it, but I’m actually away right now visiting my mom again (she lives in a suburb of Las Vegas).  This time my sister has joined me, and we have planned some fun stuff like a night staying at the Bellagio.

We haven’t been down to the strip in years, so it will be fun to explore it for one evening.

But once I get home again I’m going to have to get my act together and start getting ready for the sale.  Step one will be to muck out the carriage house.  If I can find the time, I may do some painting out there too.

I will be joined by my old garage sale mentor and Carriage House cohort, Sue, as well as my friend opK for the sale.  I’ve been a little worried that I won’t have enough inventory to justify as sale, but I think between the three of us we’ll have plenty of awesome items.

So, pencil it in if you’re local.  But do just use pencil.  I’m going to try not to change the date this year, but if a tornado is forecast than all bets are off.  Stay tuned for further updates!

a little spring cleaning.

Published on by Quandie17 Comments

It felt like it was time for a little spring cleaning last week, so I decided to tackle cleaning the pantry.

I’d like to say that I manage to get to this job every spring, but that’s just not true.

The thing is, this pantry is a bit of an illusion.  As you can sort of see in the photo above, there is no floor.  This is actually the stairway to our basement.  You can read all about how we turned it into a ‘pantry’ here.

I can reach the shelves that are closest to the door, but I can’t reach any of the upper shelves that are further out.  The only way to get to those is to borrow nnK’s scaffolding thingie and place that across the opening, giving me a platform to stand on and get to those other shelves.

For someone who is afraid of heights, it does feel a bit death defying to stand on that to clean those shelves.

I’m using that as my slightly lame excuse for not cleaning the pantry more often.

Here’s the view of the pantry from the bottom of those basement stairs, LOL.

Since I was removing everything from the shelves and cleaning each item, it seemed like a good opportunity to re-arrange some things starting with that row of watering cans at the very top.

I originally had a mix of watering cans and french flower buckets up there, but I have enough painted watering cans now to fill the entire row.

I have shared all of those watering can painting projects here on the blog except for the green one.  That one came in that color.

I also added a couple of French enamelware pitchers on the top shelf under the window.

The taller one is a recent acquisition that I found while out thrifting.  I added the I.O.D. Traditional Pots blue transfers to them myself.

My vintage kitchen scales went back on the shelves.  I’ve narrowed the scope of this non-collection to only include green ones.

I have to confess that I’ve cheated a little bit because just one of them wasn’t originally green.  I painted it.  Can you guess which one?

Spoiler alert, it’s this one.

I painted it in Dixie Belle’s Mint Julep.

Speaking of non-collections (because I’m in denial about being any sort of a collector of things), I still have my stack of vintage tablecloths.

I feel like these have gone a bit out of vogue these days, but I still love the colors.

In reality our pantry is only about 50% functional since we can’t actually reach about half of the shelves.

But it’s still nice to have a spot for the bread and wine.  Plus a space to display some of my vintage non-collections.

We actually have a few things stored out here in disguise as well.  There are boxes of kleenex in some of the metal tins …

and our extra Keurig coffee pods are in another.  The enamelware bucket with the red handle holds all of my cleaning rags, and we have extra soap in the green wooden tote.

I still think creating this pantry out of what was originally a very dismal basement staircase was one of my better remodeling ideas.

It might be a little bit difficult to clean, but I think it’s worth it.

the patisserie cupboard.

Published on by Quandie17 Comments

Today I’m sharing this adorable miniature cupboard that I picked up on my visit to Miniature Crush.

I didn’t have a spot in mind for it in my own dollhouse, but I knew it would be a fun painting job regardless.

To start, I removed the gold knobs.  That was easy enough, they pulled right out.  Next I gave the piece a light sanding all over just to smooth out any remaining rough spots.  Then I gave it a base coat of one of Dixie Belle’s newest colors called Thicket, a medium grey-green shade.

I really could have chosen any number of colors for that base coat, it’s just something to distress my final color back to without it just being bare wood.  I wanted to try out this new color to see what it looked like though.  Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take a photo of the cupboard in this color.  Oops.

Next up I painted the shelf area of the cupboard in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I painted the rest of the cupboard in their Midnight Sky.

I then pulled out the I.O.D. Brocante transfer and cut out this section from one of the pages …

I thought it would fit perfectly inside this cupboard, and it almost did.  The widest lines of wording were just a tiny bit too wide.  So I ended up cutting the individual lines apart and modifying them as needed to fit.

Once I had that in place, I used a damp terrycloth rag to wet distress the edges of the cupboard.

It can be easier to control your distressing when using the wet method v. sanding.  My goal was to distress back to the Thicket color without going all the way back to bare wood.  I achieved that better in some spots than others, for example at the bottom of the curved apron or on the front foot shown here.

However, I went too far on the drawers.

I still love the results though.

Once I had the cupboard distressed to my satisfaction, I replaced the original knobs on the drawers with some Craftsman style pulls, also from Miniature Crush.  Then I lined the drawers using some of the Tim Holtz Curator Snippets.

I finished off the cupboard with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

Now, if only I could figure out a spot for it in my dollhouse.

I’ll keep looking.  But in the meantime, what do you think of the Patisserie cupboard?  Leave a comment and let me know.

sometimes you just need a box.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

First up, I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a message conveying their condolences on the loss of our sweet Lucy.  Every comment was so kind and thoughtful and I appreciated each one.  Somehow it’s easier when you know you’re not alone and many of us have suffered through the loss of a beloved pet.

I have to admit that I haven’t felt very creative over the past week and have been mostly watching old Miss Marple episodes on PBS Masterpiece interspersed with taking nice long walks in the woods with Mr. Q (in between snow showers, ugh, could winter just be over already?).  But luckily, I had finished a few projects earlier that I can share with you today.

You may remember that I picked up a trio of boxes while out thrifting a few weeks back.

They are three different sorts of boxes; a metal lock box, a small wood box with a hinged lid, and larger open wood box.

I chose that last one at the time because I thought it would be handy for corralling some of my dollhouse supplies.  You know, sometimes you just need a handy box to put stuff in.

I’ve given all three of them makeovers, so I thought I’d share them with you today.

First up, the lock box.

To be honest, I really debated whether or not to throw this in the cart.  But it was only $3.99, so I figured it was worth a shot.

After washing it up, I gave it a cursory sanding with my Mouse sander, wiped away any dust and then gave it a good coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss both inside and out.  Although there wasn’t any rust, and bleed through wouldn’t be an issue, it was a pretty slick surface.  Not only does the Bonding Boss prevent bleed through, it also improves adhesion of your paint.

One more quick note about Bonding Boss.  I almost always choose to use the clear version.  It also comes in white and grey.  If you aren’t going to distress your item, it might make sense to use the white if you are painting light color over a dark finish, or the grey if your final color is in the red family (red will cover better over a grey primer).  But when you distress the edges of your piece the white or grey will show.  So I mostly use the clear version to avoid that.

Next up I painted the inside in Dixie Belle’s Cottage Door.  I’m still loving this particular shade of coral/pink.

After two coats of paint were dry, I added another of the gilded Etiquettes transfers from I.O.D. inside the lid.

I am definitely starting to get the hang of these gilded transfers.  Isn’t the gold lovely over the Cottage Door color?  I’m glad I didn’t give up on them entirely after the first time I tried them (which was pretty much a fail).  If at first you don’t succeed …

I painted the outside of the box in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, and once dry I sanded the edges to distress the paint.

After cleaning up the dust, I started adding roses from the I.O.D. Rose Botanical transfer.

Every time I use this transfer I am reminded how beautiful the roses are.

In case you aren’t familiar, this transfer comes with single rose images in a few different sizes.  I just cut them out and started layering them onto my piece.

Once I had the roses in place, I added some typography from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer to the top of the box.

Finally I gave the box a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat to seal it inside and out.

I ended up bringing this box into the shop (Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater, MN) to sell, and I believe it may be already sold, I’m not sure.

Next up, the open box.

Giving this box a new look was a much simpler process.  I gave it quick cleaning, followed by a scuff sanding to prep the surface for paint.  Then I painted it in one of Dixie Belle’s new Southern Roots colors called Thicket.

I had a heck of a time trying to get a good photo of that color.

I hope that’s a decent representation of it.  It’s a nice grey green, but possibly not as dark as I thought it would be looking at the jar.

Once the Thicket was dry, I painted over just the outside of the box in two coats of Ecru.  Once that dried, I sanded the edges a bit to distress them and then started applying some transfers.

The florals are all from I.O.D.’s Floral Anthology.  The wording is from their Label Ephemera transfer, and the butterflies are from their Brocante transfer.

I decorated both sides of the box, and wrapped some around the corners too.

I gave the inside of the box a top coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat for extra durability, but I finished the outside with their Easy Peasy Spray Wax.

I tend to forget about this product, and it’s super easy to use.  Just spray it on and then wipe away any excess.  I usually use an old t-shirt for that.

I staged the box with all of my vintage green books.

I have to confess that I usually choose vintage books based on their color rather than their content.  However, this little book on Flowers published in 1909 is one of my favorites.

It’s probably childish of me, but I chuckle a little every time I open it to find a chapter called “soil for pot plants”.

Clearly that meant something more innocent in 1909.

Last up is the cigar box.  Well, I’m calling it a cigar box because it’s the right size and shape for a cigar box.  There is a stamp on the bottom that says “container made in the Dominican Republic”, and that’s the only mark on the box.  It also doesn’t smell at all like cigars inside.  So, was it a cigar box, who knows?

Regardless, it had a finish on it that would almost definitely bleed thru paint.  So once again I followed the proper directions with the Bonding Boss.  I applied two coats with 4 hours of dry time in between coats, followed by 24 hours of dry time after the 2nd coat.

Lucky I did, because there was one small spot around the hinge in the back where I missed getting good coverage with the Bonding Boss, and sure enough my paint turned a little orange in that spot.

But otherwise, the Bonding Boss did the trick.  I painted the inside of the box in Dixie Belle’s Apricot.

Then I painted the outside of the box in two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I pulled out one of the new I.O.D. transfers called Catharina.  This set features botanical illustrations painted by Catharina Klein in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

These florals are very soft and delicate looking.

Although there are some roses in this set, there are also lots of other flowers like pansies, violets, apple blossoms and more.

Aren’t they pretty?

I also added some bits and pieces from the I.O.D. gilded Etiquettes transfer here and there on the front.

And then I added a larger image from that transfer on the top of the box.

This would make a lovely jewelry box, or just some sort of trinket box.

I still have this one on hand if any of my locals are in need of a pretty flowery box.  I’ll list it in my ‘available for local sale‘ page with the details.

So there you have it.  Three makeovers of three different ‘boxes’.  Leave a comment and let me know which one is your favorite!