a small cupboard.

Published on by Quandie26 Comments

I picked up this little cupboard at the St. Anthony Park garage sales a month or so ago.

cupboard-before

I knew it could be so much better with just a few tweaks.

I had checked before I purchased it to be sure that it would be easy to get that wood inset in the door out of there.  I looked at the back of the door and saw that there were two stops holding in place.  In case you don’t know what that means, this is a ‘stop’ …

door-stop

It’s a narrow piece of wood, usually nailed in place, that holds the glass in place … or in this case the wood inset.  It was easy to pry that out and then remove that inset.

stop-removed

Be sure to go slowly and pry gently if you are planning to re-use a stop, they are really easy to break (I’m speaking from experience on that one).

cupboard-1

You are probably thinking that I removed the wood so that I could replace it with glass, or I could have gone with my favorite trick, grain sack material.  But no, this time I wanted to use old screening.  I just happened to have some!

screening

Yep, I paid a quarter for it at a garage sale!

I cut it to fit and used my stapler to tack it in place.  Then I replaced the shiny brass door handle with this rusty, crusty one full of delicious patina.

cupboard-handle

And finally, I lined the back of the inside with the pages from an old Swedish bible.

cupboard-inside

I ended up going with ironstone inside …

cupboard-with-ironstone

But I also tried vintage cameras …

cupboard-of-cameras

And old clocks …

cupboard-of-clocks

But the ironstone was definitely what did it for me.

cupboard-with-ironstone-2

 How about you?

jackson’s cow fields.

Published on by Quandie15 Comments

Every now and then Mr. Q tells the story about the time he and his friend Jimmy set Jackson’s cow fields on fire.  Mr. Q was … well … let’s just say he was a bit of a rebel in his youth and leave it at that.

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That spring he and Jimmy fashioned a ‘polish cannon’ out of Coke cans and made a practice of setting it off out in the cow fields behind Mr. Q’s childhood home in Marine on the St Croix.

Those fields were pretty dry in spring.  It was probably not the best plan to be playing with fire out there.  I’m not even sure I should share the part where the cans were overfilled with lighter fluid and Mr. Q dropped a match in them and swung them around shouting “hey look, it’s a flame thrower!”

Remember, I already admitted he was a bit of a rebel.

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Once they realized they had set the field on fire, panic must have set in.  They tried to put it out themselves but eventually realized that wasn’t going to happen and they had to call the fire department.  This was absolutely a last resort because you see, Mr. Q’s dad was the Fire Chief and Jimmy’s dad was the Assistant Fire Chief.  Mr. Q was just hoping that his dad was still at his day job (the fire department was all volunteer) and that someone else would show up.  But no, the fire truck rolled up with both of their fathers riding up front.

The fire was put out and Mr. Q says that several weeks later the fresh new green growth was just lovely.

Back in those days Jackson’s cow fields were just that, cow pasture, but today they are Jackson Meadow.

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You can read more about Jackson Meadow on their website.  Basically it’s a housing development based on the cluster-housing model.  Over 70% of the land is preserved as open space.  The houses themselves have a very Scandinavian feel, an homage to the early Swedish immigrants who settled in Marine.

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Last Saturday Debbie and I decided to take a scenic fall drive up to Marine for lunch at the Brookside.  After lunch we headed up the hill and noticed a sign for a neighborhood garage sale at Jackson Meadow!  I’d always wanted an excuse to snoop around in there without looking obvious.

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 Have you noticed something about Jackson Meadow?  All of the houses are white with galvanized metal roofs.  Their website states that you are not allowed to paint your house any other color than white, and I suspect that there is a huge long list of other requirements for buildings here as well.  Their website also mentions that only “native trees, shrubs and herbaceous plantings” are allowed.  So you can just forget about that Limelight hydrangea if you live here.

I’m not sure how I feel about that.  I definitely think that there is a kind of beauty in the austere buildings set into a natural landscape.  But it also kind of gives me the heebie jeebies.  That feeling of everything is beautiful on the outside, but controlled with an iron fist just beneath the surface.  You can live here, but only if you fit into their very narrow definition of what is acceptable.

It doesn’t help that the last time we were visiting old friends from Marine they mentioned that Jackson’s cow fields were always haunted.  Debbie and I had heard rumors of ghostly goings on in Jackson Meadow, so it was interesting to hear that these stories pre-date the Jackson Meadow development.

Maybe the fact that my sister and I stopped off at the cemetery next was really what left us in a spooky mood.

cemetery-1

Not only is it a very picturesque cemetery, but I was betting my sister that they’d have a porta-pottie there and fortunately I was right.  That glass of wine I had with lunch had caught up with me.  Debbie scoffed when I first suggested it, “they don’t have porta-potties in cemeteries!”, oh yes they do!

This particular cemetery has some really cool old headstones too.  It looks like poor Sophrona was only 28 when she died.

cemetery-2

After leaving the cemetery, we headed out of town the back way just to admire this stretch of road which is always gorgeous this time of year

back-road

By the way, I hope the residents of Jackson Meadow don’t take offense if they see this blog post.  They were all exceptionally friendly and welcoming.  I even came away from their garage sales with this fab vintage find …

vintage-suitcase

But I do wonder if they ever see the ghost of Sophrona wandering around in those fields on spooky misty evenings, don’t you?

the midnight buffet.

Published on by Quandie35 Comments

Have you ever been on a cruise?  I’ve been on a few, but I rarely manage to make it to the midnight buffet.  I’m usually still full from dinner.  We’ve gone a few times just to look at the carved melons or chocolate sculptures.

But today I’m talking about a different kind of midnight buffet, this is a Midnight Blue buffet.

midnight-blue-title

Here is where it started out.

buffet-before

I was rather undecided about those carved medallions.  Please share your opinion on those with me.  Are they hideous?  Or would they have been kind of fab painted?  Would you keep them, or take them off?  I really wasn’t sure.  So I decided to see how hard it would be to remove them.  As it turned out, not hard at all.  So I took that as a sign and off they came.

They left some glue behind though.  And although I tried my best to sand that off without ruining the veneer, I wasn’t totally successful.  If you look at this piece from just the right angle you can see the splotches.

But I moved on and painted the whole piece in one of Fusion’s new colors, Midnight Blue.

blue-buffet-half

It is the perfect navy blue.  I’m so glad they came out with this color.  I have several chairs that I want to paint in this hue too.

blue-buffet-full

I only used one coat of paint on this buffet.  I was going for a distressed look.  If I’d wanted really solid coverage I would have added a second coat.  I did sand the edges for that distressed look.

blue-buffet-angle

I swapped out the original drawer pulls on this piece for some grey knobs that I picked up at World Market.  I think they help give it a slightly updated look.

The top drawer of the buffet has a clever little tray inside for silverware (or whisk brooms).  I replaced the green felt liner with some navy blue fabric that I had on hand instead.

blue-buffet-silverware-tray

Have I ever mentioned that I have a stash of old whisk brooms?  It may seem strange, but I once saw a wreath made out of them.  So I started grabbing them whenever I saw them at garage sales and I think I may finally have enough for a wreath, but now I’m no longer so sure I want one.  The story of my life.

whisk-brooms

I particularly love blue handle on this one though.

blue-whisk-broom

I have a small confession to make.  Those leaves didn’t just gracefully fall on my buffet for the photos.  I raked up a pile under my maple tree and then sort of scattered them about over the buffet.  It was really kind of fun playing with fallen leaves.

whisk-brooms-in-cages

If you happen to be in the mood for a little midnight buffet, this one is for sale.  Check my ‘available for local sale’ tab for updated info.

fall colors.

Published on by Quandie7 Comments

fall-colors-title

I took a much needed vacation day from the day job today to rest up after my sale.  I told Mr. Q that my plan was to just do whatever I felt like.  And apparently what I felt like doing was strolling around the garden taking photos to share with you guys.

fall-wheelbarrow-and-mum

Fall is such a lovely time in the garden.  Even though things are starting to die back (we’ve had two nights of temps right around freezing this week), the fall colors are just so vibrant.  My Tiger Eye sumac is looking particularly colorful these days.

fall-color

I went a little ‘old school’ this year on my window boxes.  I found large-ish potted mums at Cub Foods (a local grocery store chain) for $3.33 each.  I wanted to use some in my ‘hello fall’ tool boxes …

hello-fall-toolbox-blog

and they were so affordable that I went a little crazy and purchased a dozen of them.

So all of my planters got some mums for fall.

fall-boiler-planter

With the addition of a little ornamental kale, some cut hydrangea flowers …

fall-kale-and-hydrangea

and maybe a ‘hello fall’ plate, they look pretty fab for $3.33.

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In some cases I left a few of my summer annuals behind because I couldn’t bear to pull them out just yet.

fall-mums

The front window box got its share of mums also.  I’m realizing now that the red and white combo almost looks a little more Christmas-y rather than fall-like.  Lots of the annuals in the front window box are still going strong despite the cold weather including the Jester’s Crown ferns, the variegated ivy and the euphorbia.

fall-front-window-box

The spot where I now have the mums was filled with a gorgeous pink and white caladium for the summer, but caladium can’t handle even the slightest cold weather.  As soon as the temps went below about 50 they started drooping and I had to pull them out.

The baby tears that I planted in this little teacup are still doing well though, I may have to bring this in for the winter because it just looks so sweet.

fall-fairy-mailbox

I bought that little fairy mailbox at a cute little shop in the Linden Hills neighborhood.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing a few fall colors here today.  Usually the fall colors peak right about now here in the Twin Cities, but I feel like they aren’t quite there yet today.  Any day now though.

fall-house

This weekend I’ll be working on a lovely sideboard and maybe a few other small projects, so be sure to check back next week.

vintage grater photo holders.

Published on by Quandie15 Comments

vintage-grater-title

Over the course of the summer I happened upon five different vintage hand held graters at garage sales.  I love the patina on these old graters, so I thought it would be fun to turn them into something decorative.

graters-2

I started by adding some Tim Holtz rub-ons.  If you aren’t familiar with those, you can usually find them at Hobby Lobby or Michaels (or other craft stores near you perhaps?) or just google them because I’m sure you can also find them online.

grater-rub-on

I just added random words, numbers and graphics to each one …

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and then clipped on an old photo.

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I feel fairly certain that these people ended up having a wonderful life, don’t you think?

wonderful-life

I hung them above one of the chippy windows at my sale last weekend.

graters-at-sale

And they all flew out the door!

They were a fun and easy project, so the next time you see an old grater at a garage sale keep this idea in mind!

thank you.

Published on by Quandie24 Comments

A huge thank you to everyone who came out for the Carriage House Sale!

thank-you

After a chilly and slightly cloudy start, we ended up having a beautiful sunny fall sale day.

It was one of our best sales ever in fact!

The bake goods were not as big of a hit as we had hoped however.  In the end, almost all of them sold but they had a slow start.  It helped that a friend stopped by and purchased all of the rice krispie bars for a pot luck he was headed to next (thanks Jay!)

sale-baked-goods

After doing the math, the profit that my sister and niece made was hardly worth all of the time they put into these.  They haven’t decided for sure, but it’s likely we won’t offer baked goods again in the future.

I remembered to get a few photos during the set up to share with those of you who couldn’t be here.  OK, ‘a few’ isn’t really accurate.  I took A LOT of photos.  So I’m just going to share my favorites with limited commentary and hope I’m not completely boring you in the process.

Here’s ‘bay no. 1’ …

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sale-1

On the other side of the Carriage House, in ‘Bay no. 2’ we had a little more color.

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The blue suitcases are all gone.

blue-suitcases

Vintage trucks were a hot commodity.  I had 4 of them and they all sold, along with all of the old books.

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I think the cold weather helped bring out the Christmas spirit.  Much of our holiday stuff sold.

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I still have the typewriter even though it was priced to sell at $18.  Perhaps a typewriter isn’t typically thought of as a Christmas decoration, but wouldn’t it be darling sitting on your sideboard with a typed note to Santa?  If anyone local is in the market for a brick red vintage typewriter, leave me a comment.

Pink however was not on the radar this time around.  Although the pink vanity itself sold, most of the pretty china on it did not sell.  I’m beginning to realize that I might be the only person left who can’t help being drawn to pretty floral china.

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We had some outdoor vignettes set up as well.

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Several people took advantage of the opportunity to stock up on ‘horrible hemlock’ and ‘witches potions’ …

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I have a few hundred more photos, but I have to stop now before you all fall asleep on me.

But before I let you go, I want to send out a huge thank you to all of my ‘staff’.  I couldn’t pull this off without Sue, Cathy, Brian, Debbie, Kris, nnK, Judy and of course Mr. Q!  And behind the scenes, my handyman Ken who refuses to make an appearance at the sale itself for fear he’ll be recognized and mobbed by his fan club 😉

tips for shopping the Carriage House Sale.

Published on by Quandie14 Comments

I’m so excited that the Carriage House Sale is tomorrow!

Here are the important details:

When:  Saturday, Oct 8 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Please note we take cash only for purchases under $100, and cash or credit cards for purchases over $100 (no checks!).

I’m doing a little happy dance because although it’s going to be chilly, it’s not supposed to rain!

For those of you who have never been to the Carriage House Sale and are planning to come, you need to know that people start lining up before 9.  We’ll have the baked goods table accessible outside of the roped off sale area, so if you’d like some banana bread to nosh on while you wait you can purchase that ahead of the ribbon cutting.

carriage-house-sale

At precisely 9 a.m. we’ll cut the ribbon across the driveway and let everyone in.  It will likely be a little crazy for the next hour or so.

We provide a pile of empty boxes which people grab and then fill up.  The boxes run out fairly early though, so if you happen to have a box handy bring it along.  You might even go ahead and put your name on it.

We also provide a holding area on the lawn near the photo cottage.  Sue is in charge of the holding area.  Placing something in the holding area is your commitment to purchase it.  Sue will guard it for you with her life and try her best not to let anyone else snatch it out from under you.  But we also hope that you won’t ‘hold’ a pile of stuff and then put half of it back later.  That seriously limits our chances of selling those items to someone else.

If you want to purchase a heavier piece of furniture (one that can’t be moved to the holding area) feel free to take the price tag, thus signifying that you are purchasing it.  If you want to purchase a smaller but still bulky item, like a chair or small table, ask someone with a name tag to put it in the holding area for you.  I’ll have several people mingling about just for this purpose and all of our ‘staff’ will have name tags on.

This year the left side (as you are facing it) of the Carriage House is all black, grey, white, silver and gold items.  Looking for a gold framed chalkboard?

gold frames

Or the French Wheat hutch, a white chippy chair or window?

french-wheat-hutch-1

These items will be on the left side (or Bay 1 as Mr. Q likes to call it).

The right side as you are facing it (or Bay 2) has all of the more colorful pieces, including those vintage Christmas items I posted yesterday.

blue-jars

There are also some adorable kid items in Bay 2 like the toy high chair (Paris, this one’s for you) …

high-chair-1

We’ll have a garden section outside near the big rock beside the driveway.  If you happen to be looking for a darling white toy truck (hint, hint, Amy) it will be over there.

Check out the ‘laundry room’ area filled with vintage linens which will also be alongside the driveway.

paris-pillow

If you hate crowds and lines and chaos in general, consider coming to the sale a little later in the morning, say around 11.  The crowds will have come and gone and there will still be some great stuff left.  Definitely not as much great stuff, but certainly still some awesome things.  It will be easier to look around at your leisure and see everything we have left.  We always feel like some of our best items get overlooked in the early morning rush just because of the chaos, and then there are also those items that were ‘on hold’ and then put back on the shelf.

We try to keep the checkout lines moving, but it’s a challenge during the busiest 30 minutes of the sale.  We will have two lines side by side.  Your cashiers will be nnK and my sister Debbie, with packing provided by nnK’s mom Judy and my niece Kris.  Be sure to say hello to them!  As I mentioned, we take CASH ONLY for purchases under $100, but you can use a credit card for totals over $100.  The credit card thing tends to slow down the line.  This is totally my fault because I’m not good with techie stuff, so please be patient!

Hope you can make it to the sale!

And for those of you who aren’t local, not to worry, all of this craziness will soon be behind us and we’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming here on the blog so be sure to stay tuned!

 

happy festivus.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

I know October is a little early for Christmas decorations.  And I’m the first one to complain when the retail shops start setting up their holiday displays in October.  But when you only have one sale a year and it’s in October … well, you have to cover all of your bases.

And we just happen to have a pretty healthy selection of vintage Christmas at this year’s Carriage House Sale.

Have you admired my tree full of vintage ornaments in the past?

my-xmas-tree

Well, now is your chance to start your own ‘non-collection’ of ornaments, these are only $1 each.

individual-ornaments

Even if you don’t want a tree full of vintage, how about just a few boxes stacked up somewhere for $4 to $8 for the entire box.

ornaments-and-scale

Some of the boxes are adorable in their own right.

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How about displaying a big glass jar full of ornaments on your kitchen counter.  You can go with more subdued pastel colors rather than the traditional red and green.

blue-jars

(Sidebar:  can I just point out those delicious blurred colors in the background of my photo?  That’s a combination of my Tiger Eye sumac and my Vanilla Strawberry hydrangea.  We have just really started to get our fall colors here in the Twin Cities within the last few days.)

Maybe add a darling red gingham tray with a festive message leaning on your kitchen back-splash.

be-merry-tray

We have several vintage sleds on hand, these are perfect to display on your porch with some greens added, or maybe a pair of old ice skates.  I’ve added some festive stencils that I recently purchased on Etsy to a couple of them as well …

stenciled-sled

I may end up deciding I need to keep one of these for myself!

Don’t forget about plates with winter messages …

hello-winter-plate

I’ll be adding one of these to my dining room Welsh cupboard for sure.

And Sue’s darling Christmas stockings …

christmas-stockings

Yep, it’s a little early, but Christmas will be here before we know it and you’re gonna want to be ready.  Let us help you with that at the Carriage House Sale!

the baked goods table.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

Remember the green table I purchased a couple of weeks ago?

sap-green-table-legs

Pretty much everyone who commented voted for leaving the legs green.

You all spoke and I listened (not necessarily always the case, but this time it was).  But I did strip the ugly reddish stain off the top.  Once that was done I let my sister take over.  She sanded down the top and then she and I both stood back and studied the table.  We were in agreement to just add clear wax and keep the top rustic and pale.

green-table

Debbie also waxed the green legs just to clean them up a bit and give them a little protection from the elements.

I’ve decided that this table is the perfect size to use as the baked goods stand at our sale this weekend.  This year Debbie and Kris (my niece) are baking up a bunch of delicious fall goodies to sell.

I pulled the table out to do a dry run of how we’ll set it up on Saturday.

carriage-house-sale

Of course it will be loaded with baked goods instead of these other things, but it was fun to play around with it some.

I’ll use my favorite wood crates to add height and display space.

crates

I tucked a few things under the table for the photo, but they work so well with the green legs I may just have to display them this way for the sale too.

under-the-table

Some of these items on top of the table were just to fill in space for now, these spots will be filled with delicious baked goods by Saturday.

table-set-up

For now I’ll be hanging onto the green legged table, just because it’s such a convenient size.  I’m debating adding some casters to it so I can move it around more easily.  It would make a great work surface in my workshop.  Then again, things rarely hang around forever at my house!