mesmerized by miniatures.

Published on by Quandie20 Comments

In my ongoing search for all things dollhouse related, I’ve come across some really amazing artisans that I think are just too good not to share with you guys here.  I know some of you are as mesmerized by miniatures as I am, so you may want to check these out.

First up is Chris Toledo Miniatures.

Does that just leave you speechless or what?  Not only is his detail absolutely amazing, but I love his vintage style.

Here’s one of his bathrooms.

Click this link to see his full gallery, it’s amazing.

Next up, Craig Labenz.

The detail in his work is amazing.

You can check out more of it here.

He also offers classes that come with a kit for making specific items.  I don’t think I’m anywhere near ready to attempt something like that, but I’ll keep it in the back of my mind.

This next one is a YouTube channel called Min Makes.

Unfortunately there are only three videos (of 3 different rooms) available so far.

The videos show everything in that room being handmade.  Every single one of those butterflies was cut out by hand.  That’s definitely way more patience than I have, I struggled with cutting out three Shiny Brite boxes.

Speaking of YouTube videos, another channel I have been watching is hitsuji no ie. from Japan.

There is no voice over on this channel, background music plays as he/she is building.  But you’d be surprised just how much you can learn from just watching someone.  I’ve put several techniques from these videos to use already.

Lavender Belle Miniatures is another one that I stumbled upon.

She got her start renovating old dollhouses.  Hey, if she can start there maybe I can too?

Check out her Instagram page to see more examples of her work.

Unfortunately it looks like she took a break from miniatures in 2022 and hasn’t returned.

Finally, there is Mulvany & Rogers.

They’ve been creating miniatures for 30 years.

Honestly, their work goes beyond anything I could ever aspire to.

It’s not always dramatic and/or gilded, but even their more ‘plain’ rooms are stunning.

The details are so precise that you wouldn’t even guess this was miniature if I didn’t tell you.

Except when they give you clues …

Like a real sized garlic bulb in the kitchen.

Funny, Chris Toledo used that same prop in one of his kitchen room photos.

I wonder who started that trend?  I may have to copy it myself as well.

Although that would imply that I think my rooms are indistinguishable from the full sized versions in photos, and that’s definitely not the case.  So maybe I won’t copy that idea after all.

Either way, I certainly feel massively inspired after checking out these amazing artists and I hope you enjoy them as well!

 

les fleurs in the dead of winter.

Published on by Quandie22 Comments

I thought I’d break up my posts on the dollhouse renovations to bring you another do-over project.

As they say, if at first you don’t succeed …

try, try again.

I painted up this vintage lunchbox back in July 2024.  Initially I wasn’t planning to paint it.  It had a nice original cobalt blue paint job.

But I ran into a little trouble with the original paint wiping off when I tried to clean it, then I tried to seal it and that didn’t go so well either, so ultimately I painted it in Dixie Belle’s Bunker Hill Blue which came pretty close to the original color.

After adding a white I.O.D. transfer to the top, I put it in my Carriage House Sale last summer.  But it didn’t sell.  So then I brought it into Reclaiming Beautiful, and it still didn’t sell.

I have to admit, the white transfer didn’t really do a lot for me.

I mean, it’s not bad.  But it’s not spectacular either.  So I’m not surprised there weren’t any takers.  And you know, I have to admit that I must have become a bit jaded over transfers because there was a time when I would have thought this transfer was quite amazing.  I think I’ve been spoiled because there are just so many fantastic transfers to choose from these days.

For example, I painted this similar lunchbox back in January.

And it sold quite quickly.

That small version of the I.O.D. Seeds transfer fit it perfectly.

And I just love the look of those florals from the I.O.D. Floral Anthology transfer.

So even though it’s the dead of winter, I decided that a floral makeover was in order for the blue lunchbox.

But first, some prep.  I had added wax over that Bunker Hill Blue paint, so I needed to do a little more prep than usual to give my new paint job a better chance of sticking.  I started by sanding off the white transfer.  Then I scrubbed the lunchbox using Dawn dish soap.  Next, I used 150 grit sandpaper to somewhat vigorously sand the entire lunchbox.  I followed that up with another rinse with hot water.

I then started with the interior of the box.  I hadn’t painted or added any sort of wax to that previously.  It also didn’t have any rust to worry about.

So, after a good cleaning I simply gave the interior of the lunchbox two coats of Dixie Belle’s Apricot followed by two coats of their flat clear coat.

Just for fun I popped a vintage blue Atlas jar in the spot where the original thermos would have been.

Next I painted the outside in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I used 220 grit sandpaper to distress being careful to note whether or not I thought my paint was sticking well.  It was, so then I started applying some of the beautiful rose transfers from I.O.D.’s Rose Botanical set.

Those roses are so gorgeous, and even the foliage on these transfers is stunning.

The cursive writing between the two latches is also from the Rose Botanical transfer, while the ‘Les Fleurs’ is from my fresh new stash of the Label Ephemera transfer.

I did wrap just a little bit of the florals around the sides.

I also added some wording from an old Tim Holtz rub-on in the little label holder slot.

For those of us who swear we aren’t ‘collectors’, this lunchbox tells the true story 😉

I must admit, it felt good to pull out the pink florals in the dead of winter.

I finished off the exterior of the lunchbox with some of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

Now I don’t know exactly what one would use this vintage lunchbox for.  Certainly you could even use it for its original purpose.  But I think it would make a lovely ‘gift box’, you could fill it with seed packets, flower frogs, and vintage garden tools.

Or you could use it in your craft room to hold art supplies.  You could also use it as a sewing box, just fill it with your threads, needles, scissors, etc.

There are so many possibilities.

What would you do with it?  And what do you think of the makeover?  Leave a comment and let me know.

never really done.

Published on by Quandie30 Comments

So far you’ve seen my dollhouse dining room table and chairs, and the rug I purchased for the room.

And you’ve also seen the sideboard that I painted up more recently.

As well as the extra two chairs for either side of the sideboard.

And that brings me to the room itself.

Here is how it looked before I gave the house to my in-laws.

My tastes have definitely changed.  I would count burgundy as one of my least favorite colors these days, but I sure used a lot of it in this room.  And that reddish stained furniture, ugh.

Here’s how the room looked when I got the dollhouse back from my in-laws, complete with some spooky cobwebs on the chandelier (and for those of you who don’t know this story, check out my post that explains it here).

As I mentioned, they had misplaced the box with all of the house’s contents.  There are a few items I wish I had, but for the most part I’m OK with starting over with furnishings.

I had originally planned to provide a little drama in the dining room with dark grey walls, and in fact I’d even painted the first coat on one wall back in September.

That would have been a striking look.  It would have set off the white paneling and trim work beautifully.

But then I ordered the I.O.D. Gloria paint inlay.  And now you’re probably wondering what in the world a Christmas themed paint inlay would have to do with a dollhouse and that’s a fair question.

Although some of the designs in the Gloria inlay are overtly Christmas-y, many of them are not.  And they are absolutely gorgeous.

As soon as I saw that flute playing cherub I thought it would make the perfect mural for the wall in the dollhouse dining room.

Unfortunately it was too big.

But then I saw this page …

And that Seal Engravers transfer on the bottom right was the perfect size for my wall.

I was a little nervous about the application process, but it worked out beautifully.  I just used my normal technique to apply it (for more detail on how to apply a paint inlay check out this how-to post).

Talk about drama!

Next up I painted all of the ‘woodwork’ and the ceiling in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth to give me a blank canvas.  Ultimately I then decided to paint just part of the ceiling in a pale blue green (much like my own ceilings).

Let me tell you, that was a tricky process.  First of all, I have the vision of a 61 year old.  Secondly, it has been incredibly dreary here over the past several weeks, so lighting wasn’t ideal.  Lastly, I was painting the ceiling in place, so craning my head around to try and get in there to both see it and paint it was challenging.

I ended up having to use a hand mirror to see what I was doing.

That other item in the photo is a light, which I turned off to take the photo.  But it did help to blast a spot light onto the ceiling while I was painting.  As for painting while looking in a mirror … well … I’m going to have to get a lot more practice before that works well.  I was constantly moving my brush in the wrong direction.

But ultimately I got the ceiling painted.

That color is a mix of about 25% Dixie Belle’s Tide Pool and 75% Endless Shore.

I am finding that colors look a lot darker in these small dollhouse rooms than they do on larger objects.  So even with 75% warm white added to it, this Tide Pool looks darker than I expected it to.  Full disclosure, I did paint it first with a 50/50 mix, and then went back over it with the 25/75 and decided to call it good.

My ceiling paint job is definitely less detailed than the original, but my dad had the advantage of painting it as he was putting it together.  He didn’t have to use a mirror 😉

For one last touch, I applied Dixie Belle’s Gold gilding wax to the plaster medallion around the chandelier.

That brings me to the electrical.  I have to admit, I have no idea how I’m going to tackle that.  I know nothing about wiring, and thus I have no idea how to replace any of the hard-wired light fixtures throughout the house like this chandelier.  Not to mention that of course the wiring was done as the house was being built, so I can’t really get to most of it.

None of the lights on the first floor are currently working, including this dining room chandelier, but most of the lights on the upper two floors are still working.  So do I replace the dining room chandelier with a more attractive, but non-functioning version?  Do I attempt to fix the wiring somehow, and re-wire a new light?  That’s a problem for another day.

**Update:  since I originally took the photos for this post, handyman/neighbor Ken came over and he suggested I play around with the fuse box.

Yes, the dollhouse has a fuse box!

And as it turned out, one of those tiny 8 switches on the upper right side was flipped down.  So we flipped it back up and voila!

The lights on the first floor are on.  For the most part anyway, there are a couple of burnt out bulbs.

So, to recap, one wall in the dining room has the paint inlay, sideboard and two chairs.

On the opposite wall I’ve hung a trio of military panoramic photos that I purchased from The Curated Farmhouse on Etsy.

I’ve placed the trunk below them, but I’ll be on the lookout for something else for that spot that feels more ‘dining room’ to me.  This trunk is most likely going to end up in the principle bedroom.

The rug, dining table and chairs are in place.

So for now I’m calling the dining room ‘done’.

Down the road I’d like to find small details to add to the room, like a nice floral centerpiece for the table, and maybe some dishes, etc.  At some point I need to deal with both the front foyer and the stairwell that are visible behind this room.

But for the most part, one room down, eight to go.  Plus that stairwell and foyer, plus the exterior.

I don’t want to rush things though.  I’m having way too much fun with this project!  Also, I’m sure that over time I’ll be adding things, and taking things away.  Much like with any sort of decorating, things can continually be evolving and you’re never really ‘done’, right?

Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think of the new and improved dining room.

get it right the first time.

Published on by Quandie15 Comments

Billy Joel says you have to get it right the first time, that’s the main thing.  But I beg to differ.  Sometimes it takes several tries before I get it right.

Such was the case with this 1:12 scale trunk.

Now, what I should have done is take photos of each attempt so that I could share them with you, but I didn’t do that.  Drat!

But I can tell you that I initially painted this trunk in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, which was a bit boring.  But it was intended to work as a bed side table in the guest room of the dollhouse, and both the bed and the armoire already have a lot of detail to them.

But when I put the trunk in the room, it was both too plain, and too ‘matchy’ since both the bed and the armoire are also painted in Drop Cloth.

So then I thought it might be fun to decoupage one of the Tim Holtz Worn Wallpaper Scraps around the outside of the trunk.  So I picked one out, and used Mod Podge to apply it.  And then I put the trunk back in the room, and realized that the floral wallpaper was too much.  It overpowered the more subtle transfers on the bed and armoire.

So I used warm water to help me scrape that paper back off the trunk, and then I painted it in Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy.  I thought maybe that would be enough of a color difference to work next to the Drop Cloth pieces.

That would have worked OK, but it didn’t wow me.

So that’s when I decided that maybe the trunk just wasn’t going to work in that room, and I should just do whatever I wanted with it not knowing where it would end up.

So I painted it in Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage.  Then I used my super skinny tape to mask off some grain sack stripes that I painted in Drop Cloth.  Once everything was dry, I sanded to distress and then added one of the re.design with prima knob transfers.

I finished off the outside with some of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta.

As for the inside, I left that painted in the Sawmill Gravy, and I used one of those Worn Wallpaper Scraps to line the bottom.

Sweet.  But probably no one will ever actually see the inside of the trunk.

While I had my paint out, I also painted up two more chairs for the dining room.  I decided that I wanted two extra chairs to sit on either side of the sideboard, as well as four chairs for around the table.

In case you don’t remember, here is what the original set of 4 dining room chairs look like.

Unfortunately, I used up the last of that particular re.design with prima knob transfer on that set.

But I decided that I could paint up two more chairs in the same colors and style (here are the full details on that project), and then add a different knob transfer and they would still work.

I have to confess, I got a bit sloppy with those grain sack stripes this time around.

But that’s OK, that transfer helps disguise them a bit.  And these chairs will be tucked under the table for the most part.

Speaking of which, on Friday I’m going to share the reveal of the full dining room makeover!  So be sure to check back!

the sideboard.

Published on by Quandie26 Comments

I needed a sideboard for the dining room of my dollhouse, so I did a bit of searching online.  I wanted something that would fit in with my French country cottage style.

So many of the sideboard/buffet pieces out there have more of a Victorian vibe.

But eventually I decided on this one from Miniature Crush.

It came with drawer pulls in that classic Colonial style that I don’t really love.

If you’ve followed me for long, you know that I used to take these off full sized furniture too.  They just aren’t my favorite look.

To help make the sideboard look a bit more cottage-y, I ordered some cup pulls to use on the drawers instead.

OK, they are really teeny tiny and I struggled to get a good photo of them.  Just hang on for a minute and you’ll see them in place.

I first gave the piece a light sanding with some 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out some of the edges.  I’m finding that most of these unfinished dollhouse pieces have some rough spots.

Next I gave it two quick coats of Dixie Belle’s Gravel Road.

Once the paint was dry, I lightly sanded the edges to distress them.  Then I used some super glue to attach the new cup pulls.

I then mixed some of Dixie Belle’s brown wax with some of their Big Mama’s Butta to make the wax more spreadable and applied that as my top coat.  There are two ways I like to use the brown wax; I either add it after first applying a coat of clear wax, or I mix it with the Butta like I did here.  Otherwise brown wax over a chalk style paint can sometimes appear a bit heavy handed.

I do like the way the brown wax both deepens and warms up the color of the Gravel Road.

I cut some liners for the drawers with some Worn Wallpaper Scraps by Tim Holtz (purchased at Hobby Lobby).

For the most part I tried to keep this piece fairly simple.

You’ll understand why when you see it in place in the dollhouse dining room, and that post is coming up soon.

Now that I’ve worked with these pulls, I’m thinking about going back and changing out the hardware on some of my other pieces.  I may just have to order a few more of them.

Meanwhile, what do you think of the sideboard?  Leave a comment and let me know.

a clean up job.

Published on by Quandie24 Comments

I thought it would be fun to start the new year with a toolbox makeover!

If you’ve been following me for a while, then you know that I sometimes struggle with the decision to paint (or not paint) something.

Such was the case with today’s project, this toolbox that I picked up at a garage sale in September.

After all, it’s pretty much already the color of my favorite neutral white, Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  It also has some good authentic distressing.

However, it was quite grungy, and there was some sort of sticky stuff on the top.  In addition, whoever painted it last time got a little overspray on the leather handle.

The handle also had come apart a bit at the ends, I’m going to call those ends a ‘hanging chad’ 😉

I ended up deciding that it wouldn’t hurt to try cleaning it up to see where that got me.

So, I gave it a good scrub with some TSP substitute and a Magic Eraser, then I gave it an all over sanding with some 220 grit sandpaper to knock off any loose bits.  I then rinsed it with clean water.

Next up I simply snipped off the hanging chads on the handle, and then gave the leather one coat of Dixie Belle’s Coffee Bean.  I sealed the Coffee Bean with some of DB’s clear wax.  That gave the handle a much tidier look, without making it look too ‘new’.

Then I took a step back and re-evaluated.

Not bad.  And since I knew I was going to be adding a lot of floral transfers to it, I felt like it didn’t need a new paint job.

Well … on the outside that is.  The inside definitely needed a new paint job!

So after a good cleaning on the inside, I gave it two coats of Dixie Belle’s Holy Guacamole, followed by their flat clear coat.

In this case, I didn’t bother with using Bonding Boss before the paint for two reasons.  First, there was no rust to worry about.  Second, it already had a coat of paint that had some sort of texture to it and I knew my Dixie Belle chalk mineral style paint would adhere quite well to it without needing that extra step of Bonding Boss.

Next I added a quick transfer to the inside lid.

This one is from the I.O.D. Brocante transfer set.  Once applied, I went over it with another coat of clear flat sealer.

Back to the outside, I first applied florals from the I.O.D. Floral Anthology transfer.

The bee is also from the I.O.D. Brocante transfer.

Next I added some wording from their Label Ephemera transfer to the top of the toolbox.

You may remember that I’ve been complaining that this particular transfer, which has always been a favorite of mine, is retired, and has been getting more and more difficult to find.  I even found one on Etsy selling for $80!  As if.

But then one of my readers reached out to tell me that she found someone on eBay who had two of them left, and would likely accept an offer of $35 each (thanks again for that Melissa).  I made the offer, and it was accepted.  But as she was getting ready to ship them to me, the seller realized that she only had one after all.  One is better than none though, so I still bought it.

Then I ended up stopping by a brick and mortar shop near me (Liza Jane Designs in Afton, MN), and she mentioned that she had a secret stash of Label Ephemera that she’d been saving for herself, but she’d be willing to part with a couple of them.

So when it rains, it pours!

And now I have a stash of three brand new Label Ephemera transfer sets.  Yee haw!

I also added that same segment of the Brocante transfer that I used inside the lid to the top of the lid.  Unfortunately, as I was attempting to place it in exactly the right spot, I got too close to the surface and wham!  it was stuck.  So, it’s not perfectly centered where I wanted it.  But it will do.

You probably didn’t even notice the tiny little detail of a number ’46’ at the bottom of that transfer (you can see it on the version inside the lid), but it didn’t fit in the position it ended up in on the top of the lid so I cut it off and added it to the latch.

Once I had all of the transfers in place, I went over the exterior of the toolbox with some of Dixie Belle’s clear wax to seal them.

With that, it was done.

Personally I’m glad that I went with a clean up job on the exterior rather than painting over that original patina.  Well, semi-original patina.  Obviously this toolbox had been spray painted sometime in the past so this wasn’t its original look.  But, I think there is an authentically aged feel to my final look.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let me know.

This toolbox is for sale locally.  Check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

the year in review.

Published on by Quandie15 Comments

Happy New Year!

At the close of each year I typically like to put together a blog post sort of summarizing the year.

Unfortunately, I suspect that it comes across as one of those annoying holiday letters that some people send out.  You know, the ones where they talk about all of the trips they went on, and how great their kids are doing, and how much they love their new winter place in Aspen.

You know what I mean, right?

But in all honesty, this particular blog post is more for me than for you.

I like to have a summary of the year to look back on later.  I often go back and read  previous year’s posts to remind myself of things that I have done from year to year.  There is a common theme to all of these year end review posts; that I feel like I haven’t really accomplished much this year, but discover upon review that I actually have.

So if you’re annoyed by those holiday letters you may want to stop reading here and just come back later in the week for a less boring post.

But if you’re sticking with me, let’s review 2024 starting with the elephant in the room … a.k.a. furniture painting.  Yep, in the beginning this blog was mainly about furniture painting.  But I have been moving away from that for a while now.  I did do a few furniture pieces in 2024 though.

Well, OK, literally just a few … or well … like maybe 4.

I’ll admit, I mainly did this one because I wanted to use that gorgeous transfer from I.O.D.

I did a couple of other very simple makeovers of pieces that I found really cheap (and/or free) at garage sales, like this bookcase.

But overall 2024 was not the year for furniture makeovers for me, unless you count the miniature ones.

I have been having way too much fun with those.

There is much less heavy lifting involved in painting dollhouse furniture.

I also retrieved my dollhouse from the in-laws, and gave it a makeover on the outside (plan to see more of the inside in 2025).

Once again, 2024 saw lots of toolbox refurbs with the northern grown toolbox being one of my favorites.

I also really loved how the duchesse’s toolbox turned out.

And just to prove I don’t always paint everything in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, I went green with the st. patty’s toolbox.

I have to admit, 2024 wasn’t a spectacular year for garage sale finds.

I did bring home a few goodies here and there though, including this haul from the Tangletown sales.

That little mirrored cupboard was one of my favorite makeovers in 2024.

And remember this guy from the Bryn Mawr sales?

He was an awesome find.

But speaking of sales, 2024 saw the return of the Carriage House Sale!

That was a biggie.  It had been 8 years since my last sale.

It went rather well, so I’m tentatively planning to have another sale in 2025.  This time I want to schedule it a little earlier in the season, late May possibly.  Don’t hold me to that though, we’ll have to see whether or not I can find enough inventory by then.

I did manage a few home improvement projects in 2024 starting with redecorating the q branch.

In May, I painted the shed …

and the fence.

I’m still quite happy with my decision to go with a black stain on the fence.  It does exactly what I want it to do, which is recede into the background and become nearly unnoticeable.

It was lucky that I got both of those projects done early in the season, because the summer ended up being so rainy that I was barely able to find three sunny days in a row to recoat the sealer on our deck.

On a rainy morning in July I finally got around to painting the sections of wall in the dining room that I’d stripped the wallpaper from more than a year ago.

Speaking of all that rain, 2024 ended up being a tough year in the garden.  It started out great.  Things were looking really good.

I initially thought the rain was a good thing for my plants.

I never had to water anything.

But then there was a hail storm.

It did a fair amount of damage, especially to the hostas.

Then the wet weather started to cause other problems like the leaf spot fungus on my lilacs, and a massive earwig infestation on the hostas.

The super wet summer also led to a jumping worm population explosion that I’m going to have to figure out how to control going forward.

And then there was the loss of my neighbor/handyman Ken’s tree.

I’m not gonna lie, I’m struggling with this one.  I can totally blame this loss on the rain as well.  We had numerous storms that led to trees coming down all over in our area, and Ken was worried that his tree would be next.  So he had it cut down instead.

I’m still not over it, and I don’t want to talk about it so let’s move on.

It did lead to me planting a hedge of Quick Fire Fab hydrangeas though, so it will be fun to see how that turns out (hopefully better than my lilac hedge).

Although I did manage to go on a few trips in 2024, they were mostly repeats.  My sister and I went to Disneyworld for the Festival of the Arts back in February.

I visited my mom in Las Vegas in March, but didn’t find anything fabulous at her local Goodwill.

Then I went back again in April with my sister …

and again in October with both my sister and my niece when the three of us also took a side trip to Disneyland.

And we visited the Clark Co. Museum for the first time.

Finally, I also went to Mexico with my neighbor nnK’s family in early December.

Mr. Q and I plan to visit a couple of places that are new to us in 2025, so be sure to stay tuned for that later in the year.

Once again writing this annual post has reminded me that I did get a few things done in 2024.

I totally recommend this exercise for all of you too.  Rather than making a list of New Year’s Resolutions for 2025, take some time to acknowledge the things you’ve already accomplished.  Just get out a pad of paper and make a list of everything you got done in 2024.  You might also be surprised to see just how long that list is.

happy holidays.

Published on by Quandie21 Comments

Just a quick message to say happy holidays, whatever holiday you may celebrate.

We had a very pretty snowfall last week, so I popped out into the garden just as the sun was coming up to get a few photos of my winter lights.

I’m purposely not calling them Christmas lights because I like to keep them on through the winter, well past the holidays.  I think you can do that with white lights.

Last year I tried using red and green lights …

And I have to admit, they just weren’t me.

So I went back to classic warm white lights this year.

I had to replace the twig lights that I use in the front window box.  I had some that were quite a few years old, but they were finally giving up the ghost.  So I got some new ones at the after-Christmas sales last year.

I also purchased some of the starburst style lights at an after Christmas sale two years ago, but hadn’t really figured out a good spot for them until this year.

I’ve hung them on the potting shed and I love the way they light up the night.

Whether you’re hanging out with family and friends, or just bundled up on the sofa watching Hallmark Christmas movies, I hope you’re enjoying the holiday.

I’ll be taking a wee bit of break from blogging this week, but I’ll be back next week with some non-holiday painting projects.  I’m not gonna lie, although I’ll enjoy those outside lights for a couple of months yet, I’m already itching to put the indoor decorations away and get started on that dollhouse renovation!

How about you?  Are you pretty much done with Christmas before it even gets here, or are you one that leaves your tree up until the middle of January?  Leave a comment and let me know.

I wish I knew.

Published on by Quandie18 Comments

In case you haven’t already figured it out for yourself, I’m not terribly tech savvy.

Sure, sometimes my 87 year old handyman neighbor calls me over to help figure out how to print his Christmas card mailing labels.  But for the most part I only know just enough about technology to get by.

I probably barely scratch the surface when it comes to the things I could be doing with my new cell phone because I can’t be bothered to figure them out.

I’m also not willing to switch to vlogging rather than blogging because I don’t want to have to learn an entirely new skill; how to take good videos, and then use the software necessary for editing them (the real challenge).

All of that being said, I do mostly manage when it comes to blogging.

But there is one thing that I just haven’t figured out, and that’s how to know what is driving traffic to my blog.

For example, in the month of November my most visited post was my blogiversary giveaway.

That’s not surprising.

But my 2nd most visited post in November 2024 was from May 2020; the flower collector secretary.

Where did that come from?  Why are so many people finding that post 4 years later?

And how in the world did that post become my most popular post in 2024 with over 4,000 views?

I wish I knew.

I mean, sure, that was a fun makeover.  But honestly, that use of the Sea Glass color on the interior feels a bit dated to me now.

Sidebar:  look how ridiculously large I made my watermark back then.  That’s embarrassing.

I do have some analytics built in to my WordPress blog, but they aren’t terribly helpful.  For example, my stats page says that February 16, 2020 was the day with the highest number of visitors to my blog.

Weird.

I didn’t even publish a post that day.  That’s two days after I posted this dresser.

My stats page also tells me that my most popular category in all of 2024 was “happy holidays.”

That’s where I put all of my Christmas project posts, so that’s interesting.  I feel like Christmas projects are just a small percentage of my content throughout the year.

My 2nd most popular category for 2024 is “furniture.”, with “toolboxes.” as a close 3rd.  That sort of tells me what people are interested in.  But as with all stats, there is more to the story.  I need to know how many ‘furniture’ posts there were in 2024, compared to how many ‘toolboxes’ posts.  That would have a significant impact on the number of visits each category received.  But my WordPress stats don’t give me that number.  So does that stat actually tell me anything?

I do get some very basic stats on ‘referrers’, so you’d think that would help tell me where traffic is coming from.  My top referrer is still pinterest, but I don’t get any specifics on which pin is driving the traffic.  My 2nd most popular referrer is google.  Um, yeah.  That doesn’t help either.

I could try using the free version of Google Analytics to figure out where traffic is coming from, but it looks rather complicated to use.  As mentioned earlier, learning to use a new software is definitely not something I enjoy.  Also, one source I found noted that “Google Analytics collects visitor data and analyzes it to provide insight into your website’s traffic and performance. Google then re-uses these data to power its extensive ad tech ecosystem. Like other Google services, it is a privacy-invasive tool that customers pay with their data- or rather, with their visitors’.”

That doesn’t sound good, does it?  I definitely don’t want to invade your privacy.

So I guess for now I’ll just be left to wonder why a post from 4 years ago has become so popular this year.  I wish I knew.  Maybe you know?  If so, be sure to leave a comment!

the tree spot.

Published on by Quandie16 Comments

I was recently watching a Christmas decorating vlog on YouTube.  The vlogger had recently moved into a new house and was deciding where to put the Christmas tree.  She mentioned that in her former home, once she found the perfect spot for her tree, she just kept putting it in the same spot year after year.

That got me thinking.  I realized that I’ve put my current tree in five different spots in my house since I purchased it in 2016.

So, nine Christmases, five spots.  Clearly I don’t like to repeat myself.

And actually, if we go back even further, I had an even smaller silver tree that was in yet another spot.

That was back before I added the giant English cupboard to the q branch.

It helps that my current tree is a ‘slim’ model, so it’s easier to tuck into various corners.  The rooms in my 1904 farmhouse are fairly small, I don’t think I could fit a ‘normal’ sized tree anywhere except possibly in the dining room.

Also, I realize that my silver tree isn’t quite traditional.  But it works beautifully with my non-collection of vintage glass ornaments.

In 2016, I put the new, taller silver tree in the piano room near the bay window.

That’s back when I thought Christmas trees were supposed to be near a window so they could be seen by people passing by outside.

I think many of us imagine the perfectly lit tree centered in a big picture window as being the epitome of Christmas.

But by 2017 I decided that I should put the tree where I wanted to see it.  I had acquired that English cupboard in the q branch by then, and I had just enough room in the corner beside it to tuck in the tree.

Fast forward to 2019.  I decided to change things up a bit again and I moved the tree to the living room.

I also changed the color scheme a bit.  Instead of using all of my vintage glass ornaments, I just used those in silver and/or gold.

And I added some brass horns that I’d found at a garage sale.

It was a very pretty tree, but I felt it looked a bit too small for that corner of the living room.

In 2022 I decided to try something totally different.  I moved the tree out to my three season porch.

Or as I call it in winter, my walk-in fridge.

I did really love it in that spot, although it was a bit of a chilly job to set it up.  And it was even colder when I took it down.  Plus, there isn’t any electrical out there so I had to run a cord through a cracked window which probably wasn’t terribly energy efficient.

After giving the q branch a little bit of a makeover last January, I realized that I had a bit of space in another corner of the room for the tree this year.

I will admit that when my sister saw it in this location, she pointed out that it wasn’t very visible from the rest of the house.

But you know what, that’s OK.  This tree is mainly for my own enjoyment anyway.  And every morning as I sit here at my desk working on my blog I can admire the tree.

Will I put it back here next year?  Maybe.  Or maybe not.  But so far I think this has been my favorite location for the Christmas tree.

Now how about you?  Do you pick a new spot for your tree from year to year, or does it always go in the same spot?  Leave a comment and let me know.