q is for quandie

A big thanks to everyone who came out to the sale!

After the dire forecast of heavy rain and flooding, we really only had a mild drizzle for most of the day on Thursday.  Normally I love a drizzly day.  They are perfect for sleeping in, or watching old movies.  They aren’t so great for setting up an occasional sale in your driveway though.  But, it was so much better than it could have been, and by the time of the sale it was only slightly drippy and it didn’t keep the shoppers away!  Friday dawned bright and sunny and was beautiful all day, we couldn’t have had a more fabulous day for day 2.

All of my plates with Cricut messages sold like hotcakes!

As did the vintage kitchen ware turned planters.

The furniture did not sell like hotcakes.  I didn’t sell a single large piece.  If anyone local is interested in any of the following pieces, let me know.

The wine bar – $275

The perfectly sweet armoire.

The garden bed.

The Bohemian desk .

The Union Jack desk.

Sue’s settee – $195

The cottage striped dresser.

We still have the two  one darling play size cupboards too!  (update:  the white one is sold)

We have some smaller stuff left as well, so if there was something you had your eye on, but you weren’t able to make it to the sale, just drop me an email at oakdalecarriagehouse@gmail.com and we’ll work something out (local only please, I’m not a fan of shipping).

Despite the lack of furniture sales, it was still a really awesome event!  Thanks again to everyone who came out.

I’m off to enjoy my weekend of rest!

I often struggle for words when someone asks me to describe my sale.  If they give me a blank look when I say “occasional sale” then I try to explain what that means.  Obviously, it’s a sale that is held only occasionally (or in our case, only twice a year).

But how do I describe my sale specifically?  Well, of course, it takes place in my Carriage House.

It’s not fancied up like a shop or anything.  99.9% of the year it is just my workshop and where I park my car.  Every year I tell myself that I should paint the walls inside, but I never actually do.  I try to vacuum up the cobwebs and wash the windows, but that’s about it.  Honestly, everyone is in and out so fast that it hardly seems worthwhile to paint those walls when I could be painting furniture.

Enough about the location, what about the stuff?

Of course, we have some painted furniture.  That’s a given, right?

We also have some straight-up vintage.  These yellow suitcases are only $6 each.

The clocks are $8.

We group our vintage wares by color, just because it looks so pretty that way.  If there is a particular color group that you are drawn to, remember this … green, yellow, blue, red, aqua is all on the left side of the Carriage House (as you’re facing it) …

Black, white, silver and earth tones are on the right side.  The black and white scale is $18, isn’t it fab?  I love the black and white combo.  No promises on this one guys, I may not be able to resist its siren’s call.

In some ways the sale is simply a curated collection of really fab vintage finds.  You don’t have to scour every Minneapolis neighborhood garage sale to find them yourself, we have them all right here.

And then we have some upcycled vintage, the Adventurer suitcase is $38.

How about some pretty vintage linens turned into throw pillows for $12 each?

We still have stacks of both white and floral vintage platters.  Consider buying a white one and adding your house number to it with a Cricut (or just number decals from Home Depot) like I did with mine.

At our June sale we also like to have lots of garden stuff including perennials.  For a reminder, Sue’s yard looks like this.

So as you can imagine, she has plenty of lovely perennials to divide.  I’ve potted up a couple myself too.  She’s also brought over some great vintage garden tools and other garden ornaments.

Or how about some painted pots to fill with annuals?

A chalkboard bucket for $8 to plant your herbs in.

Some lavender.

After I put together the vintage hose reel “sign” in my first picture, I almost decided I should keep it as future sale signage.

If it doesn’t sell, I might do just that.  But it will have a price tag on it.  It would be fantastic for a grad party, birthday party or garden wedding.  Or just put it in the garden with a happy message on it.  Jeesh, now I’m talking myself into keeping it again!

Nearly everything you’ve seen in these pictures is available at the sale.  I have to say ‘nearly’ because some of the staging items used in the furniture pics are not for sale. And of course my house number platter is not for sale, but you can create your own with one of our many platters.  Everything else will be there though, and I hope you will be there too!

As a reminder, the Carriage House sale takes place tomorrow evening and Friday during the day.

It looks like we are going to have rain, but I have several tents to keep things fairly dry.  And a little rain never hurt anybody, right?  Let’s all embrace our inner pluviophile.

Once it’s over, I plan to take a much needed break to dry out.  It will involve sleeping in, taking naps, reading a book, or perhaps just drinking a cocktail on the deck.  That should last about a day probably, but don’t panic if I don’t have any new posts for a bit.  Truly, I need a break.  But I’ll be back soon with some fun projects I have been saving up so I could devote some time to them.  Stay tuned!

Way back last year sometime I got this pair of mirrors from a friend.

They looked prettier in this picture than there were in person.  Of course, I painted them and then they looked like this.

But they were really heavy.  I wouldn’t have wanted to attempt to hang them on my plaster walls.  Not that I’m keeping them, but if I don’t want to hang them, I imagine no one else will either.  So I decided to remove the mirror and make them chalk boards instead.

I just have Ken cut some fiber board to size.  Then I paint it with chalk board paint (not to be confused with chalk paint), and secure it back in the frames.  Easy as can be.

Now they look like this.

And they are much lighter.

Now these I would be willing to hang on my wall.  I’m not going to, because I don’t have a spot for them, but you could!  They will be available at the Carriage House sale, as will the union jack suitcase.

A while back I promised to share a settee that my friend and Carriage House co-host, Sue, made over, and here it is.

Sue and her husband came by last night with all of her larger pieces for the sale.  If I had been thinking clearly, I would have gotten pictures of all of them before it got dark, but I missed the boat on that.

But I did get a few shots of the settee.

Don’t you just love that Cafe Paris fabric on the back?

The detail on this piece is amazing.

If you remember the tour I gave of Sue’s home last summer, you’ll remember that she is a big fan of white.  This is the buffet in her dining room.

So it was no surprise when she and her husband pulled up with a truck full of mostly white furniture (there was a little grey thrown in too).  It makes for a perfect combination with my somewhat more colorful pieces.

If you know me at all, then you will know I had to wipe away a little drool when I saw this little baby coming off the truck.

I really wanted to just walk this one straight in my front door.

This little darling is only about 33″ tall.  How cute would it be sitting on the counter top in a kitchen, or on top of a low dresser?

Did you notice the fab detail of that curved drawer?

You could also use it in a craft room and fill it up with crafting supplies.  Or hang it on the wall in your bathroom and fill it with toiletries.

I staged it with another little set of play china.

Both of these fabulous white pieces will be at the Carriage House sale, along with a few more.

Hope you can swing by and see them in person!

The Carriage House sale is just one week away!  I hope you’ve marked your calendars, scheduled a baby sitter, taken time off work, or whatever else it might take for you to be there!

Here is a sampling of some of the items that will be available.

The Oh Darling suitcase.

The Family and Friends chalkboard.

Storage with Style boxes.

Lucky is a State of Mind shelf.

Faux french hatboxes.

Painted shoe trees.

Orphaned hankie drawers.

The union jack desk.

The fun cupboard.

A pair of trashy chairs.

The bohemian rhapsody desk.

And so much more!  This is just the tip of the iceberg!

Take note:  no one, and I mean no one, gets in before 5 pm, but as soon as the clock strikes 5 it’s every man, woman and child for himself!  Also, we do not accept personal checks.  Credit cards are accepted for purchases over $50 only.  So hit the cash machine on your way over!