telling time.

Published on by Quandie18 Comments

I just love the graphics of a good clock face, I don’t need them to actually tell time.

How about you?

I have a whole non-collection of vintage wind-up alarm clocks that never actually tell the current time.

I recently added another clock face to my décor when I decided to repaint the Norwegian blue stool that I originally painted back in 2017.

I’d been inspired to paint the stool in Miss Mustard Seed’s Flow Blue after a trip to Norway that year.

I’ve been enjoying it in that color ever since (can it really have been six years ago?!), but lately I’ve been slowly eliminating a lot of the blue in our house.  Initially I was going to take it to the shop to sell, but then I realized that I could also just paint it.  A good stool comes in handy for so many things, so I may as well keep it, right?

So I gave it a couple of coats of my favorite white, Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  I want to point out that I was painting right over a surface that was waxed (using Miss Mustard Seed clear wax) six years ago.  The only prep I did was to wipe it down with a damp rag.  I found that the DB paint adhered just fine, but also distressed down to the blue quite easily.

If you are in the same situation, and don’t want your paint to wear quite so easily, I would recommend using a little steel wool and mineral spirits to remove the wax.  Just scrub the surface a bit, then let the mineral spirits evaporate before you start painting.

Once my paint was dry, I added the clock face transfer from I.O.D.’s Brocante transfer.

It just happened to be the perfect fit.

Once the transfer was in place, I gave the stool a top coat of clear wax.

I don’t have a permanent spot for it just yet, it will likely float around the house and go wherever needed.  With its new black and white look it can work in any room, but for the moment I’ve got it on the front porch where it fits in perfectly.

Not bad for a quick little makeover, is it?

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing the paint used in this makeover.

the market sign.

Published on by Quandie16 Comments

Earlier this summer one of my readers offered me some cupboard doors.  She was removing a cabinet from her bathroom and before just discarding the doors, she thought maybe I would want them.

Sure enough, I did want them!  I’m saving three of them for Christmas, but I decided to attempt something more fall-ish with one of them.

I started out by cleaning it well with TSP substitute and then decided to add a little faux age to the door with Dixie Belle’s Sea Spray texture additive.  I mixed it with some of their Holy Guacamole paint and stippled it onto the door in key areas.  Once that was dry, I added two coats of DB’s Drop Cloth over it.

Once the Drop Cloth was dry, I sanded over those areas to reveal some of that avocado green color.

The results are subtle for sure, but I think this technique goes a long way towards adding some age.

Next up I pulled out another I.O.D. transfer that my reader Monica (thanks again Monica!) sent to me called Painterly Florals.  This particular transfer includes roses, lavender and sunflowers.

I think sunflowers have a fall-like feel, don’t you?

So I added some sunflowers to the opposite corners of my sign.

Next I pulled out the word “MARKET” from my stash.  This word is part of the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer, yet I’ve never used it.  If you’ve been following me for long, you know I’ve used umpteen sets of that transfer!  And each time I set the “MARKET” portion aside, to the point where I have at least half a dozen ‘markets’ in my stash.

And “MARKET” just happened to fit almost perfectly on this cupboard door.

Next up I decided to try something new.  I’d been cleaning out some of my old scrapbooking supplies when I came across some of the October Afternoon Sprinklers.

October Afternoon describes these as ‘high-quality pigment spray inks’ and I used them all the time when I was scrapbooking on a regular basis.  Unfortunately, October Afternoon went out of business and I’m not sure if you can even find these to purchase anymore.

But I thought it would be a fun experiment to try these on my sign.

So after giving it a very thorough shaking to mix it, I spritzed the Wheat Field color on my sign.  I really like the results, what do you think?

I was a little bit worried that adding a wiped on (wax) or brushed on (clear coat) final finish would smear the ink though.  So I opted to just use some of Rust Oleum’s matte spray sealer over the entire sign.

For one final detail, I added some painted wooden knobs to the bottom of the sign.

This would be a great way to display your non-collection of whisk brooms, should you happen to have one.  If not, you could hang your kitchen towels on it, or maybe some ironstone pitchers.

I have to admit, as much as I love autumn, fall décor isn’t really my thing.  I think that mother nature provides the most beautiful display in fall and there isn’t much need to add to it.

But if you do like to add a little fall-ish décor to your house, this sign might be just the ticket.  I brought it into Reclaiming Beautiful last week, so I don’t know if it’s still there.  But you locals could always head out to Stillwater to check!

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

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing the Sea Spray and paint used for this makeover.

this year’s containers.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

Today I thought I would share how my various summer containers have turned out this year.  There were some hits, but also definitely some misses.  I have a list of things I want to do again next year, and also a list of things I wouldn’t repeat again.

Let’s start with my galvanized boiler pot window boxes.  I have one on the carriage house, and one on the potting shed and I think it’s safe to say that both of them were a bit of a fail this year.

Let’s start with the one on the carriage house …

That crazy pink flower is the Truffela pink gomphrena from Proven Winners.  I was trying to recreate the look I got from a different variety of gomphrena last year …

and the Truffela pink totally missed the mark.  It grew way too big.  Not only that, but the color was all wrong next to the red carriage house.  I definitely won’t be putting that plant in any of my containers next year.  However, I also put some in the ground interspersed with perennials and it was perfect for that.

I also had a Superbena, a bacopa and a Voltage White Osteospurmum in there and none of them performed particularly well, despite lots of regular feeding.

Ditto for the one on the potting shed …

I definitely need a new plan for these next year, but I have all winter to think about it.

In the meantime, after taking those pictures I went ahead and yanked out all of the plants.  I had a small pot elsewhere that was planted with Little Ruby Altermanthera and Sidekick Lime Improved Ipomoea (or sweet potato vine), so I borrowed that and popped it into the planter on the carriage house.

Then I filled in the empty space with some cut Annabelle hydrangea flowers.  It’s certainly a temporary solution, I know the hydrangea flowers aren’t going to look good for long, but this will hold me over until I’m ready to put some fall flowers in.

I also filled the boiler planter window box on the potting shed with hydrangeas, but that one I kept simple with just Vanilla Strawberry flowers.

Next up is the bed planter in front of the carriage house.

I filled that one with coleus and ferns.  I feel like it gets an ‘OK, but certainly not spectacular’ rating.  It filled in nicely, the plants are all healthy looking, but the colors on the coleus are all a little dull.  This planter sits in full shade and I think those coleus need a little more sun to bring out their color.  I much preferred the caladium that I used in this planter last year, so I may have to go back to that next year.

This year I decided to accept the fact that the two rusty urns that sit on either side of my deck stairs are no longer in full sun (the trees on the other side of the driveway are throwing a bit more shade).  So I chose plants that would thrive in part shade for them this time around and I’m very happy with the result.

That’s a Black Taffeta Heuchera in the center, with Summer Wave Torenia and a variegated ivy trailer.  I would definitely use this combo again.  By the way, that heuchera is one of the $5 ones that I found in the clearance aisle at Gertens last spring.

It has performed quite nicely in a pot.  It’s a zone 4 thru 9 plant, so I can’t leave them in the pots over the winter though (you need a plants zoned for 2 zones lower than your normal zone for it to survive winter in a pot, I’m a 4b, so I need a zone 2 plant for that!).  I’m not quite sure yet how I’m going to try and overwinter them.  I can either pull them out and put them in the ground somewhere, or I may try to put the pots in the carriage house and take my chances (the carriage house is not heated at all).

I repeated the combination of caladium with double impatiens in a couple of planters in my shade garden again this year.

I liked it so much last year that I thought it bore repeating.  They looked great again this year, although I preferred the pale pink impatiens from 2022 and could only find white ones this year.

A little later in the summer I added more rusty pots of caladium and ivy to the garden too.

I’d probably have caladium absolutely everywhere if it weren’t so darn expensive, and also so susceptible to the cold.  It will die back at the merest hint of cold weather which means we have to wait for nights above 50° before putting them outside in the spring, and they are usually the first to go in the fall.

You may remember that I tried to overwinter my caladium bulbs last year.  I never reported back on that because it was a bust.  The bulbs were all dried out when I pulled them out of the basement this spring.

By the way, that bright lime green foliage in the foreground right is the Sun King aralia that I put in after seeing it everywhere on the St. Anthony Park garden tour.  So far it seems very happy in that spot.  As it gets bigger it can fill in all of that space and the pots can be moved elsewhere in the garden.

I have a little trio of rusty urns up on the deck that get enough sun for some full sun annuals.

By this time in the season they are looking a bit shaggy for sure.  Especially since I also put that Truffela Pink Gomphrena in the tall one.

It is pretty, and it performed fantastically.  But it’s definitely too large for my urns.  It totally buried my one-winged angel, remember him?

I really enjoyed the Stormburst Superbena and the Indigo Mini Vista Supertunias in those pots this year though.

Both of them have performed quite nicely.

As have the succulents that I planted in my vintage newspaper log roller.

I already shared my disappointment with my front window box back in mid-July.  Shortly after that I ended up pulling out the Amstel Netja Dark begonias and replacing them with a white caladium.  Then I also removed some of the Streptocarpus Ladyslippers™ Deep Blue Vein.

I then added in some Rockin’ Playin’ the Blue salvia from Proven Winners.

I was actually really surprised to find that it did really well.  I thought for sure that there wasn’t enough sun for it in that box, but it looks great.

The Dark Eyes fuchsia also did extremely well in this north facing location.

The Dusty Miller and Dichondra Silver Falls also both did great in this location, but I didn’t love them.  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m just not a big fan of that powdery look.

I would probably not repeat either of those plants, but that’s just a personal preference.

Last, but not least, my herb garden did really well this year.

I grew basil, chives, marjoram, lavender, lemon grass, rosemary and parsley and they all did well.  I had to cut back the basil and lemon grass frequently as they really wanted to take over, but everything else did great.

Now, if only I knew how to cook with some of them.  To be honest, for the most part we use the chives on a baked potatoes, and the basil on caprese, and that’s about it.  I just enjoy watching the rest of them grow.

As for the parsley, well, the other night while I was watering I noticed this guy …

Apparently he is a parsley caterpillar and ultimately he will turn into a Black Swallowtail butterfly.  Now, on the downside, he’s probably going to eat a lot of my parsley in the meantime.  But what do I care?  We aren’t doing anything with it, I’m fine with letting him have it.

So, how about you?  Did you have any stand-out containers this year?  Or any real dogs?  If so, leave a comment and let us know!

a library table makeover.

Published on by Quandie28 Comments

You know, I find it just a tad mind-boggling that I have been retired from the day job for almost two years already.    I retired on November 30, 2021, so I’ve basically been through two winters without a day job.

I had planned to makeover my home office … a.k.a. the q branch … that first winter.  Theoretically winter is the season when I would have the most time available for a room makeover.  But I didn’t get to it then.  And I also didn’t get to it last winter.

How did that happen?  Where did the time go?

Well, this winter is going to be the winter I actually do it.  Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

Towards that end, I have completed the first couple of tasks on the ‘q branch makeover to-list’.  First up, I have emptied out the rooster cupboard and moved it out.

As much as I loved that cupboard, the room always felt a bit ‘cupboard heavy’ since I have my large English pine cupboard on the opposite wall.

In addition, that little bitty farmhouse table that I was using for a desk was really just too small.  In order to fit a larger desk in the room, the rooster had to go.

After spending a bit of time trying to find just the right desk on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist and coming up empty, I decided to shop my own house.

Mr. Q didn’t really need this library table desk in his office anymore (he had a total of three desks in that room!) …

So I decided it would be perfect for me!

The desk had a darkish finish with specks of black in it.  I believe this is called flyspeck.

When was that look popularized, do any of you know?  I feel like it makes things look rather dated now, but maybe that’s just me.

Also, FYI, the top of the desk is a herringbone patterned veneer which you can sort of see here …

My plan for this desk definitely involved stripping that top, and that needed to get done before it gets too cold to work outside.  Even though it was nearly 100° here on Monday, it was only 65° here yesterday.  Fall always seems to arrive practically overnight.

I didn’t mess with oven cleaner, or other Insta-popular stripping methods, I simply used some Citristrip which worked like a charm.

Once I had the top stripped, I sanded it smooth with some 220 grit paper and then sealed it with clear wax.  I wanted to keep the pale color of the bare wood, but also to protect it from moisture and dirt.  I think clear wax does the best job of that when you don’t want to darken up the color too much.

For my own personal furniture I prefer using wax rather than a water based poly type of sealer because it’s so much easier to ‘fix’ down the road.  If you get a ring from an errant water glass, just sand it down with some 220 grit sandpaper and re-apply  the wax.  I’ve done this with quite a few of my own pieces of furniture and it works like a charm.

Next I gave the base of the desk a coat of Dixie Belle’s B.O.S.S.  I wasn’t entirely sure that the pre-existing stain wouldn’t bleed thru my paint, so better safe than sorry, it’s easy to quickly paint on a coat of B.O.S.S.

I followed that up with two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  I also find that I get better coverage with my paint when I have a base coat of clear B.O.S.S.  Two coats of paint over that original dark stain covered perfectly.

I know the use of a warm white might seem a bit boring at the moment, but when I get around to it (hopefully this winter), I plan to put some color on those walls and then the desk will really pop.

After the paint was dry, I sanded the edges of the desk to distress them and then added more clear wax to the painted areas.

I had debated changing out the knobs on the drawers, but in the end I decided the scale of them was better than anything else I had on hand.  So after giving the original knobs a good cleaning with hot, soapy water, I brightened them up with a coat of Dixie Belle’s Gold gilding wax.

That gold pairs beautifully with my gold desk lamp too.

For now I’m just testing out this angled sort of floating placement of the desk in the room.  I may move it around a bit, but then again, so far I kind of like it like this.  I no longer have my back to the rest of the house while writing blog posts.

I’ll also be shopping for a different chair to pair with the desk, my old chair is a bit too low.

I filled in the empty corner behind the desk with a stack of vintage suitcases, and then I hung my fake Matisse, a.k.a. my Al Teeter, above it.

I plan to revisit decorating the walls once I get them painted.

But for now it’s good to have ‘refinish desk’ and ‘remove rooster cupboard and old desk’ checked off the to-do list.

Speaking of the rooster cupboard, it will be for sale.  I’m just trying to decide whether or not to re-finish it.  The milk paint that I put on it back in 2015 has continued to chip away over time and now it’s quite chippy.

I love it like this, but I don’t know if there is a huge market for chippy pieces these days.

What do you think?  And what do you think of my desk makeover?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supply the B.O.S.S., paint and gilding wax used for this makeover.

the flora parisiensis toolbox.

Published on by Quandie17 Comments

Recently I decided that I’m going to just start using some of the transfers that I’ve been holding on to while waiting for just the right piece of furniture to come along (a.k.a. hoarding).  I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense to use a $30+ transfer on a piece like a toolbox that I’ll be lucky to sell for $55.  However, it also doesn’t make sense to keep hanging onto transfers that I purchased a year ago or more.  Those transfers aren’t worth anything sitting in my cupboard drying out.

Transfers do deteriorate a bit over time, have you noticed that?  They lose some of their stickiness, making them more difficult to rub on.

That’s why I decided to use the Flora Parisiensis transfer from I.O.D. on a toolbox.

This transfer is 24″ by 32″, and you might wonder how I would fit that on a toolbox.  Well, you’re about to find out.

My friend Sue found this toolbox for me recently.

It has a pop up tray, but I still would consider it a toolbox rather than a tackle box based on its size, and the fact that there is only one divider in that tray.

Tackle boxes typically have a lot more than just one divider, don’t they?

It looks at though this toolbox was originally red, and then at some point it was painted silver.  Although that pop up tray doesn’t have any red.  Maybe it was originally aluminum, then painted red, then painted silver again.  LOL, who knows?

But this time around I’m painting it peaches and cream.  Well, technically, Dixie Belle’s Apricot and Drop Cloth.

First though, the prep work.  I cleaned this one with some Dawn dish soap and the garden hose.  Then I used a razor blade to scrape away some clumpy bits here and there.  They looked like maybe bits of glue, or possibly glops of polyurethane or something.  Whatever, I scraped them off.  Recently someone asked me if I sand my toolboxes before painting them, and sometimes I do.  If they have a chippy finish on them, or a lot of rust spots, I will sand them a bit to get them more smooth.  I don’t get carried away though, just a quick sanding.

Next up I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear B.O.S.S.  Personally I wouldn’t go without the B.O.S.S. on most toolboxes, it prevents both rust spots and greasy residue (these are toolboxes after all, they are bound to have some greasy residue) from coming through your paint.

Then I painted the inside in Dixie Belle’s Apricot.

I knew I was going to use the Flora Parisiensis transfer on the outside, and after pulling out all three of the pinky coral shades of Dixie Belle paint, I decided that Apricot was the best choice.  Although honestly, any of the three would have worked.  And by the way, stay tuned for an upcoming post comparing those three coral colors!

The exterior of the toolbox received two coats of Drop Cloth.  I painted over everything but the handle.

Then I started cutting up the Flora Parisiensis transfer to fit it to the toolbox.  I started with the two biggest rose elements, applying them to the front of the toolbox and wrapping them up and over the top.

As you can see, I cut the transfer out around the latches.  I usually do a dry fit of the transfer when working on a piece like this, cutting around those latches before removing the backing paper.

Once those were in place, I added the wording to the top of the toolbox, layering some of it over the roses.

I added a section of rose leaves to the front of the box, and once I was done with that, here’s what I had left from the transfer.

Lots of stems and one big rose.

So technically I will likely get one more project out of this one, or I’ll at least have lots of filler to use with other floral transfers.

Next I added a bee under the handle.  It came from the re.design with prima Middy French Labels.

The Rosier du Pont. wording that I added to the front is from I.O.D.’s Redouté II transfer.

I also added another bee from the French Labels set inside the lid.

People often ask me what one would do with a pretty floral toolbox like this one, and I think my best answer is ‘whatever you want’.  Fill it with anything that fits in a box, put it on a shelf somewhere in your house.  Surely everyone needs at least one pretty toolbox, don’t they?

This particular toolbox is for sale locally, so be sure to check my ‘available for local sale’ page if interested.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing the B.O.S.S. and paint used for this toolbox makeover.

a spice rack?

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

My friend Sue found this … well … I don’t really know what it is … for me recently.

What do you think its original purpose was?  I’m leaning towards shoe shine box.  Those dark stains could be shoe polish.

I thought I’d give it a new life repurposed for something else though.

I started by painting it with Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, once dry I distressed the edges and then added an I.O.D. transfer to the top.

That section from the Brocante set fit perfectly.

I then gave the entire piece a coat of clear wax.

Next I lined it with some gingham paper, and added a metal label holder to the front with the same paper added.

Now all that’s left is to figure out what it could be used for … other than a shoe shine box that is.

My first thought was ‘spice rack’.

Wouldn’t it be cute sitting on the kitchen counter filled with spices?

But maybe you don’t really cook all that much, and instead you prefer to spend your time crafting.

Well, it would work great for holding your craft paints and/or inks.

Why do I have so much ink, when I rarely use it any more?

Somehow I just can’t seem to part with it.

Then of course, there is always the option of just using it to display your non-collection of vintage cameras.

Or some other non-collection that is on the small side.

So many possibilities!

What would you use it for?

gregory’s trunk.

Published on by Quandie8 Comments

A few weeks back one of my readers contacted me and asked if I wanted to purchase some pieces from her (she’s another one moving to Florida!).

Most of what she was selling was too big for me, I no longer take on full dining sets or large hutches.  But she did have this cedar chest …

I have to admit, the wood on this is pretty.  The finish on the top was a bit damaged, but could have been stripped and refinished and it would have been lovely.  But I wanted to go in a different direction.

I started by removing the carved medallion thingie in the middle on the front.

That wasn’t going to work with my plan.

After filling the tiny nail holes with some of Dixie Belle’s Mud, I cleaned the entire piece, and then scuff sanded it.  Next up I gave it a coat of Dixie Belle’s B.O.S.S. to prevent stain or wood tannins from bleeding through my paint.

By the way, all of this is happening on the outside.  This is a cedar lined trunk, so naturally I left that lining alone.

Next up came two coats of Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy.

Then I pulled out a Gregory’s Catalogue paint inlay from I.O.D. that I had already used one time.  They say you can get up to three uses out of a paint inlay, but I’ve found that even a 2nd use can be a dicey proposition.  I have managed to use one of these a 2nd time on some smaller projects (here and here), but both times I mentioned that the inlay paper comes off in pieces after that 2nd use, eliminating any chance of a 3rd use.

But this time I was using full sheets rather than smaller sections of the inlay, and frankly, after about 30 minutes of trying to remove the paper in ever smaller bits and pieces I just gave up.

FYI, I took that photo after the paper had dried again.  But yes, I was getting it plenty wet when attempting to remove it.

This was a lot like trying to remove wallpaper that just won’t come off, except you really can’t use a scraper, and you can’t really rub too hard, because that will smear the paint inlay.

But you know what?  After giving it some thought, I decided this was a chance to start over.  I felt like the fresh paint job was looking far too … well … fresh, and I really wanted this trunk to look old.  So I got out my orbital sander and sanded that paint inlay backing paper off.

Then I pulled out some of Dixie Belle’s texture additive, Sea Spray.  I decided to give the trunk a textured undercoat in a color that could peek through the final color.  I ended up deciding on Dixie Belle’s Gravel Road for that.  I gave the entire piece one coat of straight Gravel Road first, then I mixed up some more of the paint with the Sea Spray.

I used a chip brush to stipple the mixture onto the piece here and there, wherever I wanted to have some texture.  Once that was dry, I added a coat of Sawmill Gravy over it.

Once the paint was dry, I sanded back the areas with the Sea Spray to create some faux chipping.

Then, I applied a brand new Gregory’s Catalogue paint inlay (for full instructions on applying a paint inlay, check out this post).

I’m not going to sugar coat it, it’s a bit of a bummer that this inlay costs nearly $50, and I will likely only get one full use out of it.

But, how else are you going to create this look?

You certainly can’t find any stencils with wording this large.  And there aren’t any transfers that look like this.  I suppose if you’re quite talented you could do this free-hand, but I don’t have that skill, or that kind of patience.

The paint inlay was an almost perfect fit for this trunk.  I say ‘almost’, because I did have to do a little re-arranging of the layout to get it to fit nicely.  I had to work around those carved details on either side of the front of the trunk, so I moved the ‘Vegetable, Flower and Grain’ line to the bottom.

As it was, the beginning and ending of the line overlapped that carving a bit, and the paint inlay did not lay flat on those ends.

But that was easy to fix later by filling in some blank spots using a small artist’s brush and some of Dixie Belle’s Caviar paint.

This trunk would be perfect for using at the foot of the bed filled with either extra bedding, or your bulky winter sweaters.  In fact, it’s probably big enough to hold both.

It would also work well in a foyer to hold shoes, and it’s certainly sturdy enough that you could sit on it while taking your boots off.

I suppose it would also make a reasonable toy box, but personally I wouldn’t let children with crayons to get too close.

I’m sure not everyone would have been in favor of painting this trunk, but I love the way it turned out.

How about you?

This trunk is for sale locally, check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing the Mud, B.O.S.S., Sea Spray, and paint used on this project.

an ode to the hydrangea.

Published on by Quandie28 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

It feels a little like I go on and on about hydrangeas, well, mainly because I do.  But my paniculata hydrangeas are looking so good right now that it seems wrong to not have at least one Sunday morning post about them this year.

I have to say that these hydrangeas are probably the number one plant in my garden that gives the most impact for the least amount of effort.

The only maintenance they really require is a good pruning in the late winter/early spring.  I usually take care of it on the first nice day in April.  It’s also one of the only garden tasks I can do in April because our ground is usually still too cold/wet to do any other clean up yet.  In fact, we often still have snow pack in the shadier spots!

But I’m always itching to get out there and do something in the garden on that first nice spring day!

Panicle hydrangeas, or Hydrangea paniculata, bloom on new wood, and therefore it’s beneficial to whack them back quite a bit in the spring.  The experts say to take off about 1/3 of each stem, but I often go as far as 1/2 (and once I even cut back further, with no ill effect).

Each limb that you cut back will respond by branching out with two or three more.  And each of those will end up with a flower.  So, you get the idea.  Twice as many flowers!

I have a few different varieties of panicle hydrangea.  There is a Little Lime next to the potting shed.

I planted this at least 10 years ago or so, so it has reached its full mature height and it’s about 5′ tall.

Right now the flowers on the Little Lime are quite a bit more green than those on the Limelight, and they are also starting to get that tinge of pink that they take on as the temperatures cool off.

I have a Vanilla Strawberry hydrangea planted next to the carriage house.  And by the way, that is a Roguchi clematis on the arbor next to it and I just planted that in May 2022.  It’s not only vigorous, but also blooms all summer.

The flowers on the Vanilla Strawberry start out white, but gradually turn pink.  Right now they are just starting to get a tinge of pink.

Later in the fall the colors on these two will look like this …

Both of them end up with a bit more color than the Limelights.

I have three Limelights in the garden.  One is next to our front door.

I whack that thing back hard every spring, and it just re-grows nearly up to the porch roof and is covered in giant blooms.

You may remember that earlier this summer I pruned out the lower branches and then planted some shade loving perennials under it, and that is working out quite well.

I also have two Limelights planted next to our deck in the back.  I planted them there to make the deck feel cozier and more private.

Mr. Q and I eat dinner out here quite often, and it’s also our favorite spot for our morning coffee.

I planted a couple of new panicle hydrangeas last year, a Fire Light Tidbit and Little Quick Fire.  Both have been really slow to establish and actually seem smaller now than when I planted them.  I had to baby them along all of last summer, and once again this summer.  Any bit of heat, or lack of water causes them to wilt like mad.  I’m keeping an eye on them and hoping they do better next year.

I also have one other Little Quick Fire that is now out next to the carriage house.

This one has also been very slow to establish, but I have to cut it some slack because I moved it earlier this summer.  I used to have it where the fairy garden wheelbarrow is sitting now.  The thing is, I don’t really like the color this becomes later in the season.  It turns a sort of mauve-ish shade, and have I ever mentioned that mauve is the one color that I really do not like.

Here’s a picture that I borrowed from the Proven Winners website to show you the color.

It’s just not my cup of tea.  And yet, I planted two of them in my garden before I realized that I didn’t like the color.  I actually offered them to my friend Sue at one point, and when she saw the color, she declined the offer.

So, there you go, not all Hydrangea paniculata are winners in my book.

But I sure do love the rest of them!

How about you?  Do you have a favorite hydrangea?  Leave a comment and let me know.

 

a chintzy lunch pail.

Published on by Quandie18 Comments

I picked up this little tin pail at a garage sale recently.

My friend opK thought it may have originally been a lunch pail, but I wasn’t sure.  It would only hold a rather small lunch.  But I did a little online research and found identical pails being called ‘lunch pails’ as well, so she was right!

I suppose you could fit a hunk of homemade bread with butter, some hard boiled eggs and an apple inside.  Isn’t that what children brought for lunch back in the olden days?

You definitely couldn’t put a Lunchables in there.

I didn’t much care for the original patina on this one, it wasn’t very pretty, so I decided it would be a good candidate for a paint job.

I started by cleaning it well and then giving it a coat of Dixie Belle’s B.O.S.S. to prevent any rust spots from bleeding through my paint.  Next I painted the inside in another of Dixie Belle’s new Cottage Core colors, English Ivy.

I love that DB added this green to their line up.  It reminds me a lot of the English green that I’ve been talking about this summer.  I suspect I’m going to get a lot of use out of English Ivy.

I must point out that the lid is a really tight fit on the pail, so painting the inside probably wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made.  The paint would be worn off the edge of the interior in no time, so I decided to just go ahead and ‘pre-distress’ it.

I added some wax to both the edge of the lid and the edge of the pail to allow it to open and close more easily, but it’s still a tight fit.

I’ve already given you a little hint in that photo above as to what I did on the outside.  After giving it two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, I added the I.O.D. Rose Chintz paint inlay to the sides of the pail.

Once the paint inlay was dry, I spray sealed it with some RustOleum matte clear sealer.  Always remember that you have to seal the paint inlays with a spray to avoid reactivating the paint.

Then I added a few bits from the re.design with prima French Labels transfer to the lid.

I cut the bee in half horizontally, and applied the halves one at a time to accommodate the little ring handle on the lid.

I used some 220 grit sandpaper to distress some of the raised detail on the pail, then I gave everything a coat of clear wax.

I think this little lunch pail is totally adorable now.

It’s not chintzy at all.

What do you think?

the arts décoratifs toolbox.

Published on by Quandie18 Comments

Remember the toolbox I brought home recently?

I fear that some of you are going to be disappointed when you read that I have painted it, but yes, I did.  Of course I did.

I followed my usual process.  Washing it with Dawn dish soap and the hose out in the yard, letting it dry and then giving it a coat of Dixie Belle’s B.O.S.S. inside and out.  Oh, and there is a tray with this one, and that got the same treatment.

Next up I painted the interior of the toolbox and the tray in Dixie Belle’s new Cottage Core color called Cottage Door.  Once dry, I added some wording to the tray from an old prima transfer called Catalogue.

This is another of the transfers that my reader Monica donated to me.

I once used this same transfer on a dress form, and I absolutely loved the result.

Transfers have come a long way since the early days when they were much more simple (and less expensive), and were mostly just cool typography and nothing else, like this one.

After adding the wording to this tray, I’m reminded of how impactful adding even just a simple bit of typography can be!

Next up I painted the outside of the box in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, and then I added the last two pieces I had from I.O.D.’s Elysium transfer.

As a reminder, this transfer comes on four 12″ x 16″ sheets.  It’s a little bit pricey at around $30 – $35, depending where you shop.  But I was able to use it on three different pieces.  This toolbox, and these two other boxes …

So I got three items out of one $30+ transfer.  That’s not too bad.

Once I had the floral transfer in place, I had a couple of somewhat blank spaces in the opposite corners that needed just a little something.

I added a small portion of the old, small Seeds transfer (also sent to me by Monica!) to the front corner.

That tiny crown at the bottom is from one of the knob transfers from re.design with prima.

As are the bees and crowns that I added to the latches.

I added a few more scraps here and there from various transfers.  I have a big pile of random bits that have been left over from previous projects.

Once the transfers were in place, I protected everything with Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat.

I did opt to leave the handle unpainted …

And as a nod to the original finish and color, I also left the little clasp thingie unpainted.

I just have to say, that Elysium transfer is so pretty.  And it works just beautifully with that new Cottage Door paint color from Dixie Belle.

Don’t you agree?

By the way, I just couldn’t resist using my Limelight hydrangeas as a background for these photos.

They are looking particularly fine at the moment.

I absolutely love the way this one turned out, and I hope not too many of you are disappointed that I painted it.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

This toolbox is for sale locally (sorry, I don’t ship my items).  Check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing the B.O.S.S., paint. and flat clear coat used in this project.