q is for quandie

christmas baking.

Published on November 7, 2022November 4, 2022 by Quandie26 Comments

I’ve never been a Christmas baker, how about you? My sister has always done tons of baking at Christmas, although she has started to cut back a little in recent years.

Certainly baking for the holiday season is a tradition that goes way back. So I’ve managed to accumulate quite a bunch of vintage baking items that I’ll take into the shop this week. As I was sorting through them and adding price tags, I thought I would take photos and share them with you guys.

I’ve got a couple of rolling pins and two glass jars full of vintage cookie cutters. I’ll sell each jar with its contents.

My favorite cookie cutters are the ones with painted wooden handles.

So sweet!

I also have a few flour sifters.

I don’t know that anyone actually uses these to sift flour these days, but I thought they’d be fun with little Christmas trees in them.

The vintage Betty Crocker cookie (or should I say ‘cooky’) cookbook is perfect for adding a little Christmas décor to the kitchen too.

I love that it still has its original $1.95 price tag on the front.

I even have some toy sized vintage kitchen gear.

This set came with a little note that said “Lorraine’s toys 1925”. How adorable is that?

Also in the ‘Christmas baking’ category, I’ve painted up this little stool and added the Milk & Cookies stencil from wallcutz.

Here’s how the stool started out …

It was so filthy dirty! And it had paint splatters all over it, and one wonky leg. I cleaned it up, then gave it a fresh coat of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth. Then I taped off some sections of the Milk & Cookies stencil and added it to the top using Dixie Belle’s Caviar.

It’s a petite little thing, only 1′ tall. It would be perfect for placing under the tree with a plate of cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.

I’ll be taking all of these goodies and more into the shop this week. The stool is priced at $30, so if any of you locals want to snatch it up before Wednesday be sure to let me know.

Now, how about you? Do you bake a lot for the holiday season, or are you more of a non-baker like me? Leave a comment and let me know!

gardens around the world.

Published on November 6, 2022November 4, 2022 by Quandie10 Comments

Good morning from the garden. Unfortunately, I came home from Florida last weekend to a garden that was pretty much completely done. All but the most hardy of perennials have died down to the ground, and most of the leaves are off the trees. So I’m not sharing my own gardens today, instead I thought those of you who are gardeners would enjoy seeing the gardens of Epcot’s World Showcase.

For anyone not familiar with Disney World, Epcot is one of the four theme parks there. The back half of Epcot is devoted to the World Showcase which features 11 areas themed to specific countries situated around a large lagoon.

Back in the day, Disney offered a guided tour of the gardens in the World Showcase and Mr. Q and I did that tour. I loved it. You got to go into the World Showcase in the morning before it was open to the public. This was back when the World Showcase didn’t open until 11 a.m. (this was also before the Norway ride became the Frozen ride, ahhh, the good ol’ days).

Anyway, unfortunately they no longer offer this tour. But I did get a lot of insight back then into how they use landscaping to enhance the feeling of each country’s pavilion. The attention to detail at a Disney park is always impressive, and no more so than in the World Showcase.

The garden in Canada is modeled after the famous Butchart Gardens in British Columbia.

It’s filled with big swaths of flowering annuals, as well as colorful coleus. If you want constant color in your garden, annuals are the way to go. But you’d better have a Disney sized budget for that since you have to replace them every year.

It inspired me to consider putting a few patches of coleus into the ground in my gardens next year though. The only problem with that approach here in Minnesota is that it takes most of our short growing season for the coleus to fill in, and by the time it starts looking spectacular our first frost is only weeks away. So maybe not.

But Florida can definitely pull it off.

By the way, here’s a quick q tip for you. If you want to explore the World Showcase without hoards of people, these days you’ll want to head there immediately when the park opens. Everyone else will be getting in line for rides. You’ll have about an hour to make your way around the lagoon (roughly 1.2 miles) before the crowds catch up with you.

The shops and dining locations may not quite be open yet, but you can explore the details of each ‘country’ while having it practically to yourself.

Next up is the U.K. pavilion, and it’s definitely one of my favorites.

It’s so dang charming.

A formal sort of hedged garden is right up my alley, and they have them in spades in the U.K. pavilion.

Hedges and topiary, I need to add both in my own garden. I’m putting them on the wish list.

There was a liberal use of annuals for color again, and also big masses of caladium.

The light green on the left and the pink on the right are both caladium.

We cross over the Channel into France next. The landscaping here feels even more formal than the U.K. with more hedging and topiary.

But aside from the hedge garden above, the France pavilion doesn’t have much else in the way of gardens (it does have a lovely water feature, but I neglected to take a photo of that).

The next country you’ll encounter on the way around the showcase is Morocco.

Once again, there aren’t any large garden beds in this pavilion. But really, the tilework is so impressive that you wouldn’t want to detract from it with gardens. Plus, Morocco has a dry Mediterranean climate which isn’t really conducive to lush, green gardens.

Here’s a quick bit of trivia about the Morocco pavilion. It was sponsored by King Hassan II and is the only Epcot pavilion sponsored directly by a country’s government rather than a corporate sponsor. The King sent Moroccan artisans over to design and create the tile mosaics.

Next we head into Japan.

You just know that this pavilion is going to have some gorgeous gardens.

And specifically a lovely koi pond.

I love the simplicity and serenity of a Japanese garden.

Just a sidebar, if you’re interested in Japanese gardens be sure to watch Monty Don’s Japanese Gardens series (available on Prime).

The next country on your way around the world is Italy. Once again, it’s a gorgeous pavilion with architecture borrowed from Venice, Rome and Tuscany.

They don’t have any formal garden beds in this pavilion, instead they seem to rely heavily on terracotta pots.

There certainly are some gorgeous pots though. That one in the back of that trio above has an annual in it that I used myself this past summer.

I believe it’s Evolvulus Blue Daze and it performed really well for me. I need to make a note to plant it again next year.

I was a little surprised to find that they had hostas growing in containers as well.

To me they look a bit sad though, don’t you think?

Germany has a very unique garden, it’s a model railroad garden.

There are several trains running around the tracks at all times. The plants seem to mainly consist of small, pruned evergreens. But I did notice that they have quite a few of the Berberis thunbergii ‘Concorde’ that I have in my fairy garden.

That’s it in the lower right corner of the photo above.

Next up we have China.

The garden in China is mainly dominated by a beautiful pond filled with water lilies.

Again, very peaceful and lovely like Japan.

Norway doesn’t have a very structured garden area, but they do have a building with a sod roof which is quintessentially Norwegian I think.

As is the lefse that my sister purchased at the Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe in the Norway pavilion. I’m not much of a lefse fan myself, so I went with the Verden’s Beste Kake, which was delicious. We enjoyed our treats in the seating area under that sod roof.

The royal sommerhus also has a sod roof.

The last country on our journey around the world is Mexico. I was hoping to find an orchid garden in this pavilion, but apparently they only do that during the Flower & Garden event. So really the pavilion just features lots of tropical foliage.

It’s certainly pretty, but definitely not my favorite. I have to say I’m not really all that into tropical foliage. I have no desire to plant things like hibiscus, or orchids.

Any of you familiar with Epcot have probably noticed something missing in my post. I completely skipped over the American Adventure pavilion. Ooops! Well, aside from flowers in red, white and blue, there wasn’t much to write home about in that one.

Looking back at all of these pavilions, the U.K. gardens are definitely my favorite with Canada as a close second place. How about you? Which would be your favorite? Have you ever toured the gardens of the World Showcase? Leave a comment and let me know.

noel is a no for me.

Published on November 4, 2022November 4, 2022 by Quandie12 Comments

Do you guys ever regret a purchase? I suppose we all do sometimes, right?

Well, I have to admit that I feel a bit like I wasted my money on the I.O.D. Christmas themed paint inlay, Noel, that came out earlier this year.

It was a bit pricey at somewhere around $46 (depending who you purchase it from), but that would be OK if I was going to use it on lots of projects.

There are plenty of designs included in the set …

So I very much thought I could get many different projects completed with it.

But it seems like every time I pull it out to use it on something, the design isn’t quite right for some reason. It’s too small, or it’s too large, or I just simply don’t like it. Maybe it’s the grey color of the wording, it feels really bland. I would prefer black. It’s unlikely I’ll ever use the “NOEL” portion of the inlay, or those grey snowflakes.

It’s also not quite as easy to layer the paint inlay images as it is with transfers since you have to place them into wet paint.

I was hoping to be able to use some of the inlays on my sleds, but that didn’t really work out.

There weren’t many options for designs that would fit the narrow slats, but Mr. Q helped me come up with the above design. The tree farm wording ‘on top’ of a set of three trees. Not a bad layout, but I didn’t think it had enough impact. Maybe it’s that grey color, or maybe the writing is just too delicate for the sled. What do you think?

I ended up sanding the paint inlay off and repainting the sled using some stencils.

I then decided to use another section of the paint inlay on a simple wooden crate.

I’d painted and stenciled a couple of crates in a pretty aqua blue a few years ago, the one on the bottom sold but the one stenciled in white did not.

So that crate was slated for a makeover this year.

I repainted it in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth on the outside, and their Juniper on the inside. Then I cut out and arranged various segments of the Noel paint inlay to fit the side and applied them (you can find full instructions for using a paint inlay here).

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think the crate turned out pretty adorable.

And I love the paint inlay product from I.O.D. in general. I’ve gotten lots of use out of the Rose Chintz …

and Gregory’s Catalogue.

I just don’t think that I.O.D. hit it out of the park with the designs for Noel. One adorable project for $46 isn’t good enough. And frankly, I set the bar pretty high for I.O.D. I usually absolutely LOVE their style.

In the end, you can get a lot more bang for your buck with a couple of reusable stencils like the one I used on this chair.

I’ve used this stencil over and over and over on so many things and it’s still going strong.

All of this being said, I haven’t completely given up on the Noel inlay. I may find some more ways to use it between now and Christmas.

I’m curious, have any of you purchased the Noel paint inlay? And if so, have you found lots of things to use it on? Feel free to shout it out in a comment if you disagree with my assessment.

In the meantime, the crate is for sale at $38 (SOLD!). If any of my local readers are interested in it, send me an email at qisforquandie@gmail.com. Otherwise it will head into the shop next week!

a holiday sneak peek.

Published on November 2, 2022November 4, 2022 by Quandie4 Comments

I’m gearing up to bring some holiday goodies into Reclaiming Beautiful, the shop where I sell on consignment in Stillwater, MN. They will be having their annual Christmas open house on November 12, so I plan to have the bulk of my holiday items into the shop by then.

But I always like to give my blog readers a sneak peek at some of my things, and thus give local followers the opportunity to get the first crack at purchasing items before they go into the shop. So, that’s basically the purpose of today’s post.

First up, I’m planning to sell a few things that I made for myself in previous years. I enjoyed them in my own home, and now I’m ready to let them go to others.

I’m going to part with the Skate Rental headboard sign.

It is 43″ tall by 42.5″ wide and the price is $58.

The nice thing about this one is that you can leave it up all winter, it’s not Christmas specific.

Next up is the S. Claus & Co sign, perfect for hanging a pair of Christmas stockings.

It is 24″ wide x 11″ deep and the price is $28 (SOLD!).

I’m also selling my sock stretcher stockings.

Only two are pictured, but I have four of them. They are going for $22 each.

I also have that pair of rusty cherubs going for $30 each.

The mid-mod most wonderful time chair will go to the shop unless a local wants to snatch it up for $40.

I’ve also got a few items that I’ve painted up to sell that I haven’t shared yet here on the blog. For the most part, these are repeats of similar things I’ve posted about in the past so I’m not sure I’ll do specific blog posts about them. But I want to give you guys a chance to potentially snatch them up, especially the sleds since I know a few of you are hoping to snag one this year.

I have four sleds for this year.

No. 1 – the tall black sled is 56″ tall and priced at $58 – SOLD!

No. 2 – the tall white sled is 50″ tall and priced at $58.

No. 3 – the short white sled is 42″ tall (or wide if you’re displaying it as shown below) and priced at $55.

No. 4 – the short putty sled is 41″ tall and also priced at $55.

The sleds can be displayed just leaning up against something …

or hanging sideways.

I also have another sweet kid sized chair for $40.

And I love my own Rudolph & Co footboard sign so much that I made another one to sell.

This one is 32″ tall by 41.5″ wide. Although I show it just leaning in the photo, I will put some d-rings on the back so it can be hung up like I do with mine …

OK, so locals, first come, first served. Send me an email at qisforquandie@gmail.com if you’re interested in any of these items. Everything that isn’t sold by next Wednesday will be going into the shop.

I have plenty of fun Christmas projects planned that I will share in upcoming blog posts too, so be sure to continue to stay tuned!

drinks in space.

Published on October 31, 2022October 30, 2022 by Quandie2 Comments

Hello everyone! Just wanted to pop up a quick post to say that I’ve returned from Disney World exhausted, yet somehow also feeling renewed. I gave myself a day of rest yesterday to recover from all of the crazy chaos that is a Disney park (if you can count a day of unpacking and doing laundry as a day of rest). So rather than having a full on post about some sort of painting project today, I’m just going to share a couple of quick highlights from Disney.

My sister and I stayed at Port Orleans – French Quarter on Disney property. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t really take any photos of French Quarter. I wish I had taken a few more because it was really quite picturesque.

Full disclosure, the photo above actually shows Port Orleans – Riverside. It is the next door neighbor to French Quarter. There is a lovely walkway along the ‘river’ between the two areas, and we walked this pathway a couple of times during our stay. I snapped that quick photo at dusk.

We had requested a room with a view of the river, and at night we often heard the horse drawn carriages clip clopping past on the path.

We absolutely loved this resort. We’ve stayed at a few different Disney properties, and so far this is definitely my favorite. It’s one of the smaller resorts on property and thus felt very quiet and uncrowded. Considered how wildly crowded the parks themselves feel, it is nice to come home each night to peace and quiet at your hotel.

If you’ve been following me for long, you know that my sister and I (and sometimes my niece) go to Disney regularly, so I’m not going to bore you with all of the details of this trip. However, I thought I’d share one of my favorite highlights which was a visit to Space 220.

Space 220 is the newest restaurant in Epcot that opened in 2021. When dining at Space 220, you first board the space elevator that ascends 220 miles upwards to the Centauri Space Station.

The illusion is amazingly realistic. You’re given a ticket to board the ‘space elevator’ and from there you can watch through upper and lower porthole windows as you speed away from earth and towards the space station.

You can watch as Florida, and then the entire planet grows smaller and smaller beneath you.

Once you arrive on the space station, you are met by a host who leads you into the restaurant where you have the most amazing view of planet earth from high above it.

Throughout your stay, different objects appear in view such as space shuttles and astronauts moving equipment around and such. I didn’t manage to catch any of that in a photo, but it was surprisingly realistic.

As you can imagine, dining at a space station isn’t cheap. They offer a prix-fixe, 2-course meal at lunch for $55 p.p. or a prix-fixe, 3-course meal at dinner for $79 p.p.

However, if you’re more budget conscious, you also have the option of visiting the lounge for drinks and appetizers. If you really just want to experience the adventure of traveling to space, you could easily get away with spending less than $20 if you just get a drink.

My sister and I opted for drinks and a couple of shared appetizers. The drink we both ordered was called the Atmospritz and was made with New Amsterdam vodka, Aperol, Blood Orange, Orange Juice, Prosecco, and a Cotton Candy Cloud. It also came with a bit of a flourish as our waiter poured them after he brought them to our table.

You guys, for a drink made with cotton candy, these were crazy strong. My sister is a bit of a light weight, so it wasn’t surprising that she was feeling loopy after just a few sips, but even I couldn’t finish the entire drink. Not without needing to take a nap under the table anyway. But they were certainly fun to try.

For appetizers we went with a classic shrimp cocktail and chicken on a waffle.

Both were really delicious. I’m super picky about my shrimp cocktail. The shrimp has to be perfectly fresh, not fishy smelling or rubbery. These were fabulous. Totally my favorite thing on the table. My only complaint is that we paid a whopping $24 for just 4 shrimp. However, they were U 10 shrimp, in other words, quite large. My sister preferred the chicken on a waffle, and that was quite delicious as well. It was fried chicken with some smoked bacon on a roasted corn waffle with a spiced coleslaw and a bourbon maple glaze, and it was $18.

Although we weren’t stuffed or anything, the dessert menu didn’t really offer anything that tempted us. So after finishing our drinks and apps, we took the space elevator back down to earth and headed off to Norway to go on the Frozen boat ride.

As usual, we had a great time at Disney World despite some pretty massive crowds and a bit of heat and humidity. But it’s great to be back home again. We came back to sunny skies and temps in the 60’s, so I’m going to have to work a little to get back into the holiday spirit, but I’ll definitely have some Christmas painting projects to share with you later in the week so be sure to stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, have any of you dined at Space 220? Or maybe you have another favorite Disney restaurant that you want to recommend. If so, be sure to leave a comment!

classic blue & white.

Published on October 28, 2022October 20, 2022 by Quandie14 Comments

I’ve got another toolbox to share with you guys today.

Once again I neglected to get a good ‘before’ photo of it, but it’s the one on the very bottom of the photo above.

I followed my usual steps to prep it for paint. I sanded the peeling paint and rust, I cleaned it with a grease cutting cleaner, and then coated it inside and out with Dixie Belle’s B.O.S.S. to block stains and odors.

I decided to go with a classic blue and white theme on this one, even though that doesn’t feel very seasonal right now. But I wanted to use up some leftover sections of re.design with prima’s French Ceramics transfer.

I’ve always really loved this one.

I painted the tray, and the inside of the toolbox, first using Dixie Belle’s Bunker Hill Blue.

Next I painted the outside in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth. After that dried, I applied the French Ceramics transfer to the front and sides.

I also added some wording from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer to the lid of the toolbox.

I gave everything a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat to seal it.

This would be the perfect container for storing all of your stamping supplies, wouldn’t it?

This toolbox is available until someone local snatches it up. Be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying their products used in this makeover.

favorite fall furniture photo shoots.

Published on October 25, 2022October 20, 2022 by Quandie8 Comments

Well, that’s a mouthful! Try saying that 10 times fast.

I thought it would be fun to compile some of my favorite fall furniture photo shoots for you guys today. The fall colors are so fleeting, so I usually only manage to get one or maybe two pieces of furniture completed at just the right time to take advantage of the opportunity to stage those pieces outside.

I was hoping to take the photos of the bookcase I shared last week outside, but I took those photos on that Tuesday when the ‘feels like’ temp was 12. Somehow I didn’t ‘feel like’ staging an outdoor photo shoot that day.

But I have a handful of favorites from previous years, so let’s take a look.

The midnight buffet is at the top of my list.

I painted that back in 2016 in Fusion’s Midnight Blue.

It was fun to stage it up with falling leaves and a little non-collection of whisk brooms.

Another favorite from that same year was a pair of end tables that I painted with the union jack in shades of gray.

I did a few of these union jack pieces back in the day, and I still love that look.

They were rather putzy to do though, and they never sold quickly. I think there is a limited market for them that only includes anglophiles.

This washstand that I painted in 2018 was perfect for a fall furniture photo shoot.

It’s painted in my favorite Dixie Belle Drop Cloth, and has that old Seeds transfer on it.

This chippy barrel chair was a fun makeover in 2015.

I painted it in Miss Mustard Seed’s Linen. It looks great sitting in front of my Limelight hydrangea.

And speaking of that hydrangea, here is another fun piece that I staged in front of it.

I paired up an old metal typewriter stand base with a barnwood top to create a unique side table. I kind of wish I’d kept that one for myself now. I may have to be on the lookout for another base like that.

Last up is this little chest of drawers that I painted way back in 2014, in Miss Mustard Seed’s Kitchen Scale.

Our yellow maple tree was the perfect contrast to set off that teal blue color.

You never know, maybe I’ll manage to still get a fall furniture photo shoot in this year. But then again, maybe not. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed looking back at some of my favorites!

feels like 12.

Published on October 23, 2022October 19, 2022 by Quandie22 Comments

We woke up to a bright and chilly morning last Tuesday. The actual temp was 21, but the ‘feels like’ temp was 12! Twelve! In October! Yikes!

I don’t really remember when they switched out ‘wind chill’ for ‘feels like’, but I did a bit of googling and apparently the ‘feels like’ number takes humidity levels into consideration whereas the ‘wind chill’ did not.

Either way, ‘feels like 12’ is too cold for October. And as I’ve discovered, it’s also too cold for mums.

Dang! I probably should have covered them. But then, the soil is frozen rock hard. I’m not sure that covering would have helped.

It’s funny, when I planted all of my bulbs a couple of weeks ago I thought I was planting them way too early. But here we are in October with a hard freeze already. I guess my timing was pretty good after all. Likewise, I also pulled out all of my caladiums last weekend in preparation for saving them over the winter. Just in time I think.

I used quite a few caladiums in my planters this summer.

That tall white one above was one of my favorites, as was the pink and green one I planted along with some double impatiens …

Caladiums are another fantastic way to add colorful foliage to your garden. They will grow in full to partial shade and perform best with some dappled morning sunlight.

They are not fond of cold weather though. Caladiums are only hardy in zones 9 – 11. Here in my Minnesota zone 4 garden I have always treated them as an annual and just tossed them at the end of the season. But, you know what? Caladiums are kind of pricey. They are around twice the price of other annuals that I plant.

So this year I’ve decided to try saving the bulbs for next year.

The first step was to dig them all up, and gently shake off any loose soil. Do not rinse or wash off the dirt with water as this will make the bulbs more susceptible to rot.

Leave the foliage in place and allow the bulbs to ‘cure’ for a week or so (sound familiar, feels like we’re painting). I just left mine in the potting shed on vintage plates to dry.

Once they are ‘cured’, or dried out, the leaves should drop off or at least be easy to pull away from the bulb. Go ahead and remove all of the leaves.

At this point you should inspect your bulbs for any signs of damage or rot. Be sure to toss any that are damaged, moldy or soft. As they say, one bad apple (or in this case, caladium bulb) will spoil the bunch.

It seems like with the many caladiums I had, I should have a big pile of bulbs. But after weeding out the bad ones (maybe about 25% of them were bad), I ended up with just this one plate full.

Then again, if each one of these becomes one plant, I have plenty!

Next up comes packing these away for winter. The bulbs need to be kept dry, therefore the packing materials should allow them to breathe. A cardboard box or paper grocery bag should work. I’m choosing to nestle mine in a cardboard box filled with shredded paper.

I’ll put the box in the basement where they will stay cool, dry and out of sunlight.

The big trick for me will be remembering to pull them out again next spring. I plan to pot them up indoors 4 to 6 weeks before our average last frost date. With our short growing season here in Minnesota, it makes sense to give them a good head start before transplanting them out into my pots.

I’ve put a reminder on my calendar for the end of March.

Hopefully next summer I’ll have lots of beautiful caladiums and will have saved myself a few bucks by not having to buy them. Wish me luck on that!

a simple wood tote.

Published on October 21, 2022October 19, 2022 by Quandie18 Comments

Whenever my friend Sue sees these simple wood totes, she always grabs them for me.

I had two of them in my stash recently so I decided to hang onto one of them to give it a Christmas look, but I went ahead and painted up the other one.

I started by simply painting it inside and out with Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy. Then I pulled out all of my I.O.D. transfer scraps and started layering them onto the tote starting with some florals from the Floral Anthology transfer. I then layered some wording from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer over them on the front of the tote.

I added florals to the ‘back’ of the tote as well. I think these make awesome centerpieces on a dining table, in which case they need to be decorated on both sides.

I had the perfect spot left to add a bee from the I.O.D. Brocante transfer on the back.

I also wrapped the florals around the sides a little bit.

After adding a quick coat of clear wax, I filled the tote up with some of my dried hydrangeas.

I brought this one into the shop where I sell on consignment last week, and I don’t know whether or not it has sold. I usually try to post things here on the blog first, but I was in a hurry with this one since I flew off to Orlando at the crack of dawn this morning (technically it was prior to the crack of dawn).

My sister and I are spending the coming week at DisneyWorld. But not to worry, I have a few blog posts already lined up to keep you guys company while I’m gone. I may not find the time to respond to comments until I’m back though.

So I hope you all have a great week, and I’m sure I’ll be back before you know it!

the farmers market bookcase.

Published on October 19, 2022October 18, 2022 by Quandie17 Comments

Last winter I purchased a beautiful armoire via a Facebook Marketplace ad, and coincidentally, I knew the seller. She’d purchased a few of my pieces in the past.

While I was at her home picking up the armoire, she mentioned that she had a few other pieces she wanted to sell including this bookcase.

It’s not my normal style, but it’s a really nice quality piece and I thought it could be fun to make over, so I purchased it.

It’s a bit odd though because it’s collapsible. I’m struggling to figure out why one would want a collapsible bookcase. Especially one that is as heavy as this one is. It’s not like you’re going to tote it around and set it up whenever you have a sudden need for a bookcase. But the shelves are hinged and fold upward. Then the sides fold in, and the top and bottom fold in as well.

It took me all year to get around to doing something with it because it was a bit clunky to wrangle it around with all of those hinging pieces. But I finally pulled it out of hiding last week and got it painted up.

After giving it a light scuff sanding all over, and then cleaning it with TSP substitute, I gave it a base coat of B.O.S.S. after Mr. Q looked at it and said ‘gosh, that stain looks like it would bleed thru’. I allowed the B.O.S.S. to dry for 24 hours and then gave the bookcase two coats of Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage.

I ‘discovered’ this color last summer when I painted a dresser I got from a friend. Based on the name, I assumed this color would be more of a sage green … and I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of your typical sage green. But then I used it and realized it’s a fabulous medium warm brownish-greyish sort of color with a green undertone. I went on to use it on my potting shed floor, although I lightened it up a tad for that using some Drop Cloth.

It was the perfect color for this bookcase.

However, this color is such a chameleon that I really struggled to capture it correctly in my photos. It changes with the light, and compared to what is beside it.

After the Dried Sage was dry, I decided to add my wallcutz Farmers Market stencil to the top of the bookcase. I liked the sign I made earlier this month with that stencil so much that I wanted to use it again.

So I got to work stenciling. It took a couple of tries to get the colors right. I initially started off using Drop Cloth to stencil the large wording, and that just didn’t work so I sanded it down and painted a fresh coat of the Dried Sage so I could try again. Ultimately I realized I should paint up a tester board to try and get the colors right before attempting the stencil again.

I painted the board in Dried Sage, then I added a few swipes of the Cocoa Bean because I would have a Cocoa Bean shadow under the larger words. I tried Burlap, but it was too brown. I tried Cashmere, but it was too yellow. I tried Sawmill Gravy straight up, but it was too light. Finally it occurred to me that I could mix some Sawmill Gravy with the Dried Sage itself creating a lighter version of the color.

And that was perfect. It’s subtle, but still very legible. Applying the stencil to the top of this bookcase adds just a little something special to it, but it’s definitely not an ‘in your face’ sort of detail.