and now for the fun part.

Published on by Quandie19 Comments

I mentioned a week or two ago that I was working on a pair of custom painted toolboxes.  I held off on posting them until today because one (or both?) of them was intended as a birthday present to be gifted to its recipient yesterday and I didn’t want to give away the surprise.

I have to confess, I don’t exactly enjoy the prep phase of toolbox painting.  The toolboxes are often super grungy and need to be cleaned, sanded and sealed before I can even get to the painting part.  But that is a necessary evil and you can’t skip those steps.  Fortunately, these two toolboxes weren’t terribly dirty so the prep wasn’t too difficult.

I do enjoy the painting phase.  Picking out pretty colors for the insides is fun, and it’s not as though it’s hard labor doing the actual painting.  It’s just a bit time consuming with painting the full insides and outsides, and having to wait for different bits to dry before moving on to other bits.

In this case I painted one toolbox in solid Dixie Belle Drop Cloth, and the other is Drop Cloth with a French Linen stripe down the middle (I’ll share the inside colors in a minute).

Once painted, I sanded to distress and then added a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat.

And now for the fun part!  Each of them is like a blank canvas just waiting for me to dress them up however I like.  Although this particular customer requested ‘words’, so that’s what I went with … at least on the outside.

I came up with a fun plan to make one of the toolboxes ‘British’ and the other ‘French’.  I used a variety of transfer scraps from IOD’s Label Ephemera and re.design with prima’s Lovely Ledger furniture transfer and Parisienne knob transfers.

I started with the smaller one.

Obviously this is the ‘British’ version complete with crown.

Or should I say crowns …

since the little bees on the front have crowns too.

This one is painted in Dixie Belle’s Peony inside giving it a lovely pop of bright pink.

I lined it with re.design with prima’s Celeste decoupage décor tissue paper.

The larger toolbox is the ‘French’ version, which seemed appropriate since it had that stripe of French Linen down the middle.

I just love the look of French text even though I have very little idea what it says.  Something about herbs, and amateurs, and maybe the king?

I used one of my favorite Classic Vintage Labels from re.design with prima on the top.

I brought Dixie Belle’s Blueberry paint back out for the interior of this one.

I loved it so much from the last toolbox that I used again here, and I ordered more of it!

And this time I did something new.  I kept the tray that came with the toolbox and painted it up as well.

I lined it with re.design with prima’s Fancy Essence decoupage decor tissue paper, which worked beautifully with the Blueberry paint color.  This time I used Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat as a decoupage medium and it worked beautifully.  So if you like a flat finish, even over your decoupage, give it a try.

I don’t typically keep the trays, but in this case the customer requested it.  I worry that taking the tray in and out is likely to scratch up the interior paint.  Those trays typically have some pretty sharp corners.  No matter how durable the paint finish, those sharp corners are going to scratch it.

But heck, a little wear and tear never hurt anyone, right?

So, tell me, which is your favorite?

French or English?

Thank you to Dixie Belle for providing the paint and flat clear coat that I used on these toolboxes.

the grass is always greener.

Published on by Quandie11 Comments

I’ve been known to bemoan the fact that we just simply don’t have any really spectacular gardens within driving distance of the Twin Cities.  And by driving distance, I mean like within an hour or so.  Obviously one could drive all the way to Butchart Gardens in Canada given enough time (that would take about 29 hours, FYI).

I’ve probably been watching too much Gardeners World, followed by too much of the British version of Antiques Roadshow because now I’m convinced that amazing formal gardens are just around every corner in England.

Or maybe that really is true?  If any of my readers live in England, give us the scoop.  Are gorgeous gardens like this a dime a dozen where you live?  Or is this just one of those ‘the grass is always greener’ sort of things?

Regardless, rather than continue to feel sorry for myself, I decided to do a little research and make sure that I wasn’t just missing something.  So I googled ‘gardens to tour in the Twin Cities’ to see what would come up.

Most of those listed were gardens I’d been to, and sure, some of them are pretty nice.  I love going to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and Como Park.  But I also found Lyndale Park Gardens on the list. I’d been there years ago, but hadn’t been recently.  So last weekend my sister and I decided to head over to Minneapolis and check them out.

I feel like these gardens are sort of the Minnesotan version of those English gardens.

Slightly manicured but with a little bit more of a wild, north woodsy feel hovering in the background.

My favorite part of the gardens were the perennial mixed borders.

Probably because this most closely matches my own gardening style … or at least what I would like my gardening style to be.

Some of my favorite flowers were blooming, like the irises.

And the Allium.

My sister was really taken with the lungwort (Pulmonaria), and I think you can see why …

Aren’t those gorgeous?

She ended up purchasing one of each of these colors for her own garden after seeing them here.

The peonies and the roses weren’t quite blooming yet, so I think we’re going to have to go back in a couple of weeks to see those.

Of course, we couldn’t leave Lyndale Park without walking down the street to take a look at Lake Harriet.

It was the perfect day for a sail and quite a few people were taking advantage of it.

Before heading home, we stopped off at a local nursery, Tangletown Gardens.

I’m not going to lie though, every time I visit this place I come away with total sticker shock.  The Japanese maple trees were $450.  I saw a clematis priced at $59 and a peony at $129.  Yikes!

That being said, their plants are gorgeous.

And they have some unique selections.

Along with some fun statuary.

I didn’t leave empty handed, I purchased a couple of things to top off my fairy garden including the sweet little succulent that I planted at the base of the arbor.  I love the dark pink stems with the pale green leaves.

I hope it fills out.  I’ll have to check back and show it to you in a couple of months.

In the meantime, how about you?  Have you got any spectacular gardens to tour in your area?  Or maybe you can recommend some gardens to tour near me.  If so, I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

when it rains, it pours.

Published on by Quandie13 Comments

At the middle of last week I was lamenting how dry the ground was for spring.  Typically we get plenty of rain this time of year, so it was odd that I was debating getting out the sprinkler in mid-May.  But then it rained … and rained … and then rained some more.  That’s because I had taken a couple of days off at the day job.  First to recover from vaccination number two, and second, to get some stuff done in the garden.  If we need rain, all I have to do is take a vacation day to work in the garden and voila!  Rain.

OK, maybe I’m being just a little bit dramatic.

And the real reason for that blog post title has to do with old toolboxes rather than weather.

You may remember that the last time I posted one of my painted toolboxes it was already spoken for and I had several people who wanted to buy it.  I was really wishing I had more.

Here’s the thing about the toolboxes.  At the price I sell them for, I really can’t pay more than $10 for the toolbox to start with.  And it’s better if I can get them for $5 or less (even then I’m probably making about $5 an hour for the time that goes into them).

That may sound impossible, but they can be found at garage sales for those kind of prices.  At least here in my area (Twin Cities, MN).  I never find them that cheap at thrift stores though.  So back in February when I posted that last toolbox, I knew I probably wouldn’t have more to paint until garage sale season.

Then one of my readers contacted me and asked if I’d paint up a couple of toolboxes that she already had.  Typically I don’t do custom work, but I will make an exception if the client gives me carte blanche to do what I want, which she did.  I’ll be sharing what I did with her toolboxes in a separate post, so stay tuned for that one.

Next one of my co-workers found another toolbox for me and oops, I totally forgot to get a ‘before’ picture.  Well, no worries, you can just imagine an old rusty metal ‘before’.

For this one, I followed my usual prep process for old toolboxes; sanding down the rust a bit, cleaning well (in this case I used Dixie Belle’s White Lightning cleaner to remove any greasy residue), and then sealing the box with Dixie Belle’s BOSS which will help prevent the rust from coming back through the paint.

Then I painted the inside in a Dixie Belle color that I had not used before, Blueberry.

Isn’t that a lovely color?  Sort of a periwinkle blue.  I love pulling out these pretty colors for the insides of the toolboxes.  I’m not sure I’d ever paint a full on piece of furniture in this shade, but it’s perfect for a pop of color inside something like this.  And I’d definitely use this color on a kid sized chair.

Next I painted the outside in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Then I pulled out my transfer scrap pile.  I have quite a few remnants of transfers left over from projects where the entire transfer didn’t quite fit.  I had a 4″ section left from the bottom of the large version of IOD’s Le Petit Rosier transfer and it fit perfectly on the front of the toolbox.

Then I pondered what to put on the top.  With all of my other toolboxes, I’ve been sticking with just black transfers.  This time I decided to add a little color with some florals.

I had a partially used re.design with prima transfer called Wondrous Floral II, it has the prettiest flowers and in particular I thought the blue hydrangea would tie in well with the Blueberry interior of the toolbox.  The transfer didn’t fit perfectly ‘as is’, I ‘cut and pasted’ the individual flowers where I wanted them.

I added one to the side of the toolbox as well.

I left the handle and latch untouched.

They have an awesome patina, don’t they?

This toolbox would be the perfect container for gardening, or floral arranging, supplies.

Sidebar note, that is one of my favorite lilacs.  Isn’t it gorgeous?

If you’ve followed the saga of my sad lilac hedge, that lilac is one of the original plants I put in 10 years ago.  I started out with a row of really gorgeous modern hybrids rather than the classic old fashioned variety (because of course, who wouldn’t want the prettier ones?).  None of the hybrids have done well.  Over the last 8 years or so I have ended up pulling out at least one or two at a time and replacing them with the plain, old fashioned ones.

The old fashioned ones are growing (and blooming) like gangbusters now, while the hybrids continue to look scraggly.  I’ll be pulling out two more this year and replacing them.

Anyway, I digress.  Back to today’s post.  You might be thinking hey, she said ‘when it rains it pours’ and three toolboxes don’t really constitute pouring.  Especially when two of them are custom projects.

Well, while I was working on these three, my picker found 4 more toolboxes for me!

So there’s going to be a few more painted toolboxes in my future.

In the meantime, this one is already spoken for.  If anyone would like to be on a waiting list for the next four, be sure to send me an email at qisforquandie@gmail.com.

So, tell me, what do you think of this one?  Are you a fan of the flowers, or do you prefer the wordier ones?  And have any of you had success with hybrid lilacs?  I’d love to know, so be sure to leave me a comment.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing some of the products used in this toolbox makeover.

so. many. small. chairs.

Published on by Quandie18 Comments

As I was scrolling through my past projects and looking for themes among my small projects, I realized I’ve painted (and/or otherwise refurbished) quite a few kid sized chairs.  In fact, a search of my blog turned up over 30 of them!

I always pick up the wooden ones when I see them at garage sales.

This style is my favorite to work with.

They are adorable painted with milk paint like this one painted in Miss Mustard Seed’s Aviary.

They are really well-suited to that chippy look.

That gorgeous green is In a Pickle from Sweet Pickens Milk Paint.

It’s also the perfect style to turn into a Christmas decoration.

They are also fun for hanging on the wall when cut in half.

I’ve added stencils to them …

And I’ve added transfers to them …

But I also find other styles of kid size chairs as well, like the folding ones.

This little pair of folding chairs were painted in Homestead House’s Laurentien milk paint, and then I added some re.design with prima transfers (Everyday Farmhouse and Sweet Apricot).

And this sweet little folding chair was also painted in Homestead House milk paint in a color called Soldier Blue.

I’ve painted up a handful of kid sized rocking chairs as well.  This next one is painted in a mix of milk paint colors that I whipped up one day.

And this one is painted in Dixie Belle’s Rebel Yellow.

I don’t mind if the chairs have some metal parts either, I just paint up the metal as well.

This next chair is actually my ‘painting chair’ …

I sit on it when painting the bottoms of large pieces like armoires or big dressers that can’t be lifted up onto horses.  I’ve gotten to the point in life where sitting on the floor isn’t terribly comfortable anymore.

I painted a similar style chair in a spooky look last year and it ended up being one of my favorite painted chairs …

And actually, I even sometimes paint the all metal chairs like this little metal folding chair …

Or, in some cases, I just add a transfer …

That chair, by the way, has not sold.  If any of you locals are interested, I’m marking it down to $10.  Check out my available for local sale page for more details.

And then there are a few random styles of chair that I’ve worked with, like this one …

And this one …

Last winter I did a little experiment and added a stencil without first painting the chair just to see how it would sell.  It did sell, maybe not quite as quickly as the painted versions though.

And then sometimes I just leave the chairs as I found them (or more accurately, as my picker Sue found them) …

She found this little pair of folding chairs for me a couple of years back.  I hung them on the wall to stage the photos of this dresser …

And then I decided that I really liked how they looked hanging on the wall so I kept them and hung them in our bedroom.

How about you, do you ever paint kid sized chairs?  Do you have a favorite style?  Leave a comment and let me know!

 

the one where nothing is finished.

Published on by Quandie15 Comments

First up, I wanted to say that I was really surprised by how many of the comments on Friday were opposed to using the primitive cupboard in front of the carriage house.  I really thought most of you would tell me to go for it.

I thought it was just me questioning whether it might be a little bit too big for that spot, a waste to use it outside, better without the doors, etc.

After reading all of the comments though, I realized that it wasn’t just that I was afraid to go for it, it really was not the perfect piece for that spot.  It did compete with the sign and watering cans and they can make a big enough statement on their own.

So, for now, I’m going to just leave that space under the sign empty and live with it for a while.

Maybe the right piece will come along, or maybe I’ll be just fine leaving it like this.

Every once in a while someone asks how I manage to have a full time job and still finish so many projects.  I have to say, lately I am wondering that myself.  How in the world did I manage three posts a week back when I was posting that often?  These days it feels like I am struggling to come up with just two.

I realized yesterday that even though I definitely wasn’t just lazing about all week, I didn’t have anything finished to share here on the blog.  What did I spend all of my time on?

Well, there are the three half-finished toolboxes that I’m painting.  And Ken and I got the wheels added to the primitive cupboard, but it’s not painted yet.  Plus we consulted about the front window box that needs to be rebuilt, and another little stool that he is going to fix for me.  Then yesterday Mr. Q, my sister, niece and I went to the Minneapolis Institute of Art following by dinner out.

But really, the bulk of my time this week was spent in the garden.  And a lot of that time was spent doing projects that aren’t particularly blog worthy.  Like pruning the flowering pear tree, filling in the dead spots on the lawn, and cleaning up the weeds and pine needles on the flagstone path.

Still I did finish up a few small things that are pretty, like planting annuals in my ‘rusty’ planters.

If you’re new to my blog and haven’t seen my posts about using the Dixie Belle patina paint to rusty up plastic planters you can find one here.

I also filled up my galvanized boiler pot window boxes.

If you’ll remember, the bird bath that contains my fairy garden broke in half over the winter.  But Mr. Q used some concrete adhesive to put it back together again, so I got a good start on planting it back up over the weekend.

I was able to save the two mini hostas, but I need to get a few more plants to fill in.

While he had the adhesive out, Mr. Q also repaired the chinese lantern that I picked up free at the WBL Trash to Treasure day.

And then I found the perfect spot for it nestled in the trailing variegated vinca.  I just picked up a Morden Golden Glow Elderberry that I’m going to plant next to it.

Do any of you watch Garden Answer on YouTube?  If not, I recommend checking her out.  She suggested an Elderberry as a good substitute for a Japanese maple if you live in a climate that is too harsh for the maple (as mine is).  Most Japanese maples do well in zones 5 – 8.  I’m a zone 4.  So I’m going to give this a shot and see if I can create a spot with a little zen in my garden.

Although the gardens still need to fill in a bit more (and I know that will seem to happen practically overnight), since I was out there with my camera I thought I’d share a few more things that are blooming currently like the foam flower.

These are such pretty delicate little things and they tend to get a bit swallowed up by the bigger plants later in the season.  But right now they look pretty sweet.

The bleeding heart is blooming now as well.

Just check out the vibrant glow of those leaves!  That is not photo editing, this variety of bleeding heart really is that bright.  It’s perfect for a shade garden because that bright chartreuse really pops.  This variety is called Dicentra spectabilis ‘Gold Heart’ in case you want to find some for your own garden.

This hosta is also does a good job of brightening up a shady spot.

If only I could remember the name of that variety for you.  Sorry about that.  I really should write these things down.

And speaking of not knowing the names of things, this next perennial that is currently flowering is one I picked up at a garage sale.

I have no idea what this is.  Here’s a picture of it in the garden so you can get a better idea what it looks like in situ …

If any of you know what that one might be, leave me a comment and let me know.

There are also a few things in the garden that are just about to pop, like the lilacs …

I still consider my lilac hedge to be a bit of a fail, but I’ve yet to convince myself to rip them all out and start over.  Especially since I love the flowers so much.  I continue to hope that one of these years they will fill out and provide more privacy.  Hopefully it will be within my lifetime!

My Allium on the other hand is a raging success …

Last fall I added a few more of them because I just love them.  They aren’t quite open yet but I have tons of buds.

I still have quite a few things to do in the garden, so I can’t promise that I’ll be finding the time to paint up any furniture in the next couple of weeks.  But I hope you’ll stay tuned anyway!

do I dare?

Published on by Quandie46 Comments

I have a confession to make today.  I often encourage other people to live on the edge a little when it comes to décor, but I am seldom daring enough to do it myself.  I say things like ‘it’s just paint’ or ‘it only cost $30, so who cares if it only lasts a couple of years’, but then I don’t follow that philosophy myself.

Today’s post is kind of about that.

But let’s start at the beginning.  For a while now I’ve been looking for the perfect vintage sign to hang between the doors on my carriage house.  I have hung things in that spot in the past, like the sled I painted last Christmas …

and I have also had that fun galvanized container in that spot for a few years now.

But I want to change it up.  For the last couple of years I’ve just put a big fern in that container for the summer and called it good.  My carriage house faces north, so that’s a pretty shady spot.  But just shoving a fern in there every summer seems kind of lame.

A couple of weeks ago I accepted the fact that if I wanted a good sized sign for that spot I was going to have to make it myself (or spend a ton of money).  So I dug through my stash and came up with an old cupboard door that I’ve had for quite a while.  It’s on the large side, and I’ve been using it as a work surface on top of two saw horses.  I measured it and realized it was the perfect size for that spot.

Next I ordered a large stencil from Wallcutz to fit.In the meantime, I painted the door in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth in anticipation of the stenciling.  The stencil arrived in no time (Wallcutz really does ship things fast).  After playing around with the placement a bit, I decided to just use the wording from the stencil but not the border.  The border didn’t quite fit properly on my door.  To give the sign a more custom look I taped off a simple border and painted it black.

After I had the sign painted, I thought it might be fun to hang some of my watering cans from it.  So I added some hooks and hung the cans.

So far so good, but now comes the part I’m not so sure about.

A few weeks ago I was visiting my friend Jackie and I happened to mention to her that I was looking for a potting bench to go outside, something like what she had, and she said she had the perfect thing!  She showed me a primitive wood cabinet that was tucked away in the corner of her garage, behind a couple of other things.

It was awesome.  I knew right away that I wanted it.  And Jackie’s husband was even kind enough to deliver it once they’d dug it out of the garage.  But once I’d taken possession of it, I started to feel like it would be wrong to waste this piece by using it outside.

It won’t hold up to the elements forever.  Of course, I can mitigate some of that by only leaving it out in the summer, and tucking it away inside the carriage house in the winter, so that would help.

But still.  Do I dare?

I have some large, industrial wheels that Ken is going to help me put on the bottom to get it up off the ground and to make it more portable.  And I plan on giving it a good scrub and then a couple of coats of sealer to help protect it.  So both of those things will help as well.

But still.  Do I dare?

It’s going to get rained on in that spot.  The inside probably won’t dry out well, especially since it’s so shady there.

I’m not a huge fan of the blue on the doors, so I might want to re-paint those if I keep it, but I love the multi-colored, worn out boards that make up the top.

And it really is the perfect size for that spot.

Although I just have some clay pots and other garden implements on top for these photos, it would make the perfect spot for some potted plants.  Especially house plants that come outside for the summer and can’t be in direct sunlight.

I’ll have to move the sign up a bit to make a little more room under those watering cans, especially once the wheels have been added, but that’s easy enough.

All of which brings me back to my original question.

Do I just go for it and use this piece outside knowing that it won’t last forever, but I’ll probably get a few good years out of it?  Do I dare?

What would you do?

not exactly impressive.

Published on by Quandie11 Comments

Well, my sister and I made it out for our first garage saling Saturday of the season this past weekend and I have to say, the results were not exactly impressive.

In fact, they were a bit sad.

Oh boy, do I miss my Minneapolis neighborhood sales!

Typically there is at least one, if not a couple, of neighborhood sales in Minneapolis every weekend in May leading up to Memorial Day.  We usually start out with Bryn Mawr the first weekend, and then Tangletown, Linden Hills, Armitage Kenny and ECCO usually follow.  Last year they all were canceled due to COVID, no surprise there.  This year they seem to all be canceled again.  Although COVID is sometimes given as the reason, I can’t help but feel like the social unrest that is happening in Minneapolis is also playing a part in the decision to cancel.  Or possibly the people who organized these sales realized how much work it was and they enjoyed not having to do it last year!

Regardless of the reason, I am mourning the loss of my favorite sales for the 2nd year in a row.

That being said, this past weekend both my own home town and the neighboring town had city wide sales.  In the past I have never gone to either of these because they conflicted with the Minneapolis neighborhood sales.  And I always chose the Minneapolis sales because they tend to be ‘Saturday Only’ sales.  Both of the nearby city wide sales started on Thursday.  As you may know, I have a Monday thru Friday office job.  By the time I can get there on Saturday, everything is pretty picked over.  In fact, one of the proprietors we talked to on Saturday said he shouldn’t have even bothered being open on Saturday because he’d only made $2 so far.  I purchased that wooden box from him for $8 though, so I quadrupled his sales.

I did buy a couple of jar-type items while we were out.  In both cases they are new jars designed to look vintage.  But the lids just look too new to pull that off.

I also had another jar in my stash that needed sprucing up, so I decided to do some lid makeovers yesterday starting with this ‘coffee’ jar …

For this lid I used the Copper Gilding Wax from Dixie Belle to give it a new look.

I often apply the gilding wax using a q tip, but that would have not worked at all for this lid.  When doing a larger-ish flat surface like this one, I find it’s easiest to apply the wax using a disposable latex glove and my finger tip.

To get that look I applied two coats of the copper wax, waited a couple of hours for it to dry, and then buffed it with a clean t-shirt.

I’m constantly amazed how the smallest change, like adding copper wax to this lid, can make such a difference.

Next up was that set of 4 jars in a vintage style metal locker basket.

I have to say that I only purchased them because I loved the little locker basket.  Then afterwards I had buyer’s remorse and I thought “gosh, that was dumb, I don’t even like those jars and what am I going to do with a little locker basket?”

I painted the lids in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, once dry I sanded to distress them a bit, and then I added some of the knob transfers from re.design with prima.  Finally I topped them off with some clear wax.

Seriously, how perfect were those knob transfers for the tops of these jars?  So cute.  This transformation definitely alleviated my buyer’s remorse!

Next up is this jar that I had in my stash.

I use this type of jar for flour, sugar, etc in my own cupboard.  But that blah beige lid just wasn’t working for me on this one.

So I simply painted the lid using Dixie Belle’s Kudzu.

And then I dressed up the jar itself with one of IOD’s French Pot transfers.

If you’re one of those people who don’t like the look of the ‘halo’ around transfers, you should probably never use them on glass.

But personally, I don’t have a problem with that look.

So, there you have it.  Some quick and easy jar updates.  Which one is your favorite?

But wait!  Before I go, even though my haul from Saturday wasn’t exactly stellar, I still want to share my ‘find of the day’.

I just love the colors on this Land O’Lake recipe box.  I don’t know how old it it, but I’m pretty sure the butter boxes themselves no longer say that the herds are tested for Tuberculosis (just checked the box in my fridge, and nope, they no longer say that).

My sister and I got a kick out of reading some of the recipes that were inside, like this one for a hearty he-man stack to be served with beer …

That’s a lotta meat!

I’m pretty sure that these recipe boxes didn’t originally come with Byerly’s recipes, so I suspect whoever owned it swapped out the originals for these.

I did a little googling and found some of these recipe boxes online for prices ranging from $79 to $249.99 … seriously?  Surely no one in their right mind would pay those prices.  I always look at online prices with a very healthy dose of skepticism.  How about you?  That being said, I am going to sell this one on with a price tag of $20.  Much more realistic I think.  If any of you locals are interested, be sure to hit me up (in other words, email me at qisforquandie@gmail.com).

 

perfect for painting.

Published on by Quandie24 Comments

On Monday I showed you the mid-mod nightstand that my friend Jackie found for me free at the curb.

It was perfectly functional, but it did have a cigarette burn.

Well, I’m calling that a ‘cigarette’ burn but who knows what really caused it.  I can say that the piece does not smell of cigarette smoke, thank goodness, because that smell is hard to eliminate from old furniture (your best bet is to use Dixie Belle’s BOSS, but you do have to seal up the entire piece inside and out).

Anyway, that burn mark meant that this nightstand wasn’t a good candidate for stripping and refinishing.  Instead it was perfect for painting!

But first, I pulled out the Dixie Belle Mud to fill the burn mark, and then while I had it out, I decided to also fill the groove down the middle of the drawer (eliminating that faux two drawer look) plus I filled the holes for the original knobs because they were just a bit too far apart for my new hardware.

If you look closely at that photo you can see that I didn’t quite do a perfect job of disguising those holes for the knobs.  But you really have to be looking to see that.

I suppose those knobs were properly mid-century and certainly were original to the piece, but I thought they looked cheap.  I also wanted to go with gold hardware rather than silver.  I found that drawer pull at Hobby Lobby for $7.99, but knobs were 50% off that day so I only paid $4.

That pull totally elevates the entire look of this nightstand, don’t you think?

I painted it in the new line of paint from Dixie Belle, Silk All-In-One Mineral Paint.  The color I used is called Deep Sea and it’s a fabulous deep navy blue.

This is the first full on piece that I have painted using the new paint so I thought I’d give you all a run down on how this paint compares with their chalk paint starting with this handy chart that they created.

The Silk paint reminds me a bit of Fusion mineral paint, so if you’ve ever used that brand you’ll find this is very similar.  One big difference between the two brands though is that the Dixie Belle Silk paint has a built in stain blocker, and as far as I know the Fusion does not.  That being said, if you like using Fusion, you’ll like the Silk as well.

One big thing to keep in mind with both Fusion and Silk is that prep is more important with these products than with the chalk paints.  For the best results, I recommend a scuff sanding and a good cleaning before painting with Silk, and that’s what I did with this piece.

Let’s talk a minute about brush marks.  This seems to be a topic that gets lots of attention.  If you are super particular about not seeing brush strokes in your paint, you will have to be a bit more careful with the Silk paint than you are used to with the chalk paint.  Especially with the dark colors.  Be sure to use long, even strokes from end to end of your piece (don’t stop in the middle with your brush, this can be especially tricky on larger surfaces like the top of a buffet).  Don’t overwork the paint, in other words don’t keep going over the same spot over and over again.  If you need to go back over an area to get good coverage, wait until your initial coat of paint is dry and then add a 2nd coat.  Finally, be sure to use a synthetic brush with this style of paint.  I used Dixie Belle’s Scarlet Brush on this piece and it worked beautifully.

I got excellent coverage with two coats of paint.  This paint is a fabulous time saver because there is no need to top coat it.  So once your paint is dry, it’s done.  Really, the only complaint I have about this paint is that it doesn’t come in more colors!  I’m sure they’ll add more down the road though.

I happened to have the perfect amount of this paper on hand to line the drawer …

I purchased it on clearance from The Paper Source on Grand Avenue in St. Paul a couple of years ago and I’ve used it on several mid-mod pieces.  It pairs perfectly green, pink and navy.

For the final touch on this mid-mod nightstand, I added a little bit of Dixie Belle’s Gold Gilding Wax to the metal feet.

They were a sort of dull brass color to begin with, so the gold wax just brightened them up nicely.

Now that you can see the ‘before’ and ‘after’ side by side, do you agree that the change in hardware really gave this piece a more sleek, stylish look?

This nightstand is available for sale locally, so be sure to visit that page to get all of the details.

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle for providing the products used in this makeover.  Be sure to visit their website to check out the Silk All-In-One Mineral Paint.

freebies.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

There has been a little bit of a theme around here lately.  I’ve been getting a bunch of freebies.

First was the roadkill cupboard that I shared a couple of weeks ago.

My neighbor, nnK, found it on the side of the road and dragged it home for me.

Then the weekend before last my sister and I headed to a local town, White Bear Lake, for their trash to treasure day.  I’ve shared this event a couple of times before here on the blog (here and here).  Basically the residents of WBL are encouraged to put their cast off items at the curb and people are invited to drive around and pick up whatever they want.

We usually come home with a few things, but this year we filled up the entire back of the van.

Can you believe that washstand was free?  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that one!

Those drawer pulls are all wrong for it, but I’ll find something better to replace them.

The concrete Asian style garden lantern was an awesome find as well.  Now, before you start wondering if I just stole that out of someone’s garden that was too close to the curb … no, it was in with a pile of other stuff and it’s broken.  The middle section is cracked.  But I am planning to try and repair that, and even if that isn’t successful, I can easily turn that part to the back and no one will ever know.  See …

Those two big boxes at the back of my photo contain a 7.5′ Balsam Hill BH Fraser Fir Christmas tree.  It was a bit of a gamble dragging that home with me.  It’s a pre-lit tree, so there’s a good chance that the lights may not work.  But I thought it was worth a shot since Balsam Hill seems to be a quality tree manufacturer.  I googled it, and when new, this tree costs $749!  Hopefully when it drag it out and put it together in November it lights up.

Otherwise it looks like it could be quite putzy to remove the lights and replace them.  But for a savings of $749, it seems like that might be worthwhile don’t you think?

The little black and white nightstand isn’t super exciting, but it was free and in fairly good shape so I thought why not?

Maybe I can do something funky with it.  We’ll see.

Finally, in addition to the roadkill cabinet and the haul from White Bear Lake, I also brought home this freebie recently.

My friend Jackie found this one on the side of the road as well.  It’s in great shape structurally.  There is a cigarette burn on the top though, so that meant that stripping and refinishing was out of the running as an option.

I actually already have this piece finished but I haven’t had time to photograph it yet.  I’ve been a bit busy.  My sister celebrated her 60th birthday this past weekend and my mom flew in from Las Vegas as a surprise for her.  My sister thought she was coming over to go garage saling on Saturday morning, and instead my mom greeted her when she got here.  You should have seen the look on my sister’s face!  It truly was priceless.

So, we spent a whirlwind weekend having lunch with my mom’s bff from high school (my parents were both born and raised in Minneapolis), a BBQ to celebrate my sister’s birthday, shoe shopping and lunch out on Sunday afternoon and then dropping mom back off at the airport Sunday evening.

Anyway, clearly I’ve been busy so you’ll have to wait until Friday to see how this mid-mod nightstand turned out.  Be sure to stay tuned!

 

old mother hubbard went to the cupboard.

Published on by Quandie18 Comments

Today I’m continuing my series of favorite non-furniture projects with a few different upcycles featuring old cupboard doors.

I’ve always grabbed cupboard doors when I find them cheap at garage sales.  Sometimes they even come with fab vintage hardware, which is always a bonus.

And a while back I also figured out that you can find cupboard doors fairly cheap at the ReStore.

Of course, my favorite thing to do with them is to simply turn them into signs.

Lately I’ve been using up a bunch of wooden knobs by adding them as ‘pegs’ of a sort to the bottom of the signs.

I think my all time favorites of these are the ones I did last Christmas.

Those knobs are perfect for hanging your Christmas stockings.

But I think a simple sign without knobs works well too.

Usually I use stencils to create my cupboard door signs, but sometimes a transfer works well for them too.

The Farm Life transfers from re.design with prima were perfect for creating a set of 4 ‘signs’.

This giant ‘Market’ sign was made using a transfer too.

It’s fun to add a little something extra to the cupboard doors using molds.  I added some molds to this Halloween themed sign …

They are a bit subtle since I painted them the same black as the rest of the sign, but I like that subtle detail.

They are a little bit more noticeable on this one …

And a shell themed mold was the perfect accompaniment to the nautical themed transfer on this pair of doors.

Looking back through my old projects, I realized I’d completely forgotten about one of the projects I did with old cupboard doors.  Although most of them have been made into signs, I made this one into a tray.

Those fork drawer pulls were especially perfect for adding handles to a cupboard door to turn it into a tray.  I think I found those at Hobby Lobby, but when I stopped in there the other day they didn’t have them anymore (or I really didn’t get them there, I’m not sure).  Too bad because I was hoping to find more so I could make some more trays.

Oh well.  I’m sure I’ll find other ways to repurpose old cupboard doors.

How about you, do you like to snatch up old cupboard doors when you see them?  And if so, what have you done with them?