homestead house milk paint.

Published on by Quandie106 Comments

When I decided to do this 12 days of giveaways thing, I reached out to my friends at Fusion/Homestead House and they were super gracious and provided some great stuff for me to give away.

First, a little background info for you all, because this all gets a little confusing sometimes.  Homestead House Milk Paint is a Canadian company that has been around since the 1980’s.  They also have been manufacturing Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint since 2012.  The MMS Milk Paint is branded differently (the packaging looks different) and comes in color palette that Marian Parsons (a.k.a. Miss Mustard Seed) developed herself.

However, aside from colors and branding, these two products are manufactured by the same people.

Check out all of the gorgeous colors available in Homestead House Milk Paint here.

Fusion Mineral Paint is an off-shoot of Homestead House too.  Fusion paint is an acrylic paint though, not milk paint.  Regardless of whether we’re talking about Fusion Mineral Paint, Homestead House Milk Paint or Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint, the one common thread that runs through all of these products is the company’s commitment to high quality non-toxic paint and wax.

If you are someone that paints a lot (like me), you really need to be aware of what you are exposing yourself to on a regular basis.  So be sure that you are using a product that is safe for both you and the environment.  And if you are using a more hazardous product, be sure to use the proper protective gear such as gloves, eye protection and/or air masks.

One of the colors of Homestead House Milk Paint that I’ll be giving away today is Barn Red.

I used it on a pair of faux ski’s that I painted and stenciled back in 2017.

Some of my other favorite Homestead House Milk Paint colors include Maritime Blue, which is the really pretty periwinkle blue that I used on this watering can …

And Laurentien, which is the fabulous aqua that I used on these small vintage chairs …

I tested several of their shades of yellow …

before landing on Ochre for the Jenny Lind bed in my guest room …

They have some great neutrals too, like Bedford which is the light grey on this beautiful dresser.

I consider Midnight Blue to be a neutral too, and it was gorgeous on this dresser.

And of course there is Coal Black which I used on our master bed.

If you are a lover of Miss Mustard Seed’s milk paint but want to branch out and explore more colors, you really should check out the Homestead House Milk Paint line.

If you’re familiar with Fusion Mineral Paint, you may have noticed that many of the Fusion colors are the same as the Homestead House Milk Paint colors (like Laurentien, Coal Black, Bedford and Midnight Blue).

This brings me to day 11 of my 12 days of giveaways.  In addition to the Barn Red milk paint, today’s prize also contains a package of Homestead House Milk Paint in a color called Soldier Blue.

Um, hello.  Can you say gorgeous?!  I haven’t tried this color yet, but I kept a package of it for myself and can’t wait to use it.  It looks like just the right blue for Pantone’s 2020 color of the year, doesn’t it?

This prize also includes an array of Fusion waxes including their metallic waxes in Rose Gold, Copper and Pearl, their clear furniture wax and the Homestead House Antiquing Wax.  You’ll also get a package of the Fusion Fresco, which is a powder used to add texture to your paint.  I’m also including another fabulous Staalmeester brush.

Thank you to Homestead House and Fusion for sponsoring this giveaway by providing all of the products I’m giving away today!

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just let me know whether or not you’ve tried milk paint.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Sunday, December 22, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $100 if the prize is not claimed by Thursday, December 26, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

the stockings were hung.

Published on by Quandie97 Comments

I get a lot of my inspiration from pinterest, and I bet a few of you do too.  Quite a while back (probably at least 4 or 5 years ago) I pinned this …

I wish I could give credit for this photo, but there were no links or watermarks or anything.  I really loved the look of that painted and stenciled sock stretcher.

So I started snatching up sock stretchers when I saw them at garage or estate sales.

In case you’ve never heard of sock stretchers (or sock blockers), they are used to keep your woolen socks from shrinking as they dry.  You wash the socks, and then put them over the sock stretcher to dry.

Based on the numbers stamped on the backs, I’d say you must have been able to buy them in your size thus keeping your socks shaped just right for your feet.

The thing I can’t figure out is why every time I’ve seen them at sales, the seller has just one of them.  Wouldn’t you at least need to have a pair?  I don’t know.  But check out this article for more info on sock stretchers.

Anyway, I pulled out my selection of sock stretchers to give them a little makeover for Christmas.  I started by painting them in Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy.  Turns out that a couple of them were bleeders.  This provided me with a great opportunity to show you what that looks like in a side by side comparison.

These were both painted in one coat of Sawmill Gravy. The one on top has an orange-ish stain that is bleeding through the paint.  This was easily fixed by adding a coat of Dixie Belle’s BOSS, letting it dry overnight, and then painting over it.  Then one more coat of Sawmill Gravy was all it needed.

Next I pulled out some of the new stencils that I received from Maison de Stencils.  This time I used Dixie Belle’s Gravel Road paint to do my stenciling.  I like using Dixie Belle paint for stenciling because it’s nice and thick.  People often ask for tips on getting a crisp look with stencils.  Using a thicker paint like the Dixie Belle paint, or re.design with Prima Marketing’s Chalk Paste, helps keep your paint from seeping under the edges of your stencil.

I didn’t use any of the stencils ‘as is’ exactly, instead I just placed portions of words where I thought they looked best on the sock stretchers.  I tried to space them out so they looked uniform, but also so that they filled in most of the space.

Once the paint was dry, I sanded lightly and then gave them a coat of wax.  Some of them needed holes drilled into the top so that I could hang them with string.

I think maybe I need to add some sprigs of greenery to the tops of mine like the one in the inspiration photo has.

In the meantime, the stockings are hung on the pine cupboard with care.  In hopes that St. Nicholas will … well, I guess he can’t really fill them up with any goodies, now can he?

Now, for today’s giveaway!  If you’ve been following along, today is day 10 of my 12 days of giveaways.  I’ve drawn names for the winners of prizes 1 through 8 so far.  You can still leave a comment to win prize 9 from Monday if you leave a comment on that post by midnight tonight.  If your name is drawn as a winner, I will notify you by email so be sure you’re checking your mail.

Today’s prize package includes lots of fun stuff to use when stenciling.

If I draw your name at random you will receive 4 stencils from Maison de Stencils including the very handy grain sack stripe stencil.  Plus these re.design with Prima Marketing products; the mini paint roller (which works fantastically when doing larger all over stencil work like on my velvet inspired wrapping paper), a 1″ stencil brush, their chalk paste in Iron Gate and Vintage Lace and their Decor Wax in Diamond Dust.  Did you know you can stencil with their Decor Wax?  Check out this post to learn more about that technique.

Thank you to Maison de Stencils for sponsoring this giveaway by providing the stencils, and to Prima Marketing for providing the roller, brush, chalk paste and decor wax.  Also, thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying the paint I used on my stockings.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me, have you seen any good pinterest inspiration lately?  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Friday, December 20, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $100 if the prize is not claimed by Sunday, December 22, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

flower power.

Published on by Quandie124 Comments

Have you guys heard?  The Pantone color of the year for 2020 is Classic Blue.

I think someone at re.design with prima must have had the inside scoop on this because one of their new transfers that is being officially released today is a gorgeous floral design called Cosmic Roses that has lots of Classic Blue.  As soon as it arrived in my preview box I knew I had to find the perfect piece to put it on so I started surfing Craigslist.

I really couldn’t believe my luck when I snagged this piece.  Sure, it needed a bit of cosmetic work.  It also needed some small repairs including replacing some glides inside to help keep the drawers straight.  I also added a bit of glue here and there, in particular the veneer on the bottom of each side was loose and had been chipping off.  But for the most part it was in good shape, and it was exactly what I was looking for to showcase this gorgeous new transfer.

Once the repairs were done I also removed those drawer pulls from the bottom drawer and filled the extra holes with Dixie Belle’s Mud.  I also removed the casters.  They were handy for easily moving the dresser around, but obviously not original to the piece and they looked a bit weird to me.  They sort of make the dresser look like a kid playing dress up in mama’s high heels, right?

Next I cleaned the entire piece with TSP substitute.  I realized as I was cleaning it and my white rag was turning slightly orange-ish that this piece would likely be a bleeder.  So I painted a test spot to see what would happen.  Sure enough, the stain bled through my paint.  So I coated the entire thing with some Dixie Belle BOSS and let that dry overnight.

Then came two coats of Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy.

I’d call this color a pale greige.  It definitely has a warm grey undertone, but also leans a a bit beige … so, greige.  It’s one of those chameleon colors that really changes depending on what color is next to it.  I knew it would work beautifully with the blues and greens in the transfer though.

Overall the transfer was just a few inches wider than the dresser so I decided to wrap the ends around the sides, which worked out perfectly.

When I got to the bottom of the dresser I had about 5″ left over.  In hindsight, I think I would have been happier had I centered the design on my dresser vertically as well as horizontally.  But hindsight is always 20/20, right?  I did decide to bring the design all the way down to the bottom trim though.  I also carried it over onto the legs.

By the way, this transfer comes in 6 pieces.  To read more about how to apply these large transfers, check out my how-to post here.

Once the transfer was in place, I sanded the edges of the piece lightly to distress and then I waxed this piece with a new product coming soon from Fusion.

They are coming out with two versions of their furniture wax that are scented with pure essential oils.  The one I used is called Hills of Tuscany and is described as ‘citrus forward, balanced with beautiful herbal scents and a hint of floral’, and I have to say that description really hits the nail on the head.  It smells absolutely amazing.  I tend to be a bit particular about scents, and I have to say that I love this one.  This wax is a total pleasure to use.

The final touch for this dresser was to replace all of the knobs with these beautiful glass knobs from D Lawless Hardware.  These are their reproduction depression glass knobs that come in three sizes.

I used the largest size (1.5″) on this dresser.  I think this piece tends to look a little smaller in photos than it really is.  It is 45″ wide and 36″ tall (without its high heels), so it needed a larger knob.

I brought in my blue chippy chair for staging because it worked perfectly with the blues in the transfer.

But I also wanted to draw out the green, so I also used this old green garden tote that I usually keep in my pantry.

I think the Cosmic Roses transfer has a bit of a 70’s flower power vibe.  At least it takes me back to my days of daisy patches.  Make love, not war. Don’t trust anyone over 30.  Can you dig it?

It’s pretty groovy, don’t you think?

Now, not to worry, I haven’t forgotten that today is day 9 of my 12 days of giveaways.  I wish I could give away the Cosmic Roses transfers, but since it’s only just coming out today I don’t have a spare on hand.  Same with the Hills of Tuscany Fusion wax, which is also just being unveiled this week.  So instead today’s prize includes the Beauty of Life transfer, some unscented Fusion furniture wax, a Homestead House antiquing wax (which is the same formula as Miss Mustard Seed antiquing wax, just different branding) and a Staalmeester brush.  This is actually my favorite brush to use with the Fusion wax.

Thank you to Fusion/Homestead House for sponsoring this giveaway by providing the waxes and the brush, and to re.design with prima for providing the transfer.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me if you remember the 70’s!  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $90, if the prize is not claimed by Friday, December 20, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

And one last thing, if you’re local and in need of a dresser with flower power, be sure to check my available for local sale page to see if this one is still available.

a magical combination.

Published on by Quandie113 Comments

Welcome back for day 8 of my 12 days of giveaways!

Over the past couple of years I’ve grown to love the combination of mid mod furniture and Fusion’s Park Bench green.

This has been an absolutely magical combination for me.

I’ve practically lost count of how many pieces I’ve done in this color.

It’s rather comical almost.

At first glance you might not realize that all of these photos are of different pieces of furniture, but they are.

This gorgeous green just makes pieces fly off the shelf.  I really should do even more of them, but I get bored doing the same look over and over.  And I’m sure you guys would get bored seeing the same look over and over.

But periodically I see a piece for sale on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace and I know it will look amazing in Park Bench so I snatch it up.

The frosting on the cake is adding gold hardware.  In some cases I just purchase new hardware, some of my favorites include these knobs and pulls from Hobby Lobby …

But if at all possible I prefer to keep the original hardware and just spruce it up with some gold wax from Prima Marketing.

I love using this stuff on hardware.  It dries hard and once dry can be buffed to add a little more sheen.  I can’t really say that it holds up perfectly to years of hard use, but I do feel that it wears more gracefully than spray paint.

For day 8 I’m giving away a 16.9 oz jar of Fusion paint in Park Bench and a 1.69 oz container of Prima Marketing’s Decor Wax in Eternal, so the lucky winner can recreate this look.  Then, just to round things out I’m also throwing in a 16.9 oz jar of my other favorite Fusion paint color called Laurentien plus a fabulous Staalmeester brush.

Thank you to Fusion Mineral Paint for sponsoring this giveaway by providing the paint and the Staalmeester brush, and to Prima Marketing for providing the Decor Wax.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me, when it comes to mid-mod are you a fan or does it give you bad flashbacks to your childhood?  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Sunday, December 15, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $65, if the prize is not claimed by Tuesday, December 17, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

getting rusty.

Published on by Quandie64 Comments

It feels like it has been so long since I’ve painted an actual piece of furniture that my skills are getting rusty.  Although I suppose kid-size chairs and sleds sort of count, but they’re not like ‘real’ furniture!  Not to worry though, I’ve been working on a piece that I’m going to share next Monday.  It will have one of re.design with Prima’s newest transfers on it.  Official reveal date for those is December 16, so I’m planning to post it then.  Be sure to stay tuned.

In the meantime, speaking of rusty, it’s time for giveaway no. 7!

I’m sure that you all know by now that I am a fan of rust.  Whenever possible I try to retain an original rusty finish like the one on my front window box shown above.

But sometimes life doesn’t give you authentic rusty goodness so you have to fake it.  That’s where Dixie Belle’s Patina Collection comes in.

One of my favorite projects with the patina kit was the makeover of a plaster pedestal for the garden.

In case you’re wondering how this stuff holds up, I painted the pedestal in July 2018 and it held up perfectly well outside all summer.  I stored it for the winter and then last summer I decided to add the Patina Guard top coat to it just to test out that product.

In the end, I preferred the look of the faux rust more without the Patina Guard.  However, if you’re working on a piece of furniture or something that will come into contact with clothing, you will want to add a top coat to prevent the rust from rubbing off onto things.

Last summer I also used the rusty patina on a pair of garden urns.

This time I opted to allow them to weather without a top coat.  I’m also leaving them out all winter, so we’ll see how that goes.

So far, so good though.  They still look awesome and as you can see they are experiencing some challenging conditions.  And yes, I do believe the sign hanging over my door may seem a tad ironic in this photo 😉

If you want to learn more about how to use this stuff, check out my how-to post here.

I should also mention that I use the Iron paint and the Green spray to create my rusty looks.  The Copper and Bronze paints with the Blue spray will create more of a verdigris effect.

Now, it’s confession time.  I accidentally neglected to order the Green spray for my giveaway.  Drat!  What was I thinking?  So I apologize, the winner is not actually going to get everything needed to create a rusty finish.  However, they are going to get a great prize package that includes the Iron paint, the Copper paint, the Prime Start, the Patina Guard and the Blue Spray.  Hopefully that will be enough to create some awesome patina’s, but you’ll have to order some of the Green spray if you want to create rust.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for sponsoring this giveaway by providing the Patina Collection.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me how you would use a faux patina.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Friday, December 13, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $90, if the prize is not claimed by Sunday, December 15, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

one size fits all.

Published on by Quandie119 Comments

Welcome to day 6 of my 12 days of giveaways!  Gosh, how is it possible that we are already halfway through?

Before we proceed, congrats to Kim Moran the winner of day 3 and Jennifer Knopf the winner of day 4 (check out Jennifer’s shop here).

Each year I try to come up with a new idea for wrapping my Christmas gifts.

Last year was one of my favorites.  I had visited a workshop in Venice last November that made the most beautiful velvet …

And that inspired me to create some gift boxes and wrapping paper using paint and stencils.

In 2017 I went with a pretty in pink theme.

I painted boxes using Fusion’s English Rose and Little Piggy, then I used their Transfer Gel to add some Twelve Days of Christmas Graphics.

In 2016 I went with a more elegant approach using Fusion’s Studio Metallics paint in Copper combined with some old rolls of player piano music.

After painting the toolbox that I shared last week, this year I was inspired to try a rather muted neutral color scheme.  I pulled out some cardboard boxes and some brown paper gift bags.  Then I grabbed one of my Christmas stencils from Maison de Stencils, my Deer transfers from re.design with Prima Marketing and some Dixie Belle paint.

I started out simply by stenciling a grain sack stripe down the middle of the first box and then adding part of the Santa Claus & Co feedsack stencil in black.

I also used part of the stencil on some gift bags.

I have to confess, I flubbed up on stenciling the next box.  My stencil moved and I didn’t notice it until it was too late.  That’s what I get for not taping it down (remember, do as I say, not as I do).  So to salvage the box I pulled out my Dixie Belle paint in Putty and painted over the messed up stencil.

Then, rather than stenciling again, I decided to add a section of the Deer transfer.

I also added some deer to a couple of other boxes.

I have to admit, that one with the ‘fang-like canine’ is a little on the creepy side.  Maybe more suitable for a Halloween decoration, right?  It looks a little like Dracula Bambi.

My initial plan was to use some plain shipping tags as my gift tags, but I should have known I wouldn’t be able to just leave them plain.  When I found my box of shipping tags, there were a few photocopies of old photos nearby.

I also came across some rubber stamps that I forgot I had.

Next thing I knew I had totally fallen down a rabbit hole and was whipping up some gift tags to go on my packages.

Does this ever happen to you?  I completely lose track of time and forget about what I was planning to do (which was paint a dresser, coming soon).  Next thing I know I have made a huge mess and two hours have gone by in a creative haze.

I used some Tim Holtz rubber stamps on my tags  and the metal charms are also from Tim Holtz.  You can find his stuff at both Hobby Lobby and Michaels (at least that was true the last time I checked), and of course online too.

I know most people aren’t going to spend this much time on gift wrapping, and usually folks just throw away (or hopefully recycle) the boxes that their gifts came in.  But I hope my boxes inspire people to hang onto them and reuse them (less for the landfill).

Now, for the part you’ve all been waiting for, today’s giveaway.

Not only does the winner get a reindeer gift box and one of my tags, but you’ll also get a 10 oz. jar of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta in the Orange Grove scent and a 10 oz. jar of their Clear Best Dang Wax.

But wait, that’s not all (said in my best game show host voice), you’ll also get a 4 oz. jar of each of Dixie Belle’s colored waxes.

So, if you’ve always wanted to try a colored wax but haven’t had a chance yet, this one is going to be perfect for you.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for sponsoring this giveaway by providing the waxes.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me whether you wrap your presents ahead of time or do you want until Christmas Eve and then scramble to get them all wrapped?  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $100, if the prize is not claimed by Friday, December 13, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

my new favorite holiday stencils.

Published on by Quandie126 Comments

Welcome to day no. 5 of my 12 days of giveaways!

Way back last summer I ordered two new holiday stencils for myself from Maison de Stencils.  I had a feeling I would get a fair amount of use out of them when the holiday season arrived, and turns out I was right.

I used them on chairs …

And on sleds …

And on signs …

When my sister saw the Christmas Farm stencil …

she mentioned that she’d like to have a throw pillow with that design on it.

So I dug through my stash and pulled out a couple of pillow covers from re.design with Prima Marketing.

Their 18″ x 18″ pillow case is made with a nice and thick 100% cotton fabric that accepts paint beautifully and they have a zipper closure.

So I grabbed my stencils, some acrylic craft paint and a couple of re.design with Prima Marketing stencil brushes and got to work.

I started with the easier of the two designs.   I say ‘easier’ simply because I stuck with one color of paint which made it a quick stencil job.  First I placed a piece of thin hardboard inside the empty pillow case to give me a nice firm surface to stencil on and also to prevent my paint from bleeding through to the back of the pillow case.  Then I just taped my stencil in place and went at it with the red paint.

I love the graphic punch of the red on the white pillow form.

I know my sister is going to prefer the 2nd pillow though, and I’ll be giving this one to her for Christmas.  I warned her not to read my blog today, so hopefully I’m not ruining the surprise.

This one took just a little bit longer to do since I had to tape off the different areas for the three colors I used.  First the black, then the red, then the green.  It’s not hard to do, but you do need to wait a little in between each color to let the paint dry.

I loved both of these stencils so much that I reached out to Maison de Stencils and asked them if they’d be willing to send another of each that I could give away as part of my 12 days of giveaways.  And yee haw, they agreed!  Not only that, but they gave me a couple more to give away in the next two weeks, plus a couple for me to use myself on some upcoming furniture projects.

  Today I’m giving away both of the Christmas stencils plus  1″ and 2″ stencil brushes from re.design with Prima Marketing.

The larger 2″ brush makes quick work of larger stenciling projects, while the 1″ brush is better for more detailed work.

Thank you to both Maison de Stencils and Prima Marketing for sponsoring this giveaway by providing the stencils and the brushes.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me which stencil is your favorite.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Sunday, December 8, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $65, if the prize is not claimed by Wednesday, December 11, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

oh deer.

Published on by Quandie138 Comments

Congrats to Laura Hopwood, the winner of the day no. 2 prize.  I’ll be drawing a name for the winner of the day no. 3 prize tomorrow (is this getting confusing for you guys too?  I’m doing my best to keep track of it all), if you haven’t commented on that post you have until midnight tonight!

In the meantime, today is day 4 of my 12 days of giveaways, and I’m first sharing the transformation of this adorable (if I do say so myself) metal toolbox.

This toolbox started out looking like this …

My picker, Sue, found this for me.  She always grabs metal toolboxes when she sees them.  She knows I love to give these a new life with some paint.

To begin with I washed the toolbox using Dawn dish washing soap to cut any grease that might have been left behind by the former owner.  Next I added a coat of Miss Mustard Seed’s Tough Coat Sealer to prevent the rust from coming through my paint.

Today’s q tip:  Keep in mind that the Tough Coat Sealer does not block stain from bleeding thru (try the Dixie Belle BOSS for that), but I have found that it works well as a protective coat over rust.  It also works well as a top coat for a rusty piece when you want to retain the rusty look.

Next I pulled out a couple of new Dixie Belle paint colors, Sawmill Gravy and French Linen.  I can tell you now, both of these colors will be making their way onto my list of favorite neutrals.

I first painted the entire toolbox in two coats of the Sawmill Gravy.  Once dry, I taped off a wide stripe down the middle and painted it in the French Linen.  After that dried, I sanded the box lightly and then added a few sections from re.design with Prima’s Deer transfer.

I have to say, I totally underestimated the cuteness factor of this transfer!  When I first saw it I thought it was only going to be good for some sort of man-cave or hunting shack item.  But then I looked a little closer and realized it had a reindeer on it.

Seriously!  How cute is that?

If you have a few men in your life and you are looking for something that’s not feminine and flowery, be sure to check out the Deer transfer.  And if you really do need to dress something up for the hunting shack, this transfer would still be perfect for that too 😉

Now, for today’s giveaway.  I wish I had a spare Deer transfer, but unfortunately I don’t.  I do, however, have some Sawmill Gravy and French Linen to give away.  I also thought, why not give them away along with the toolbox itself?  They fit perfectly inside.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for sponsoring this giveaway by providing the paint, and to Prima Marketing for providing the Deer transfer that I used on the tool box.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me what you would keep in this toolbox.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Friday, December 6, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $65, if the prize is not claimed by Sunday, December 8, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

me and Switzerland.

Published on by Quandie143 Comments

It’s day 3 of my 12 days of giveaways, and today I’m giving away a couple of my favorite shades of Dixie Belle Paint.  But first, congrats to Susan Williams who won the day 1 prize.  Last night at midnight was the cut off to be eligible for the day 2 prize so I haven’t drawn that name yet but I’ll get on it this morning.

I go through two Dixie Belle colors like there’s no tomorrow.  I have to say that, like Switzerland, I tend to stay neutral.  Partially because I find that neutral shades sell really well for me, but also simply because personally I currently prefer them in my own home too.

Drop Cloth is probably the color I use most often these days.

Drop Cloth is a warm, creamy white with a slightly greige undertone.  It’s not a yellow-ish cream, and it’s definitely not a bright white.

It’s my white of choice because I feel like you can bring this color into any room and it will play well with your other shades of white.  It won’t make any of them look dingy, although it may make some of your brighter whites look brighter.

My 2nd favorite neutral Dixie Belle color is Midnight Sky.  I originally favored their Caviar, and I do still love that color, but as I’ve been living with both of these shades of black I’ve realized that I prefer the Midnight Sky.  It’s just a hair lighter and leans more towards a deep, dark charcoal.

Because this color is slightly … well, for lack of a better description … less black than the Caviar I think it tends to be more forgiving when it comes to dust or smudges.

I used this color on my piano and quite honestly, I rarely dust.  So I need a dark color that is more forgiving 😉

The brush that I tend to reach for the most these days when using the Dixie Belle paint is their Flat Medium Synthetic brush.  It holds a nice amount of paint and I find that the shape of the handle makes it really comfortable to hold in my hand.  It’s also the perfect size to fit into even the smallest Dixie Belle paint jar without catching on the lip.  I know you aren’t supposed to paint straight out of the jar, but I do it all the time (maybe you guys should do as I say, not as I do on this one).  It may be my imagination, but somehow this brush also seems easier to clean that my Purdy brushes.  I have no idea why that would be, maybe the type of bristle?

Anyway, today’s giveaway is for all of you fellow neutral lovers out there.  It includes a 16 oz. jar of Drop Cloth, a 16 oz. jar of Midnight Sky and the Flat Medium Synthetic Brush.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for sponsoring this giveaway by providing these products.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me whether you’re a fellow lover of neutrals or you prefer lots of color in your world.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $65, if the prize is not claimed by Sunday, December 8, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

problem solvers.

Published on by Quandie94 Comments

Welcome back for day 2 of my 12 days of giveaways!

Today I want to talk about problem solvers.  When you’ve been refurbishing furniture as long as I have (25+ years), you know that running into problems is a given.  It’s rare to find a piece of furniture that just needs a coat of paint slapped on and it’s good to go.  More often, it has other problems that need to be solved first.

Luckily I have some help in that area in the form of my neighbor/handyman and number 1 problem solver, Ken.

Ken is a fixer.  He gets great satisfaction out of finding creative ways to fix things.  One of his favorite fix-it successes was the Humpty Dumpty dresser.  It was named that for obvious reasons.  All of the king’s horses and all of the king’s men may not have been able to put it together again, but Ken did.

After taking a fall off of the horses (the saw horse kind, not the kind the king’s men had), the Humpty Dumpty dresser looked like this …

But after a few days in Ken’s workshop, it looked like this …

To this day Ken still talks about how much he enjoyed rebuilding this dresser.  Sometimes I’m tempted to look for more pieces that are totally falling apart just to give Ken a puzzle to work on.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of a way to give away a ‘Ken’ today, but I can give away a couple of great products that help me deal with smaller problems.  The first problem being the dreaded bleed thru.

It’s always such a bummer when you realize your piece has stain that bleeds thru paint.  No matter how many coats of paint you put over this stain, the stain will just keep coming through.  But there’s a great fix for that though, Dixie Belle’s BOSS.  The drawers shown above are a great example.  They had some serious bleed thru issues as you can see on the top drawer, but the lower drawer shows how beautifully the BOSS worked to block the stain.

Another problem I run into fairly often is when a piece of furniture is missing just one drawer pull.  I always joke about this because if a piece is missing just one, it might as well be missing them all, right?

This washstand is a good example.  It was missing just one drawer pull, and I would have had a difficult time finding an exact match as a replacement.

So instead, I filled the holes for the original drawer pulls and added centered knobs to the drawers rather than pulls.

My favorite product for filling holes is Dixie Belle’s Mud, and I apply it using their little plastic spatula.

Today’s giveaway consists of these two problem solvers; Dixie Belle’s BOSS and Mud.

Plus a chip brush and the plastic spatula that works great with the Mud.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for sponsoring this giveaway by providing these products.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me what problem you run into most often while DIY’ing.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Sunday, December 1, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $40, if the prize is not claimed by Tuesday, December 3, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!