the dark side of the moon tackle box.

Published on by Quandie17 Comments

My submission for day no. 4 of toolbox week is actually a tackle box rather than a toolbox, but I hope you’ll ignore that technicality.

I purchased this way back in May 2024.  It was in good shape, and the colors were decent.

I thought perhaps I could just sell it ‘as is’, but no.  It’s been in two of my Carriage House occasional sales now with no takers, reinforcing my opinion that I have to paint and embellish these items in order for them to be marketable.

So after giving it a quick scuff sanding, a good cleaning and then a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss, I painted the inside in DB’s Holy Guacamole.

I painted the outside in Dixie Belle’s Ecru.  Once dry, I started adding some florals from a couple of different I.O.D. transfers.  Most are from Sarah Featon’s Botanicals, but some are from Wilde Bloemen.

I chose most of them based on that dusky deep violet color.

Although some I chose just because they were white and green only.

I wrapped the florals around each side from the front.

Once the florals were all in place, I added some wording from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

And, as you may have noticed, I even added a bird to this one.

I also painted the handle in the Holy Guacamole.

I purposely chose to ‘pose’ this tackle box in the garden right in front of my Dark Side of the Moon astilbe.

That dark purple of the astilbe foliage (back right) works perfectly with those florals.

For a non-purple loving girl, I sure seem to be gravitating towards the purple these days.

What do you think of this one?  Leave a comment and let me know.  Also, be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page if you are in the market for a dark side of the moon tackle box.

the industries toolbox.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

It’s Day 3 of toolbox week, and when working on today’s project I thought I’d go in a slightly different direction.  A little less floral (although yes, there are still some flowers), and a little less pink, or green.

But first, here is the before.

I thought this one was in decent shape, but when I got started sanding and cleaning it, I realized that the bottom was pretty rusty and had even rusted through in a couple of small spots.

So right from the beginning I thought I might not want to use too many expensive transfers or paint inlays on this one.  There’s a chance that no one will even want it, and I’ll certainly have to price it lower than the others.

That meant I could just play around with a bit though.

I started with a rather neutral color scheme.  I painted the interior in Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy, and the outside in their Dried Sage.  It has been a bit since I’ve worked with this pair, and I forgot how much I like them.

Once the Sawmill Gravy on the interior was dry, I realized I needed to do something about those small holes.  So I pulled out some decoupage paper from re.design with prima called Dark Damask.

I used Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat as a decoupage medium and applied it to the inside bottom of the box.  It ended up working beautifully to cover up those holes, and it goes perfectly with my neutral color scheme as you’ll see in a minute.

Next I pulled out some scraps from the I.O.D. Cosette transfer.

Some of you may remember that I’ve used bits and pieces of this particular transfer on a variety of things.  Most of the wording in the center of the design went on a toolbox.

I used some of the other lines of text on toolboxes too …

and I even used some of it in my dollhouse bathroom.

All I had left of it was the floral design, which is beautiful, but I just haven’t managed to come across just the right piece to put it on.

So I decided to chop it up and use some of it on this toolbox.

After adding just that bit to one side, I rather liked the asymmetrical look so rather than add more of it on the other side, I decided to just add some typography from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

And that was it.  After giving it a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax, I decided to call it done.

I think this one would be perfect to hold office supplies on your desk, or to put on a bookshelf next to some vintage books.  If your decor is more neutral (as is mine), it would fit right in.

In fact, if no one buys this one I may just keep it for myself.

Also, FYI, I decided to head over the The Painted Heirloom to order another Cosette transfer.  I happened to see that is is currently on sale (as of yesterday anyway) for $28, and since so far I’ve gotten 3 toolboxes plus one dollhouse bathroom out of it, that seems like a bargain to me.

The industries toolbox is for sale locally, be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page if you are interested.

Also, be sure to leave me a comment and let me know if you like this one.

the memoires toolbox.

Published on by Quandie19 Comments

Toolbox week continues today with this one that was admittedly nothing special originally.

It’s not particularly vintage looking, and it’s red which is not my favorite color to work with.

However, it is in great shape and it’s a nice size.  Not too big, not too small.

After peeling off both of those labels on the front, I gave this one a good cleaning with Dawn dish soap.  Then I gave it a light scuff sanding followed by a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss.  Although this one didn’t have any rust that would bleed through my paint, it did have a pretty shiny, slick surface.  The Bonding Boss will help my paint adhere to that.

Next up I pulled out the I.O.D. Saint Germain transfer.  I knew I wanted to use it on this toolbox, so I thought I would pick a color from it for the inside of the box.

Some of the leaves have this pretty muted purple in them …

so I decided to go with Dixie Belle’s Secret Path for the interior including the tray.

Once my two coats of Secret Path were dry, I sanded over them with one of Dixie Belle’s sanding sponges.

I like to use these when I want to have a more gentle approach to sanding.  In this case, I didn’t want to go through to the red that was underneath, I just wanted to smooth out my paint giving it a lovely buttery finish.

After sanding and wiping away any dust, I added a scrap from an old I.O.D./re.design with prima (before they parted ways) transfer to the handle.

That means ‘first edition’ in French, and will make a little bit more sense when you see the rest of it.

Next up I painted the outside of the box in one of the new colors from the Dixie Belle Southern Roots collection called Magnolia.  I would say that this color is just a wee bit brighter than the Drop Cloth that is my usual choice for a warm white.

After two coats of the Magnolia were dry, this time I sanded a bit more vigorously using my Mouse sander and 220 grit paper.  I wanted to add some wear, and I decided it would be OK to have a little red showing on the outside of the box since my transfer has some red in it too.

You may remember I used the I.O.D. Saint Germain transfer once before on a toolbox.

I’ve also used it on a 2nd toolbox that I can’t share with you just yet.  You see, I painted that one in an as yet unreleased paint color from Dixie Belle.  So I can’t share it until the official reveal date which is going to be sometime in August.  I can tell you that I absolutely love it, and I can’t wait to share.

But in the meantime, I love this Saint Germain transfer so much that I ordered two more of them.

  That ended up being a lucky thing, because I used both of them on this toolbox.  Let me try to explain.  As you can see, this transfer comes with 8 pages of different elements.  But I wanted just one particular, slightly more delicate looking section on this toolbox.

So I used just a part of the florals on pages 3 and 4 on the front of the box.  But then I decided I really wanted to continue them on up and over the top and down each side a little bit.  So I used those same bits from my second transfer to do that.

That’s probably way too much explanation for most of you, but I just wanted to make sure it was clear that you could not replicate the exact look of today’s toolbox using just one Saint Germain transfer.  Just in case anyone is want to copy this look.

It may seem a little crazy that I purchased two transfers to complete just one little toolbox, but I didn’t actually plan it that way.  I wanted two of them because this transfer is so pretty I knew I would want to use it over and over again.  I can easily get 5 or 6 toolboxes out of each one.

After the florals were in place, I added some more typography from the rest of that old I.O.D./re.design with prima transfer called Memoir.  I did alter it a bit by removing some scrolly bits that I didn’t like.

This is where the ‘first edition’ on the tray makes a little more sense since the rest of the typography basically says something about the Marquise de Cremy’s memoires ‘written by herself’.

So hey, if you’re planning to write your memoires, this would be a great place to keep the first edition.

Or, perhaps this toolbox would be perfect for holding memories in the form of old photographs instead.

I added a top coat of Rust-Oleum matte spray sealer both inside and out on this toolbox, and with that it was done.

This toolbox is for sale if you happen to be local, and in need of a stylish way to store your memoires.  Or your old photographs.  Or your art supplies, your hot glue gun, or the t.p. in your outhouse 😉

Be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ tab for more info.  Also, be sure to tune in tomorrow for another segment of toolbox week!

toolbox week.

Published on by Quandie2 Comments

It may be shark week over on the Discovery Channel, but here on q is for quandie it’s ‘toolbox week’!

As you know, I’ve been picking up a lot of toolboxes lately, like this haul from the So. St. Paul garage sales.

And then this one from Spring Lake Park.

Then my friend Sue told me about a sale down the street from me where I found two more.

My friend Jackie also grabbed some toolboxes that were ‘free at the curb’ for me.

So, yeah, I have a lot of toolboxes to work on, so why not make a week of it!

Let’s start with this toolbox that I picked up at the So. St. Paul city wide garage sales.

I thought it had a bit of a homemade vibe.

As much as I liked the worn blue paint that was already on it, these metal boxes really don’t sell for me ‘as is’.  So of course I gave it a fresh paint job … on the outside anyway.  I left the inside alone.

It was clean, there wasn’t any rust, and I like that galvanized look.

I prepped the outside for paint by first giving it a good cleaning, then a light scuff sanding.  After rinsing away any dust, I applied a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss and left it to dry overnight.

Next I gave the toolbox two coats of Dixie Belle’s Ecru.  Then after sanding to distress the edges, I simply applied one of I.O.D.’s Seed Catalogue transfers.

I did have to cut off the “Northern Grown” portion of the transfer to then position it above the handle, but that was easy enough.

This transfer is a particularly good one for me since it makes this box feel local.

See it there at the bottom?  St. Paul, Minn.?  Perfect.

After adding a top coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax, I called this one done.

I wonder what the original purpose of this box was.  It’s a bit small for holding tools.  Could it have been used as a lunchbox?  What do you think it once held?  Be sure to leave a comment and let me know.

Regardless of its original purpose, I think it would work well for holding all of your ribbon and string.  I would also be perfect for your desk top, holding various office supplies like a stapler, tape and post-it notes.  And of course, you could also put it in the outhouse to keep the t.p. dry.

Remember Ellie who purchased my ‘rusty crustiest’ toolbox to use in her outhouse?  She followed through and sent me a photo.

I think it’s perfect!

If you need a toolbox for your outhouse, or for any other purpose, the Northern Grown toolbox is for sale locally, check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

hot, hot, hot.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

Well, sort of.

My sister and I snuck in a quick trip to visit our mom last weekend.  As many of you probably know by now, our mom lives in a suburb of Las Vegas.  And as many of you probably also know, it’s hot there in the summer.  July in particular is their hottest month of the year on average.

So why in the world did we plan a visit in July?  Well … it was really the only time that my sister and I could go together until possibly next spring.

Plus, it has been super hot the last two times my sister and I visited.  Last October they had record highs over 100° while we were there, and during our visit this past April the temps were in the upper 90’s (and average temps are usually in the upper 70’s to low 80’s in April).  So we figured it couldn’t be much worse.

In addition, at least in July the pool at my mom’s townhome complex is open!

We knew we wouldn’t be able to do much outside other than float in the pool, but we could certainly visit with mom in the a/c when we weren’t in the pool.

As it turned out, once again we were there for another above average hot spell.  The temps went from 109° on our first day to 112° on our last day.  And sure, it’s a dry heat.  But even a dry heat at 112° feels ridiculously hot!  Although, to be fair, it was quite comfortable floating in the pool.

My sister and I also got up each morning around 6 a.m. and went for a walk on the Harry Reid Union Pacific Railroad Trail and that brings me to why I’m categorizing this post as a ‘sunday mornings in the garden’ post.

A couple of years ago, my sister and I stumbled across the one small segment of this trail that offers some shade.

For any of you who may want to try and find this spot while in Henderson, NV, take Boulder Highway east to the Wagon Wheel exit.  At the light for Wagon Wheel, take a right and you’ll be on Nevada State Drive.  Head down Nevada State Drive towards the college.  There will be a small parking lot to the right just before you get to the railroad tracks.

Park there and head to the right (ie. west) down the trail and you’ll find yourself in this area.

The trail here is lined with trees …

and this may have been the first time I’ve ever seen this particular tree in bloom.

I’m not very familiar with the plants that don’t grow in my zone 4b/5a garden, but I’m fairly sure this is a Chilopsis linearis, or Desert Willow.  The hummingbirds seem to love this one, and looking around the area it appears to re-seed itself quite freely.

I have to admit I was amazed to find that there were quite a few other things in bloom along this section of the trail as well.

I saw what I thought was a buddleia, or butterfly bush, but it turns out that this is a Vitex, or Chastetree.

Proven Winners has a variety of this plant called Rock Steady, and I had to laugh when I read this about it on their website:

“Commonly known as the chastetree, Vitex agnus-castus was in ancient times thought to be an aphrodisiac. According to Wikipedia, the leaves and stems were once used in ladies’ bedding to “cool the heat of lust” when the men were off to war, thus the name chastetree. We’re not sure if this works or not, but we do know that it makes a wonderful landscape plant that is highly deer and drought resistant.”

It grows in zones 5 to 9 and is obviously heat and drought tolerant.

I also spotted this Angel’s Trumpet, or Datura innoxia.

And again, I’m pretty sure that’s what this is, but I’m not 100% certain.

But if so, this plant is extremely toxic so if you ever see it growing somewhere just leave it alone.

I think I was most amazed to find this though …

Is it a watermelon?  Or some other type of melon?  Or is it some kind of squash?  I’m not sure, but how in the world is it growing in this dry climate?

I should note that there is dripline irrigation provided to the trees and plants along this section of trail, so perhaps there is an errant drip emitter that this plant is taking advantage of.

Clearly gardening in the hot, dry climate of the Las Vegas area is something I know little about.  I came home last Tuesday evening, and when I woke up on Wednesday it was rainy and 50°.  I have to confess, I prefer 50° to 112° any day (I’ll try to remember that in January when it’s 10° below here, and 50° there).

How about you?  Are you a warm weather person, or a cool weather person?  Leave a comment and let me know.

a makeshift cupboard.

Published on by Quandie18 Comments

I purchased this vintage cupboard at a garage sale back in early May.

It was dirt cheap and I thought it would make a fun painting project.

The seller said that it was originally used for record album storage, but at some point someone added makeshift drawers to the interior which you’ll see in a minute.

After gluing down some loose veneer, I began by trying to decide whether to use Dixie Belle’s Smoky Mountains or Blue Grass.

The Blue Grass is one of their new chalk paint colors, while the Smoky Mountains is from their All-in-One Silk paint line.  The colors are quite similar with the Blue Grass being just a little bit lighter.

Ultimately, I chose to go with the Silk paint with its built in top-coat simply so that I could save that added step.  Although this cupboard is on the small side, there was a lot of painting involved since I painted the interior and each drawer fully as well.

Although the Silk paint also has a built in primer that should block stains, I opted to be absolutely sure that the original reddish colored stain on this piece wouldn’t bleed through my paint by applying a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss first.  I only did that on the outside of the cabinet because the inside wasn’t stained.

Once my paint was fully dry, I applied I.O.D.’s Joie des Roses transfer.

The transfer was actually a couple of inches taller than the cupboard, so before applying it I laid it out to make sure I wouldn’t be cutting off anything important at the top, like the top of a bird’s head or something.  In the end I only cut off the tips of a couple of flower buds, which was fine.

The transfer also wrapped almost all the way around each side.

It was fairly easy to accomplish this since this transfer comes on 8 separate sheets.

I’ve seen some complaints online about the seams between each sheet and how they can be rather obvious, but I think I got most of them fairly well disguised.  You can see them if you look closely …

but I think the faux crackle look of the transfer helps make them seem like part of the design too.

Although the Silk paint doesn’t require a top coat, the transfer does.  So once I had it in place I added a quick coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax over it.  I did not wax the inside or top of the cupboard.

And with that it was done.

It’s definitely a unique piece, but I could see using it to store extra linens … or possible even as a lingerie cupboard.  It would also work well to store your Dixie Belle paint or other craft supplies.  It would fit nicely into a bathroom to hold the extra t.p. or other toiletries too.

What would you use it for?  Leave a comment and let me know.

This cupboard is for sale locally, so be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page if interested in the details.

sometimes simple is the way to go.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

Today I thought I’d share just a few smaller projects that I’ve worked on recently.  None of them merit their own individual post, so I’ve been saving them up for a bit of a compilation.

First up, a simple painted bucket.

While going through my pile of decor books recently, the blue bucket on the cover of Romantic Prairie Style caught my eye.

See it there, over by the window?  Isn’t that a fabulous cobalt blue?

So I thought, hmmm … I have some old metal buckets, maybe I’ll paint one blue.

So I pulled out this one …

and then I pulled out the Soldier Blue milk paint from Homestead House.

I thought it would be the perfect match for the inspiration bucket.

I gave my bucket a quick wash with Dawn dish soap and hot water, and that was it for prep.  I find that milk paint tends to adhere quite well to old galvanized items, the key word being ‘old’.  The old ones usually have a rough surface that is fairly matte, while newer galvanized pieces have a slicker, shinier surface.  Also, keep in mind that any greasy or oily residue on an old galvanized piece will also resist milk paint so be aware of that.

I gave the bucket two coats of the Soldier Blue.

As you can see, I didn’t really get any chipping at all even though I did not using any bonding agent, or any special primer.

Once the paint was dry, I sanded it lightly with some 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface and add a little wear to the edges.  I followed that up with a coat of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta.  If you aren’t familiar with this product, I like to say that if hemp oil and wax had a baby it would be Big Mama’s Butta.

It’s super easy to apply with a brush or a rag, and it comes in some nice scents with Orange Grove being my favorite.  It works beautifully over milk paint.

I popped in a couple of lavender plants that I am attempting to grow this summer.

I think my blue bucket is a pretty good match for the one in the book, what do you think?

Next up I have another old galvanized piece.

This is the $2 watering can that I picked up at the MacGrove neighborhood sales.

I originally thought it would be kind of shabbily fabulous to just add a paint inlay to the watering can without painting it.  I did that recently on another bucket and it worked out great …

So after giving the can a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat, I applied the inlay face down into the wet clear coat.  I was fully aware that the watering can had some horizontal grooves, so I was very careful to press the inlay down into the grooves creating good contact.

Apparently, I wasn’t careful enough …

Drat!

I will say that it was absolutely pouring rain the day I worked on this, I believe the humidity level was literally 100% for a good chunk of the day.  So I did also have a problem getting the paint inlay to dry and ended up using a hair dryer to help it along.  So I’m not sure if it was the grooves or the humidity, but either way this inlay didn’t quite work out.

Well, you win some, you lose some.

One major bonus of a paint inlay is that you can wash it right off if you haven’t sealed it yet.  It wiped right off this watering can, and then I was back to square one.

Since the blue bucket turned out so nicely, I decided to give the watering can a simple milk paint treatment as well.  In this case, I went with Sweet Pickins milk paint in In a Pickle.

Once again, very little chipping, but I think it looks somewhat authentically old after a little distressing with 220 grit sandpaper.

I did debate putting a transfer over the green paint, but in the end sometimes keeping it simple is the way to go.

But then sometimes not so simple is a better option, which brings me to project no. 3.

This is the oval bucket that I purchased at the So. St. Paul city wide garage sales.

I decided to play around with some layering on this one.  So, after giving it a good cleaning, I added some of Dixie Belle’s Sea Spray texture additive to their Cottage Door paint.  I then applied just one coat of that to the bucket using a chip brush.

Once dry, I sanded with 150 grit sandpaper and then wiped away any dust.  I followed that up with a a coat of Rust-Oleum semi-gloss spray sealer.

I then mixed up some off-white milk paint using a combination of Fusion’s London Fog and Homestead House Sturbridge White.  The London Fog is too creamy, and the Sturbridge White is too white for me, so I salvaged both colors by mixing them together.

I was hoping to get a good crackle finish, like I did on the box I painted back in June.  I applied a layer of clear coat first, then brushed on the milk paint.  Only this time around I put the bucket out in the hot sun to dry rather than adding heat with a blow dryer.  I’ve inadvertently had milk paint crackle under the hot sun in the past, so I thought it would work here.

Ultimately I did get some crackling, but not enough to really reveal that underlayer of pink.  In hindsight, I made two mistakes with this treatment.  First, I shouldn’t have sanded the textured Cottage Door color as much as I did.  I basically removed most of the texture.  I should have waited until after adding the off white, and then sanded lightly to reveal the pink.  I also should have added some beeswax here and there over the pink to create a resist before adding that off white.

Regardless, after adding some of I.O.D.’s Rose Botanicals and a little wording from that retired Label Ephemera transfer, I love how this bucket turned out anyway.

I wrapped the roses around the back.

And I finished the whole thing off with a couple of coats of Rust-Oleum’s matte spray sealer.

Although sometimes keeping it simple is the way to go, other times dressing it up is definitely the way to go.

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

verbena bonariensis.

Published on by Quandie9 Comments

Good morning from the garden.

I’ve been a fan of the British gardening show Gardener’s World for many years, do any of you watch it?

I’d often notice tall, wispy sprays of purple flowers in the gardens they feature and I’d always wondered what they were.  Eventually I figured out that they were verbena bonariensis.

I badly wanted some verbena bonariensis in my own garden, but never could seem to find it here in Minnesota.  It got to the point where my neighbor, nnK, got tired of hearing me say the words ‘verbena bonariensis’ every time we visited a garden center (so of course I said it even more).

Every time I saw some of them on our trip to Europe in 2023, I took a photo and texted it to her saying “look, they have verbena bonariensis in Amsterdam!”  and “look, they have verbena bonariensis in Norway!”

I spotted them at Madurodam in the Netherlands …

and at Zaanse Schans near Amsterdam.

I also spotted them in Stavanger, Norway.

But I still wasn’t able to find them at any of our garden centers here.

Then, lo and behold, nnK and I were at a garden center out near her parents house in Wisconsin last summer and what did I spot?  Verbena bonariensis!  They had it.

I purchased a couple of them and put them in my garden near the carriage house.  They need 6 – 8 hours of sun to bloom well, and they didn’t quite get it in that spot.  They performed OK, but they weren’t spectacular.

However, as you may know, my neighbor Ken had a huge shade tree removed from his backyard late last summer.  As a result, I now have one section of garden that gets full sun.  So I was on the hunt for more verbena bonariensis this year so that I could try them in that spot.

I did find it at my local Bachman’s where one plant was $14.95!  Thank goodness I didn’t buy it there, because when nnK went back to that nursery in Wisconsin where I found them last year, they had them for $2.95 each.  So I had her pick up six of them for me.

Now, I will point out that I’m pretty sure the version at Bachman’s was the Proven Winners Meteor Shower, and I imagine that price is because of the Proven Winners branding.

I believe the plants nnK found were probably grown in house from seed.  When nnK was purchasing them the nursery owner mentioned wishing that more gardeners in our area knew about this plant.  It looks so unassuming and really rather unattractive on the shelf at the nursery, so they don’t sell particularly well.

But here we are in early July and mine are finally starting to bloom and look like I hoped they would.

Unfortunately, I found it nearly impossible to capture them in photos.

Let me try to describe them for you.  They grow quite tall, I would say that mine are at least 4′ to 5′ tall now.  They aren’t especially attractive looking plants at the base, but they are perfect for the back of the border where they can be seen poking just their flower stalks above everybody else in the garden.

They do re-seed freely, and at first I thought that was a bit of a myth, but last week I realized I did have some seedlings where I planted the two plants last year.  They are about 3″ tall so far, so I don’t think that I could rely solely on re-seeding to have more verbena bonariensis next year.  I’ll be lucky if those seedling start to look good by the end of August.

But I sure do hope I can continue to find verbena bonariensis at the garden center in the coming years because I definitely have a place for them in my garden.  How about you?  Have you ever grown it?  Or, have you not even heard of it before?  Leave a comment and let me know.

free from all irritating matter.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

First up, congrats to Sue P. who won my Brandywine Valley giveaway!  Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a comment, I wish you could all be winners 🙂

I picked up this stool while out garage saling a few weeks back.

It’s just your typical shop stool, but it’s got a vintage vibe that I like.

After giving it a good cleaning, I first painted the entire thing in Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky.

It seems like whenever I mention this paint color, at least one reader thinks it’s a dark blue based on the name.  It’s not.  It’s a soft black.  Not quite as black as Dixie Belle’s Caviar, but still black.  Here’s a comparison of a few of the different shades of black available from Dixie Belle that I did back in 2021.

The Anchor is from DB’s Silk Paint line (ie. a 3 in 1 acrylic paint with built in primer and top coat) and you can see that it has a little more sheen than the two chalk paint options.

Anyway …

I painted the stool with two coats of the Midnight Sky, then once fully dry I taped off a Swiss cross on the seat and painted it with DB’s Drop Cloth.

Then I decided to add just a little something extra.  I applied one of I.O.D.’s Floriography paint inlays to the seat.

At first I thought the wording on the inlay didn’t really work on a shop stool, but I liked the look of it anyway.

But then I thought, hey, the Swiss cross has long been a symbol denoting a pharmacy.  Originally they were red, until the Red Cross sort of commandeered it.  Now throughout Europe if you see a green Swiss cross you know immediately that it’s a pharmacy regardless of whatever language is written on the sign.

So … maybe this is an old stool from the Pacific Homeopathic Pharmacy in San Francisco advertising their Cocoanut Cream.

Apparently it’s the most elegant face dressing in the world.  And it’s also entirely free from all irritating matter.  Who couldn’t use a little more of that in their life?

After first sealing the paint inlay with some Rust-Oleum matte spray sealer (always seal your paint inlay before rubbing over it in any way), I then sanded spots here and there to add some faux wear.  Then I applied a coat of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta over the entire stool.

And that’s it.

I’m a pretty big fan of stools in general.  Currently I have 4 in my own home.  They are great for tucking into a spot that just needs something, like the space between my pantry door and my bathroom door.

  They also make a good nightstand in a pinch.

They work well as plant stands.

And they also make a great perch for a big stack of books.

So if any of you local readers think you have a good spot for a stool, this Swiss cross stool is for sale.  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.

the flowering roots toolbox.

Published on by Quandie20 Comments

Speaking of yellow flowers (which I did in this past Sunday’s garden post), not only do I not typically plant them in my garden, I also don’t usually gravitate towards them for my toolbox makeovers.

One exception was the tackle box I did back in May using just the yellow roses from I.O.D.’s Botanical Roses.

In all honesty, I only did that because at the time I only had a bunch of yellow roses left over and I wanted to use them on something.

Another exception would be the Fresh as a Daisy lockbox that I did back in 2024.

Usually I lean more towards pretty pink florals though.

But I recently ordered the I.O.D. Sarah Featon’s Botanicals transfer, and as it turns out it features quite a few flowers with yellow in them, so once again I found myself using yellow flowers.

Let’s start with a before photo of the toolbox in question.

This was one of my finds at the South St. Paul city wide garage sales.

It was in pretty rough shape with plenty of dirt and some rust.  I began by using a razor blade to remove that “Craftsman’ label which was basically just a decal.  I then gave it a good scrub with some Dawn dish soap.  After using a hammer to pound out a couple of dents, I used 150 grit sandpaper and my Mouse sander to give it a good once over.  I then rinsed it off with the garden hose and left it to dry.

Once dry I gave it two coats of Rust-Oleum’s spray satin sealer.  This seems to work just as well as the Dixie Belle Bonding Boss that I usually use, but it’s much quicker.  Plus, I accidentally bought three cans of the stuff in the satin sheen by mistake (I meant to buy the matte version) and I was too lazy to return them.  So now I want to use them up.

Next up, I painted the interior in Dixie Belle’s Holy Guacamole.

This color is the perfect 70’s avocado green and I tend to use it a lot inside my toolboxes.

Next I painted the exterior of the toolbox in Dixie Belle’s Ecru.  This color is from their new Southern Roots collection and is a lovely very warm, nearly beige, white.

Then I pulled out that Sarah Featon’s Botanicals transfer and started adding florals.

I started with a couple of the larger ones, and then used smaller ones to fill in.

The transfer set does have flowers in other colors, but I chose to stick with mainly yellow and white, with just a little bit of pink.

Finally I pulled out the typography from an old re.design with prima transfer called Seeds.  One of my readers sent this to me a while back, thanks again for that Monica.

It just happened to fit perfectly across the toolbox.

As one final touch, I added a butterfly from the I.O.D. Saint Germain transfer.

He had the perfect coloring to work with the Sarah Featon’s Botanicals.

I finished off the exterior of the toolbox with some of Dixie Belle’s clear wax, and I used their flat clear coat to protect the Holy Guacamole interior.

This toolbox is for sale locally, so be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.