Mirror, Mirror

A couple of weeks back, I stopped at Goodwill while running errands. I found this lovely gold mirror for $15.00.   I found it to be kind of on the pricey side for Goodwill, but whatever, I loved it.  I've been looking for something like this to add to our very modern dining room.  An old man in line, obviously a thrift store connoisseur, told me I was spending way too much on the mirror and that "it's not worth that". I just smiled and handed over my money. 

I gave it a coat of Rustoleum spray paint for plastic.  Did I mention it's a plastic material.  Cute, huh?

Well, so this past weekend I head out to the Salvation Army with my mom and guess what I find...another lovely gold plastic mirror.  This one is much more detailed and just a bit wider than the first one.  I jumped on it and its $6.99 price tag.  I guess I did overpay at Goodwill. 

I'm trying to decide which one I'm going to keep.  The busier and bigger one or the more subtle and smaller one.  The busier one seems to be winning.  My sister will be getting the other mirror for the gallery wall in her room. I've been on a major painting, fixing, and staining push for her apartment.  My house was looking pretty hoarderish with all her stuff crowding it up. I spent the last 3 days painting and painting, my whole body hurts.  What do you think?

Click  here to see where I'll be partying!

Lot's Going on, O'verlays & Guest Posting at HOH

Danika from Gorgeous Shiny Things has launched a new company O'verlays.  They are selling fretwork panels that you can attach to already owned furniture, mirrors, and windows.  The designs are beautiful and check out their sight to see the amazing transformations they've done.

 This picture below is so perfect.

Danika, I'm so excited for you! I wish you the best in your new endeavor.

I'm over at House of Hepworths today talking about some of my projects.  Head over there and see all the exciting projects HOH is always working on...especially a month long road trip.  Allison, Thanks for having me.  Enjoy your trip.

A Visit From Rapunzel

We celebrated my niece's 3rd Birthday on Sunday.  She loves all things Princess.  Her latest favorite is Rapunzel from the movie Tangled.  My sister-in-law put together a beautiful party and I wanted to show you what an amazing job she did.  Rapunzel came and performed a show for the kids. She was so engaging and had a beautiful voice.  

Here is the cake table with the tower.  The cake was made by her friend from work.  Her facebook page has some beautiful samples of her work.

Here is the yard set up before the party.  The lanterns along the hedge are actually chinese takeout boxes that she added a sun detail to. If you've seen the movie, the Queen and King lit lanterns for their lost princess every year on her birthday.  The suns were wall decorations that she spray painted yellow.  The small tables were art centers for the kids.  Paper, crayons, water colors, and markers were ready for the kids.  The boards along the hedge were cardboard boxes that would later be serving as easels for the kids to paint.

She printed these banners using these printables from Little Things Creations. 

These Wanted posters were all over the yard.  So cute!

This was the candy station.  The boxes were all labeled with each child's name. She did not miss a single detail.  I think my sis-in-law should be a party planner.

Here's another close up of the lanterns and sun.

The art wall was adorable. The kids LOVED it!

This moment was priceless. She was in aww of Rapunzel and gave her a huge hug. 

Happy Birthday sweet princess.

I love you,

Nina

More Sunburst Mirrors

I have more sunburst mirrors to show you. If you haven't tried making one, you really should. There are so many variations and it really is not difficult at all.  So here are some more beautiful mirrors.

This one from Newcomb Home is stained a darker finish and I love it.

Look how beautiful the one from Cleared for Takeoff looks in the room. 

Cassie from Hi Sugarplum posted this one today. She has it set up in her gorgeous backyard and used a concave mirror. 

This one is from my online friend Jodie.  She sent me this picture last week.  

I love all the variations on the sunburst mirror.  There are a few more that I've been sent pictures of and I'll get those linked up soon.  The gym is calling me...Zumba here I come.  Have a great week.

Mid Century Chair

Last week I went out for a quick stop at a thrift store.  They were having a huge sale and had a bunch of chairs sitting outside.  I walked up and saw a few that caught my eye.  When I asked the guy how much the chairs were, he said take 4 for $3.00.  I happily obliged.  My favorite has to be this mid century chair that has now found a home in my dining room area.  The wood was extremely dry and the cushion, well the smell of cat urine was pretty strong. 

I removed the first layer of fabric to find a huge stain, of I am imagining urine.  I had my husband remove all the fabric and the batting that was attached and thew it all away.  I had some batting leftover from my upholstered headboard, so I just layered on three layers and recovered it in the fabric that I used for my dining room chairs (of which I have not shown you all yet).  Here's another before. You can see a stain on the side.

Here you can see the dry, discolored wood.

I used Howard Restor-a-finish and Feed-n-Wax and brought the wood back to life.  The fabric I used is a suiting linen that I found thanks to Lynda.  I bought 3 yards at $4.00 a yard.  So, for a total of $12.00, I did my six dining room chairs, this chair, and I still have over a yard leftover.  Here it is.

Here it is in it's new spot.

I absolutely love it.  It cost me $0.75, oh, and $0.75 for new screws.  Not bad for an afternoon of thrifting.  Oh, and the story of my dining chairs. When I bought the fabric last week, I finished covering the cushions that evening.  I excitedly asked my husband to screw them back in.  We waited until the weekend and I suddenly had this crazy idea to remove the expresso/black stain and take them back to their original form.  I wrote about it here.  I did a sample spot of stripper on one of the chairs and I'm not sure what I'm getting myself into. I've done some research on strippers and am wondering if there is a difference from the $8 quart sold at Home Depot and some of the other ones I've found on-line.  So for now, no pictures of my dining chairs.  Am I getting in over my head?

You have to see this Ikea Hack

You all need to head over to Me, You, and a Wiener and check out these crazy DIY skills Bri has.  I'm not sure if it's her tell it how it is writing or the fact that everything she touches is awesome, but I love her.  This is her most recent Ikea hack.  Amazing.

If that's not enough to make you smile, check out this dresser.  Gorgeous.

I find myself so inspired by the work that I see out there. I love finding awesome DIY's and featuring them here.  Thanks for the inspiration

Chevron Chairs - Sister Files

We found these two chairs at the Faith Farm Thrift Store a few weeks back.  They were $30 for the two chairs and the table.  So figure about $5 a chair.  From a distance, they aren't too bad.

However, upon closer inspection, they have been painted with some sort of shabby chic paint technique of ivory paint and smears of blue all over them. 

The dirty seats were beautifully and loosely upholstered in this cotton fabric.  Here you can see more of the blue paint.

I painted them using Annie Sloan chalk paint in Old White.  After two coats, I sanded them down to smoothen the paint and give the edges some texture.  I used a blue zig zag fabric from fabric.com to cover the chairs. 

 Here you can see the sanded edges.

I think they turned out beautiful.  My sister came to pick them up last night and she loved them.  They will be sitting under the turquoise chandelier.  The two other chairs are also done, but I haven't gotten pictures of them.  I painted the base of the table and am now trying to figure out the top.  I may ask for some advice on that tomorrow.  So what do you think of the chairs?

I'll be linking up to these parties.