My Wall O' Mirrors

I recently found a blog that I LOOOOVE!  Mandi is a woman after my own heart.  She's a thrift store junky, just like me!!!  Her Wall O' Mirrors is what inspired MY Wall O' Mirrors, with a slight twist!!!  All of the frames, except for the little birdy one, which I found at Tai Pan on clearance for $4, were either given to me or bought at DI.  I primed and then painted all the frames in gloss white.  I love the planter box (which was the most expensive item @ $10) at the bottom of the wall with the white geraniums.  I even got those on clearance for a mere $2 per bunch!  SCORE!!  I'm toying with the idea of switching out the flowers for the seasons.  You know, white poinsettias, white tulips, white daisies.  What do you think?  Should I?  Of course they'd have to be purchased off season.  I can't bear to pay full price.  ;)   Anywho, this was a fun little project and I LOVE the end result!  I'm so excited for you all to see it.  So without further ado, MY WALL O' MIRRORS:

BEFORE:

I'm not getting rid of this painting.  I love it too much.  My grandpa painted it and gave it to me for my wedding.  It's just going to get a new home in the office.

AFTER:

I painted the wall the same color as my red accent wall.  Now I just have to finish painting the entryway and down the hall and stairs.  That's gonna have to wait until AFTER my bedroom makeover though.

I bought this vinyl from Hobby Lobby.  I loved the saying and I figured it was so convenient not to have to special order it - especially this time of year when that kind of business is crazy for the holidays.  Well, I got a little more than I bargained for!!  The black vinyl came off the transfer paper nicely.  The gold words....well, that's a different story.  I have NEVER seen vinyl stick like glue to the transfer paper like this gold stuff did.  It would NOT come off!!!  I was so frustrated when the idea came to me to put GOO GONE on the transfer paper to see if it would take the sticky off and help release it.  It worked, but it was still sticking way more than it should have.  I had to be so careful as I took it off the transfer paper.  I ended up with a few wrinkles and tears, but all in all, it was OK and I was elated to finally have it on the mirror.  That wasn't the end of my frustration, however.  Once the paper was off the vinyl, there was a sticky residue ALL OVER the words.  You know, like the ick that's left on a glass or a plate, or whatever, after you take a price tag off.  So, out came the goo gone again.  As I ever so gently rubbed the letters, the sticky was coming off, BUT SO WAS THE COLOR of the vinyl!!!  UUUUUUUGH!!!!!!  I was LIVID at this point!!!  I had to walk away and put myself in time out for 10 minutes so that I could calm down and not throw the mirror on the floor and shatter it into a million pieces.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who has those moments!!!!  After calming down, I went back to my mirror and looked at it.  I noticed that those gold letters had taken on a distressed look, and suddenly, I LOVED it again.  Needless to say, the gold vinyl isn't gold anymore, it looks taupe-ish and distressed.  (If you click on the picture above, you can see what I'm talking about).  It works!

This picture I took because my "baby bean", who is almost 7, and hates being called my baby, was sitting at the kitchen table coloring and intermittently watching a Halloween movie that was playing.  My heart stood still as I soaked in my surroundings of my family and our beautiful home and realized how blessed I truly am!! 

THANKS, again, Mandi for the inspiration to my newest home improvement project.  And to my sweet Meister (yes, that IS his middle name, which is a family name) for risking life and limb to stand on the top stair of the ladder to hang the mirrors I couldn't reach!  I LOVE YOU!!!!

P.S.  Don't judge the mess at the bottom of the stairs.  The ladder was in the way all day long, so I just threw stuff down there for the boys to take care of later!!