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!!

Happy October

I love the cool, crisp breeze that flows through my windows this time of year!  My house is filled with the smell of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and the soft glow of candles.  I am in HEAVEN!  I look forward to the leaves at the peak of  their color in a week or two and the pot of soup that will be simmering on my stove tomorrow!!

HAPPY OCTOBER!!! 

P.S. yes, it's true, there is still no hardware on my "new" buffet.  Why does husband have to be soooo busy??!????!!  I'm not even going to attempt it because they will end up lopsided, guaranteed!  But who can complain, right?  He just painted my fridge for me!!  Now it's black and matches everything else.  It's whiteness doesn't stick out like a sore thumb anymore!  THANKS, hon.  I LOOOVE YOU!!

My House Makeover

I just left a comment on this blog (you have GOT to check her awesomeness out.  She is AMAZING, and better yet, I've found someone as cheap as I am!!!!!) about my children's rooms and their unique, individualized paint jobs.  Thinking that I had pictures posted of each room, I told her she could check them out if she wanted to.  Just out of curiosity, I went back a year, only to find that the only room I blogged about was the boys'.  HOW DID THAT HAPPEN??  I guess I overlooked it after I posted the pictures on facebook.  UGH.  Anyway.....just for fun, I thought I'd post before and after pictures of the rooms I've done in the past year.  =)

CHELSEA'S ROOM

So this isn't the best before picture, but this once Americana themed room with taupe walls and navy blue trim turned into this:

She didn't want a typical headboard.  She wanted to paint a sun!  So we did!!

I just have to mention that we found these curtain panels/bed cover at Bed Bath and Beyond for a mere $5!!!

EMMY'S ROOM

Again, not the greatest before picture, but Emmy's room was a DARLING garden room, once upon a time.  She turned 10 and told me she was too old for that, so I PAINSTAKINGLY did this for her:

The stripes took FOREVER to do, but it was so worth the end result!!!  And the colors are ADORABLE!!  Orange has ALWAYS been her favorite color.

TODD, DYLAN and LANDON'S ROOM

Yes, their room was built from scratch in the basement!!  And since it's a HUGE room with a HUGE walk-in closet, all 3 of them are in one room!  But there's so much space that it's not a big deal.  We once called this the dungeon.  But now, it's a trip to the Milky Way!

The stars weren't quite finished when I took this picture, but you get the idea!  Did I mention that ALL of the boys, including the one I married, LOOOVE the Apollo Space Program that took men to the moon??  As if that weren't obvious!!!!

All these lights charge the glow-in-the-dark stars so that when they turn the lights off to go to bed (or to play), they're in space. =)

Their suiting up station.

And just because I think they looked AWESOME for Halloween last year, here they are in their costumes:

(the picture was taken at the Clark Planetarium on the moonscape)

THE BATHROOM

Rubber Duckies were cute.....10 years ago when the kids were toddlers!  I got tired of this plain and BORING bathroom, so I did this to it:

I just LOVE it soooo much!  I can hardly wait to get pictures of my kids on the beach to hang in here!!!

And there you have it, my room by room makeovers.

  My bedroom is currently in progress, but it will probably be after Halloween before it's done.  DEFINITELY before Thanksgiving though!  I can't wait for the reveal on it.  It's going to be SO CUTE!!!  I have already purchased all of the furniture for it, since we had NOTHING but old, hand-me-down, it-will-do-for-now furniture, for, get this, less than $150!!!!  Gotta love great deals at DI and on KSL!!!  I looooove doing things like this on the cheap!!  I'M SOOOO EXCITED!  You're not going to believe how great this furniture is going to look once it's redone.  =) 

Next in line?  Probably the master bath, but I don't have a vision for that yet.  One thing at a time!  My brain might explode if I do more than that.

OH!!  WAIT!!!  (screeeeeching halt!)  How could I forget the MOST UNIQUE room of the ENTIRE house??!?!??!!!!!

THE STAR DOME!!!!

Have you ever been to a dome theater??  If so, that's what this is!!!  PRETTY COOL, huh??!?!?!!

This was the very beginnings of the dome, with his posterboard prototype in the foreground.
(UGH....the math!  And geometry at that, YUCK!!!)

It's taking shape in the basement...

Drywall going on....

Mudding is in progress.  More pictures to come later!  Now how's THAT for a room that someone would look at and say, "WHAT THE HECK were they thinking????"  =) 

(Good thing we don't ever plan on moving)

My New Lens

I just got a new 1.8 50 mm lens for my camera and decided to give it a whirl with my baby girl since she looked so beautiful for picture day today!!  This is going to take some getting used to.  I kept wanting to zoom in and out with it.  I don't like having to move myself!!  But I LOOOOOVE how the pictures turned out!!  I think I'm going to have LOTS of fun with this. =)

Project #2

I think I've definitely found another hobby!  I am having so much fun refinishing this furniture.  I got this little beauty at DI for $30......

 

and turned it into this......

As you can see, I added some beadboard to the door where the glass had broken out and some new hardware.  It turned out so cute, don't you think?

I still have 2 dressers, 2 night stands and my headboard to do, so be on the lookout for my next unveiling!!

My Creative Zen

In my quest to find some vintage looking lamps for my bedroom makeover, I have been unsucessful in finding something that is cheaper than $40 or $50 that I actually like.  Multiply that by 2 and that was WAY more than I wanted to spend on lamps for my nightstands.  I just couldn't stomach paying more for the lamps than I did for the nightstands.  So, I took

THIS

(cheap Wal-Mart PLASTIC lamp post)

and THIS

(cheap Wal-Mart lamp shade)

and did

THIS

(with red spray paint and faux glaze)

and THIS

(with faux glaze and some vintage trim, which wasn't on yet because the glaze was still wet)

and made THIS!!

I am THRILLED with how it turned out!  I LOVE doing stuff like this on the cheap!!!!

Here are a few close ups of the detail:

My New Toys

I got a couple of new toys over the weekend!!  I'm so excited about them both.  =)  The first is a new stove.  I never realized how I'd have to adjust to a new appliance like this, but it is so different than my last one.  I actually look forward to cooking and baking now!!!  And because of the flat top, clean up is a BREEEEEZE!  That was always my biggest complaint.  I HATED cleaning the stove top on the other one.  It was such a pain.  This new oven is a convection oven.  I have yet to really know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.  I guess I'll find out soon enough.  One of my favorite features in the oven is it's steam clean cycle.  Not to confuse it with self cleaning, which it has also, the steam clean feature allows me to pour 1/2 cup of water in the bottom of it, turn the cycle on so it can steam the spills loose, and then 20 minutes later, I simply wipe it out!! The bottom element is hidden, so I don't have to fuss around it.  I LOOOVE IT!!!

   

My second "new" treasure is this DARLING, rustic antique scale that I scored for pretty cheap on eBay.  After I redid my buffet, I knew exactly what I wanted to put in it....and this is it!!  I shrieked with delight when I pulled this baby out of the box.  The pictures the seller posted did not do it justice.  It's so charming and was meant just for me!!!  I absolutely LOVE it.  =)

I'm hoping Chris can help me put the hardware on sometime this week.  He's busy, busy, busy trying to fix the leak in the fridge and then he's going to paint it black to match the rest of my appliances, so I'm not sure it will happen anytime soon.  If I didn't think I'd screw it up and make them all uneven, I'd do it myself, but I'm not good at that kind of stuff.  I'll post another picture when it's done.