Ikea Mirror Makeover

Last week I decided to make over a mirror that was sitting in the yard sale pile. This common Ikea mirror has been with me for many years. It is a heavy thing that has outgrown its welcome unless I could come up with a way to bring it back to life.

I decided to paint the mirror, with the idea that if I ruined it I could put it right back into the yard sale pile. First, I covered up the middle area that I did not want to paint. Question, does a better way exist to tape off a circle besides outlining the sides with tiny pieces of tape? That was not fun.

Use painters tape to protect areas from paint

I planned to use plain flat latex paint that I already owned. Therefore, I had to prime the mirror so the paint would stick to it.

paint primer spray

prepped and primed for paint

I painted two coats of paint to achieve the coverage I was looking for. I did have to take a small paint brush to get in between the little mosaic mirror pieces.

coat #1

Two coats of paint later

I did not put on a sealer because I am planning to hang the mirror on a wall where it would not get touched often. 

eat your heart out Ikea!

The mirror has not found a home on the wall yet. I am still debating whether to hang it in the guest room or the bathroom.

On a completly unrelated note, I picked up some ceramic egg crates from World Market.  I use them for jewelry organization.  My previous jewelry organizers had fewer pockets and a dark background that seemingly made my jewelry disappear. These little crates provide the perfect easily searchable white background with plenty of pockets to hold my goodies.

ceramic egg crates

I found a few treasures this weekend at local estate sales and my favorite consignment shop.  They will be the subject of my next post.

Take care!

Barn Sales

The time had come for me to check out the world of barn sales.  On a sunny, brisk and beautiful autumn morning, friend and fellow blogger, Alisa with Five Eleven Decor met up with me in Frederick, Maryland. We visited two holiday open house barn sales: Chartreuse & Co and Sweet Clover.  

Here are a few shots of the awesome handmade and vintage home decor goodies:

Alisa and I had an opportunity to meet a few of the locals at Sweet Clover.  These lovely horses were very friendly... at times, a little too friendly.

Anyway, let me share with you my finds from the barn sales.

I picked up two pieces of milk glass (the top and bottom piece) to add to my mini collection.  I added a little bit of greenery. I love the sharp, crisp and clean color of white milk glass.

A vintage floral frog.  The medal used to make the frog adds the perfect amount of weight.  I painted the frog blue and am using the frog as a card/photo holder.  Currently, the frog is holding the memorial card from my great grandmothers funeral.

 

A small silver bowl and three skeleton keys.  Thanks Alisa for the tip on the hydrangeas at Hobby Lobby. The skeleton keys are difficult to see due to the glare on the cupcake stand but they are leaning on an old thread spool my grandmother gave me.

This is a close up of the silver bowl in the above photo. If you look really closely, you can see a fancy calligraphy T in the center of the engraved scroll. How could I not buy this little guy?  It basically had a sign calling me... well at least a sign with a T.  Close enough.

A vintage folding yard stick, cute mini Brownie camera, blue book and a galvanized drawer.  The yard stick and blue book found a home on the wood pallet display. The Brownie joined a my vintage camera collection on the library bookcase. And the galvanized drawer is still looking for a perfect place in our home.

Last but not least, an old piece of white ironstone. Usually, I find ironstone to be rather blah but this piece had a little bit of personality with detailed handles and mini pedestal.

That is all for this treasure hunting trip.  It is hard to believe it is November already. Several stores are blaring holiday music. Dear stores, I need to ease my way into the holiday season, not get thrown into it!

Take care!

Rescued Wood Pallet

My husband already thinks I am crazy, but when I asked him to help me lift a dirty, wet wood pallet sitting next to a dumpster into our car, I got *the look*.  You know... the "You can't possibly be serious about putting trash in the car?!?" look.  I attempted to prep my husband before said dumpster diving by showing him a bunch of wood pallet displays on pinterest.  Nevertheless, he seriously thought I lost my mind.

Rescued from the dumpster

I used a handsaw to cut off two of the supports so that the pallet could function better as a shelf.

 

Removed two of the supports

This beat up wood pallet had some rough times in life and needed some love. The wood was cracked, splintered and jagged.... but, but it has a lot of character and charm, right??  Lets hope so or my husband is going to give me another look. The "I told you so" look.

Sanding off the rough spots

Used short screws to secure splintered wood

Once the pallet was smooth enough to handle and the loose pieces were secured, I added picture hanging hooks and wire gauged for heavy duty support.

Hang the pallet Take 1: Heavy duty picture hanging hooks and wire

While the heavy duty wire did hold the pallet on the wall, however, I had nightmares that the wire would come undone and the heavy pallet would fall on the unsuspecting guests sleeping on the bed underneath.  I looked to the only place that I can find all information... google.  Lo and behold, I found a tutorial called How to Hang a Wood Pallet. Off to home depot I went to get a french cleat.  The pallet does not weight more than 100 lbs but I purchased the french cleat for 200 lbs because it was longer. We were able to screw the cleat into three of the wood boards on the pallet and two wall studs.

Hang the pallet Take 2: French cleat to support 200 lbs

I spent some time styling the pallet while it was on the ground. I added hooks and picture hanging brackets to where I wanted to hang china plates, teacups, paintings, etc. The great thing about the rustic wood pallet shelf is that you can screw and nail whatever you want into it, pull it all back out and the remaining holes only add more character to the piece.

Add hooks and photo brackets onto the pallet to secure items

The final product of upcycling a wood pallet found next to the dumpster into a rustic display!

Rustic Wood Pallet Display

Adding a little rustic to our guest room

Even my unconvinced husband now agrees that the wood pallet project turned out pretty cool. Mark the calendar - that's a win for the wife!

Dear Husband, how about them apples?!