Mirror Makeover

Today I want to share another one of my furniture makeovers for the new house. I forgot to take a before picture, but as you can see below, I took a snap shot mid-project! This mirror has seen a few different paint colors in its day - let me tell you! It all started somewhere in the 80's in a very gaudy gold finish. Now don't get me wrong, I love me some gold, but this was a bit overbearing. This mirror actually sat in my parents formal living room through the 80's and 90's and disappeared sometime after that. Yes, it was time for it to be hidden away in a closet and we should all be thankful for that! 

Ok now fast forward about a decade... Once I graduated college, I had no money, no job and NO furniture! So whats a girl to do? RAID her parents house;) That's when I found this old gem... well soon-to-be gem. She was still gold and still quite flashy. Not a problem for this gal though! 10 minutes later she was on my parents kitchen floor and painted black. Perfect! New mirror?? Check!

After many years of this mirror being used in its fabulous black paint color, I thought it was time for a change. See... back in the day I had this theory that you could fix any piece of old furniture with some black paint. So, naturally I pretty much painted everything black. Well... after a while, I ended up with a bunch of black furniture. With our new house, I wanted to brighten things up a bit. I went through many different color options for the new mirror. They varied from coral, to sea foam blue, to mint green and so on. Well folks, I ended up not choosing ANY of those colors and went with white. Boring?? I sure don't think so! It was such a drastic change and really lightened up the space. What do you think?

DIY Painted Chevron Curtains

Guess what time is it?? It's chevron curtain time!!! Yupp - It's taken me a while to get this post together, but it's finally here! Now before we get started, I will warn you that these curtains did take a bit of time. They were relatively easy to make, but definitely involved some major patience! But don't you fret my friends - once they are all done you will be so happy with the outcome;) Now lets get started!!

What you will need:

White curtain panels
I got mine from Target for only $9.99!

Blue painters tape
Don't get the green painters tape - this was a bit TOO sticky for me and would always try to snag the fabric of the curtains. Blue tape will work just fine because it's not as intense

Paint & Plastic Drop Cloth
A lot people ask if I used some kind of special fabric paint, but I didn't! I simply went to Lowes and picked the color I liked and there was nothing special about it. I think I got the satin finish, but you might also explore using a matte finish if you would like. I needed one gallon since I had to make 4 curtain panels. Since the chevron stripes were quite large, I used a little more than half of the gallon.

Paint Brush
I believe I used a 3in. brush, but if your doing skinnier stripes, you for sure want to use a smaller brush.

Ruler or Guide
I also made myself a little triangle shaped template that I made out of cardboard. The combination of a ruler and template will work perfectly.

As you can see, I don't have many process photos from this project. I created these curtains close to a year ago and really had no clue that I would ever start a blog. So, sorry guys. No step by step photos for this one. But that doesn't mean I can't give you a verbal step by step!


1. Find curtain panels of your choice with the height of your choice. I found my white panel's at Target for $9.99/ea. Iron the panels BEFORE you begin taping.

2. Decide how thick you want your chevron stripes to be.  A lot of my inspiration fabrics had much skinnier stripes. I knew I wanted a much bolder statement, so I blew up the pattern. Divide up the panel to make sure none of the stripes will be cut off at the bottom or top. You might notice none of my stripes are extending off the top or bottom. This was planned out prior to painting because I wanted it to all fit without "running out of room" at the bottom of the panel. Does that kinda make sense?? Kinda...?

3. Once you are happy with your measurements, begin taping everything out. I created a guide out of cardboard in the shape of a "V". This helped a bit, but I did not rely on this 100%. I used a combination of my predetermined measurements, a ruler, and a guide. I started taping at the top and made my way down. In order to get crisp corners, I had to get creative with my tape. I would cross the two pieces of tape like an "X" and then flap one piece of tape back, and then the second flap back on top of that. This technique gave me a perfect, crisp corner.

4. Once everything is taped off, begin painting! Make sure to be careful during this process, because it can get pretty boring and time consuming. I actually got so used to just sitting there and painting that I completely stopped paying attention to what I was doing. Silly me started painting the wrong section!! I was SO SO SO mad at myself at this point. I literally had been doing this for HOURS and screwed it all up. Well, thankfully since the paint was still wet, I was able to saturate it in water and carpet stain remover. The water/stain remover combo actually worked really well for touch ups that I needed down the road, so keep that in mind! If you ever accidentally mess up and get paint in the wrong place, soak it in water and blot blot blot!! Do the same with the carpet stain remover - just follow the instructions on the bottle and it should work rather well.

5. Wait for it all to dry to make sure the paint dried evenly. Then if everything looks even, remove the tape.

WARNING - make sure to tape down some good plastic drop cloths for this project before starting. The fabric will soak up the paint and completely bleed through the other side. I wouldn't trust a fabric drop cloth because of this. Go with a plastic one for sure!

And that's it!! If your stripes end up not looking PERFECTLY even, it's ok! Mine aren't necessarily perfect, but once they are hung, you can't tell at all. This project took a good amount of time, but I was really happy with the outcome. I've had them up for almost a year, and still love them just as much as I did the day I finished them.

Well I sure hope this little how-to was a helpful one! I'm sorry I didn't have more process pictures to contribute. Who knew I would have started a blog?? Anyways, hope everyone had a great start to their week! Happy Monday:)

Also, these curtains were featured on Yahoo Homes {HERE}! Make sure to check it out!!

Hand Painted Anchor Table

So I'm not sure about everyone else, but I think I had the best weekend I've had in a while! Such a beautiful 3 day weekend full of friends and family. I took a nice little break from blogging and simply relaxed. It was fabulous!! Now that I'm all recharged, I am here and ready to post another project. If you are into the beachy/nautical craze that I am going through right now, you might like this post. It's all about my new hand painted anchor side table. Here is a peak of the final product:

This is how it first started out...

It all began a few years ago when I discovered some old cabinet doors that needed some sprucing. It was not a table at this point, but I had an idea and went with it. Soon after, I found some old banisters that were just about the right height for some legs. A few trim pieces later, a side table was born! With a lot of help from my dad of course;) This was back in college when I was around 19 or so and it's stayed with me ever since! After years of moving houses and growing up, I eventually lost the spark I initially had for this little table. Over time, I found other pieces that I like better and it pretty much always lost the battle of "Do I like {this} better, or do I like {that} better?" Like I said... it normally lost out and always got shuffled to another place that was "less" important. This table meant a lot to me though and I knew I didn't want to get rid of it. It was one of the first DIY projects I had created with my dad and I just didn't want to see it go. I knew it needed a makeover because I needed to regain that love I once had!

After some debating, I eventually decided I wanted it on my porch. Although I've already posted on my {mostly finished} porch, I'm always working on making it more "me". This table was a perfect fit and just needed a bit of paint and love. I found a navy{ish} blue paint spray at wal-mart and got to work. 

This was far too bright for the direction I wanted to take it, so of course I added some antiquing glaze. You can find this at most local home improvement stores. A little bit goes a long way so I was able to use some I already had. You also might notice I didn't paint the legs. Well thats because they will be covered up and I didn't want to waste any paint if it wouldn't even be seen. Cheap... I know. As much as I like the legs on this table, they were a bit too chunky for the space and just didn't work.

Here is the top of the table after an intense glazing session. Much better, right??? Not as bright and shiny as before. I applied the glaze mainly in the corners and also generally throughout the top as well. 

As you might see, I also used an old drop cloth as the skirt. This side of it had been painted on, so I simply flipped it over and used the other side. It was already the perfect size, so luckily I didn't have to do much. After the top was painted, I began stapling on the skirt. By leaving about an inch as a "ruffle" along the top, it hid the staples along with adding a cute little decorative touch. 

I then began painting on the anchor image. I found a vector image online of an anchor shape that I was happy with and printed it off. I then simply cut it out and traced it lightly onto the table. It didn't show up well since I used a pencil, but all I needed was a general guideline, so it was ok. Most of the anchor was dry brushed on because I didn't want it to be perfect looking. I wanted that aged look, so the dry brush technique was the best solution. I also used the antiquing glaze a little bit over the finished anchor because the cream colored paint was just too bright. 

After the anchor was painted, I took a small piece of sand paper and scraped up the edges a bit. Then, I was done! So what to you think of the final product?

I hope ya'll enjoyed my makeover and had a great holiday weekend. I also got this little cutie today. We adopted her from a local shelter and named her Bailey {short for Baylor}. She's a 5 week old fur ball and just too sweet. I'm normally allergic to most animals, but haven't had a reaction yet, so cross your fingers I won't be allergic!!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Frame it up!

Hey guys - so as I promised I am back with more projects! This time it's a small little makeover, but none the less, it's still a project! This was so simple to do and really made such a big difference. When I made over my {laundry room} a few weeks ago, I stole a piece of artwork I had hanging in the kitchen. I now had a blank wall in my kitchen that needed to be filled. And as we all know, you can't just leave a wall blank! Especially when you had something there already. It just looked naked and incomplete, so I had to fix it.

As you can see in the {before} picture below, I was going to use this frame in my laundry room, but when everything was finished, it just wasn't tall enough. It was however the perfect size for a small wall in our kitchen. So I made a swap! But before I could actually hang it in it's new home, I had to make some drastic changes. Below is a short how-to on my makeover.

{Before}

{ After }

 

Supply list:

1. Frame - new or old (mine happened to be a vintage frame)

2. Spray paint - I used a matte white

3. Swatch of fabric - large enough to fit the frame

4. Staple gun and staples

5. Wooden spoons - I found mine at Marshalls

6. Hanging nails (for spoons to sit on)

Below is a short step-by-step of my process:

{Step 1 - Tape off what you don't want painted} 

This frame had a canvas border (which I LOVED) so I taped it off

{ Step 2 - Spray paint remaining frame }

{ Step 3 - Sand edges down to your preference } 

Any type of sand paper will work. I just used what I had on hand.

{ Step 4 - Cut fabric to fit the back of frame, pull tight & staple }

I already had this fabric and since the frame wasn't very large, I was able to use leftover scraps.

{ Step 5 - Hang frame & nail in wooden spoons }

I nailed the hanging nails directly into the wall through the fabric. It seemed to work just fine!

 

So what do you think?? It seems to fit the space well, and was a very cheap project considering I already had all my supplies on hand. Hope you all enjoyed and had a great week!

Wicker Wuv - Before & After

Is it just me that loves wicker? Or shall I say "wuvs" it;) I'm cheesy, it's ok.  As much as I love wicker, most of the time my wicker finds are always in need of a huge makeover.  A few weeks ago the hubs and I went to good ole east Texas to get in some quality family time. Most of our east Texas trips end up with some great finds from our standard antique shopping trips. This fabulous find was just one of many. I spotted it pretty quickly and knew I had to have it. Despite the horrendous paint color, the shape of the piece was too pretty to pass up. And when I say the color was terrible, I mean it! Imagine the color of a band-aid mixed with the color of throw up or something. Sorry for the visual, but yeah - it was bad!! I thought for sure since the color was so awful that they would be willing to negotiate the price down a lot. Well I was kinda wrong, but a little right. It was listed at $80 which I thought was just completely ridiculous. I mean, who do these people think they are?? $80?? YEAH RIGHT.  I did really want it though so I believe I offered like $50 or something. They didn't really like that too much but we eventually met in the middle at $65. I normally would never pay that much for something like this, but the chair was actually in really good condition and I already had a place picked out for it in our home. Darn. I bought it. BUT the good news is after my little makeover, I loved it even more than I thought I would! Here are a few pics of the before:

Sorry about the pics -  I realized I forgot to take a before picture and I had already painted the entire front.  Oops!

 

Here is a close up. The pictures don't even do it justice. It was worse in person - believe me!!

 

I typically paint wicker with spray paint because it's super easy to get into all the cracks and crevasses, but I couldn't find a pretty enough red at any local store. I did although have a nearly full can of red paint from my porch makeover just waiting to be used again;) I knew this would take longer than spray paint, but I was willing to give it a go. I found a super old paint brush and got to work. Since I don't like any sort of shiny paint, I believe this was more of a matte color. It might have been eggshell, but definitely NO SHINE at all.  The uber ugly base color actually worked in my favor because it acted as a primer. Lucky me:) The process ended up taking maybe around 2 hours or so, but that was from start to finish. Not too bad if you ask me. Here is the before and after of the living room bookshelf corner:

{{ Before }}

 

{{ After }}

 

Much more spacious and open! As much as I loved my old olive velvet chair, it just didn't fit in the space correctly. It bothered me because everything always looked cluttered in that corner. I couldn't even walk behind the chair without having to move furniture. Way too frustrating. 

 

See the difference?? I can walk behind the chair - amazingggg! You might have noticed the vintage 1920's craftsman style leaning bookshelf as a new addition as well. There will soon be a post on that too:)

Well I hope y'all enjoyed my latest before and after makeover! Make sure to check out my feature at The DIY Showoff today as well. Roeshel was SO kind to feature my new little baby blog today and I couldn't be more thankful. I've been following her for a while now and she's always got GREAT posts!!

Also make sure to stop on over to Remodelaholic to visit their linky party!