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DIY Shabby Mirror Project

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ShabbyMirrorPin2

It’s been a while since I’ve tackled a “Mommy” project.

The weather has been cold, and it limits how much I can really do.

However, last month I picked up my very first jar of Chalk Paint.

HomePlate

American Paint Company   (color: Home Plate)

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to try some, I’m just so frugal at heart and Chalk paint isn’t on the cheap side.

It is however on the quick drying side, and non-fume side, so I can use this paint indoors during the Winter.

So I forked over  a few extra dollars per ounce so that I would be able to continue my painting addiction hobby over the next few months.

I also decided that while I was shelling out the big bills that I would finally hit “purchase” on some other paint items that have been on my Amazon wish list.

modernmasters

Modern Masters Metal Effects   (Metalic Paints w/ Antique Patina)

I immediately fell in love with these paints.   I tested them out on a few boards and came up with some quick wall art.

WallArt

And look what they do to my boring old clay pots:

 MetalEffects

Anyway, armed with these paints I decided to get to work on something that has been bothering me for the past year.

My black plastic wall mirror.

mirror

photo credit

I forgot to take a before shot, but that is pretty much what it looked like.

Black.  Plastic.  Man Cave style.

I bought it on sale because I needed a mirror, but I never quite liked it very much.

And it definitely didn’t fit in with ANYTHING.

Well, today I went to work on it.

mirror

 I started with one coat of Home Plate from American Paint Co.

TIP: When painting a mirror I always use computer paper instead of painters tape, it’s the lazy way but it works better for me, I can never get the tape to go on straight and you can usually wedge the paper under the sides so that there isn’t any paint seepage.

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After I painted the entire thing, I gave the middle groove a second coat

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Next I went around the outer edge, using a dry brush with Copper Paint.

I did it pretty splotchy, I want some white and black to show through.

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I decided to paint the inner edge with Silver, I had some Martha Stewart Metallic Glaze  and that did the trick.

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Then I took some Turquoise Paint and dry brushed it over the Copper.

(color: Beach Glass by American Paint co.)

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Bronze Dry Brushed on the sides of the Mirror.

Are you keeping track, that’s silver, copper, bronze

Did I say Two Tone?  I meant Three.

Three Toned Mirror.

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I then went around the white area in the middle and rubbed in color that was left on all my brushes.

Since they were dry brushes, there wasn’t much paint, but I focused the turquoise in the corners and some bronze to darken up the white a bit.

(You can tell this isn’t an exact science right?)

I also used a rag and wiped away the paint in some areas to expose some of the black plastic.

It’s hard for me to capture a photo of the different tones in the mirror.

Here is a shot with lighting where you can see the different paint colors.

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And here’s my Shabby mirror all ready for business

Mirrorhung

Much better then black plastic don’t ya think!

Be sure you check out all of our Shabby Projects Here:

HomeDecorPin

Siggy

Gifts Kids Can Make….

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Okay, so I don’t know about you,
but finding gifts that children can make can sometimes be troublesome.

Especially, when you wait until a week before Christmas to get started.

Ahem.

Anyway, if you have a child who is interested in making gifts for family members,
next week is a great time to put the Christmas break to good use.

Especially when they can create something like this:

My nine year old made these.
Trust me, they are simple!
And Cheap!

This would be a great project for young tweeny boppers too!

So here’s the deal:

Materials:
Wood
Stain
Paint
Sandpaper

And here’s how to do all that on the cheap:

1. Visit Home Depot and head to the back of the lumber aisle. They should have a discount bin, where you can snag a board like this for practically free. Actually 51 cents, but if your kids flash a pearly grin, and ask adorable questions like, “What kind of wood is this?,” and “Do I need to sand with the grain?” then you might just score them for free.

NOTE: I have only seen the discount bin empty one time. You may not score the same size board as we did but there is usually always something to work with. Try to take the STRAIGHTEST board with no SPLITS.

2. Cut your board. HD will do this for FREE! or if you have a saw at home, that works too. We cut our boards at about 14 inches. We got FIVE signs out of one board! SCORE!

3. Paint your background color on your board. Use a lighter color paint, as we will darken it up a bit a little later. (Sissy’s signs were painted white and light blue to begin with.) TIP: While you’re at Home Depot, check their paint department for the “Mess Ups” rack. I often find a small tub of paint for 50 cents!

4. Choose your word. Pick a font that is crisp and easy to paint. Print it at a size that will fit your board.

5. Follow this chalk tutorial for transfering your word to your board. Or use graphite paper, we’re cheap and there are ALWAYS little chunks of sidewalk chalk around our house.

6. Paint your word. This is the longest part, go slow, don’t fret over mistakes, we can sand them off…and we want it to look shabby anyway right? We have a basic paint brush set from Wally World that included a slanted tip paint brush….this helps quite a bit.

7. Shabby your board up a bit. Use sandpaper to rough up your word. Hammer in some dents. Rough up the edges…ect.

Don’t be afraid to take out some big gouges!
Where ever there is bare wood showing, the stain will soak in.

8. Use a wood stain over the paint. This is the most expensive part of the project. Wood stain is about $8 at Home Depot, but it will last you a lifetime! You literally use a dab of this stain for each board. I love Minwax Jacobean for most projects.

To stain your board: Wear gloves, dab an old rag into the can, and then wipe it over the whole project, let it set for a few moments, then wipe it off. Throw away your rags. (I read somewhere that staining rags can self ignite…and that is not good right? So toss them!)

Mom or Dad can do this part too, if you’re nervous about the kiddos handling such a noxious product.

9. Let it dry. We move ours indoors because it sets quicker. Afterwords you can spray a poly coat on if you like, this is just an extra step to protect the sign if say you needed to clean it for some reason. Not necessary, but if you have the spray anyway, give it a quick shot.

10. If you want to be fancy, hammer a hook or a picture holder into the back.

All Done!

Total Cost
$.51 wood
$8 stain
_________
$8.50

On Hand:
Sandpaper
Paint

$8.50 makes about 5 signs….so that’s about $1.70 per gift!

Not bad.

Maybe Mom can make a few too?

Now that I think of it,
This would be a great project for the entire family,
you could easily make words like JOY and Peace…

or maybe Welcome!
This sign literally cost me about $1.00 in materials.
(board, stain, paint)

Stay tuned for some more shabby projects,
my camera is full of photos to share!

Shabby Adventures

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Hey.
How are ya?

It’s been a while…

I know.

I’m sorry.

You see I recently bought one of these.

That’s where I’ve been.

Well, actually….this is where I’ve been:

Reading my newest book:The Handbuilt Home by Ana White.

And I’ve been pinning all sorts of things here.

I’ve really been very busy doing things.

Non-computer things.

It’s good for me I think?

To prove that I didn’t just ditch you,

that I was actually doing SOMETHING….

Here are some Recent Projects I’ve tackled
(with inspiration/tutorial links)

I heart Oregon HOME Sign
(Inspiration via The Vintage Lemon and Shanty 2 Chic)
(Painting on Wood Tutorial: My Wonderful Walls)

Wash Your Hands Printed Fabric Bathroom Frame
(Tutorial: My Repurposed Life)
(Graphic: 4 Men and 1 Lady)

Photo Collage
Frames were repurposed from garage sales or goodwill.
I did this in our mudroom bath,
the lighting is horrible, but it really helps
that tiny little room feel a bit more cheery.

Glass Knob Wreath Decoration
Scroll wood from Home Depot and
The rest is just a piece of walnut stained wood,
with a knob and a wreath….simple but pretty!

Printed Fabric Shabby Pillow
(Tutorial: My Repurposed Life)
(Graphic: Graphics Fairy)

Repainted my Mirror
(Inspiration Color via The House of Smiths)

Cedar Planter
(I need like ten more of these!)
(Ana White)

Gallery Shelf Ledges
(Ana White)

And more gallery shelf ledges….

The gallery shelves are simple and cheep. I love them!

Storage Crate
(Shanty 2 Chic)
This turned out HUGE and fits all of our floor pillows,
and even a couple of babies.

Fireside Bench
(Ana White)
Love this one! I still haven’t coated it with poly,
just enjoying the rustic look.

And finally my VERY FAVORITE project this month:

Framed Wall Maps
(Frame Tutorial via Shanty 2 Chic)
I cut my boards with my miter box and a hand saw, just like the tutorial above,
but I actually used this video tutorial from Kreg, for assembling the boards.
My frames were done in a few minutes.

The longest part was beating them up a bit and then waiting for the stain to dry.

Aren’t they wonderful?
Here’s what I used:

Boards: 1 x 3’s
Stain: Minwax Walnut
Maps: US and World (though I might replace with these antique looking ones)

Phew.

That was a lot of work!!

See, it wasn’t you.

It was just me being busy.

And believe me, I’m just getting started on my “list”

I am always finding new links for fun projects on Pinterest!
so if you’re starting to miss me, follow me over there too!

Shabby Shoe Cubby

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We call this baby the “Shoe Cube”

I love shoe cubes.
I have them in almost ALL the closets in our house.

This one sits in the mud room.
And while I love how organized it is,
the white melamine board is a little too “cubical” for me.

Unfortunately, I’m not skilled enough yet to build my own,
(though I have someday plans)
But, I wondered if there wasn’t something that could be done to
personalize this thing a bit more until I figure out how to use a jigsaw.

So here’s what I came up with:

I used the same supplies as with the Mud Room Shelf,
and the wood is some scrap wood I got out of the cheap bin at Home Depot.

I just (hand) sawed it all to size and
used liquid nails to glue it to the top.

If I did it over again, I would go 1/2 larger so there would be a lip around the edges.

I also decided that I should do the stool, and that turned out super cute as well.

I tried to make it as shabby as I could.

I’m loving the way it looks in the laundry/mudroom,
makes me want to spend more time in there.

Sorta.


Shabby Chic Mud Room Shelf

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Okay.

First of all.

I need to state that before I actually MADE this,
I spent THREE months trying to BUY this instead.

I needed a Mud Room Shelf,
and I had a small list of requirements:

I wanted one that was made out of REAL WOOD

This shelf had to be heavy duty.
Four kids.
Activities with crazy amounts of gear.
A gazillion winter jackets.
Maybe even a special place for my crazy heavy purse?
(seriously what ever happened to REAL WOOD?)

I also wanted LOTS of hooks.
At least 6.
2 or 3 just isn’t going to cut it around here.
Ideally I’d have 12,
but I only have room for about 6,
so that is the magic number.

And of course I wanted it to MATCH.
 I adore shabby, rustic, and muted colors.
Too much color and not enough reflecting light just makes my head hurt.

So after months of searching with no luck,
I grudgingly went to my favorite DIY blog Shanty 2 Chic.
I was only hesitant because I’ve never actually “built” anything before.
(napkin holders in 8th grade shop class don’t count)

But after my initial building butterflies,
I did a simple search and found exactly what I was looking for:

Isn’t it beautiful!
And the tutorial was SHORT and SIMPLE and I KNEW what most of the supplies were.

To make an already long story short:
I made two of them!

And it really wasn’t hard at all!
(read: I spent ALL day struggling with this project, while my children ran rampant in the yard and by the time we came in for dinner they looked like starving chimney urchins and I made them eat their pizza in the bathtub.)

Super Easy.

So yeah, in all honesty:
My feet hurt.
My knees hurt.
I have a power drill blister.
I’m covered in paint.
But I feel great because….

This is a piece of furniture.
And I made it!
And it only cost me about $55/shelf.
FOR REAL WOOD PEOPLE.

It’s hard to tell in the pictures,
but these shelves are FIVE feet long and about TEN inches tall.
They are massive.

I love them to pieces.
 I loved the white shelf so much that I put it by the front door.
I cannot wait to decorate this each season!

And here’s a shot of my totally awesome Mud Room Shelf:

Here’s a more honest shot
from the other side of the room:

Just keeping it real people…..

If you’re interested here are the products I used:

Rustolem Heirloom White Spray Paint (white shelf)
Behr Aged Jade Flat Paint (blue/green shelf)
Minwax Walnut Wood Stain
Antique Gray acrylic paint on Martha Steward stencils.
Bird Poop (Jacobean Wax)

Besides using different colors and hooks,
I also got a much thicker piece of casing.
This was a mistake on my part, but I actually love the dimension it adds.

Now….I wonder what I should build next?


Sewing a Pillow

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If you follow me on Pinterest you might have noticed my Pillow board.

I have been drooling over all sorts of amazing pillows,
quietly “planning” to do them….SOME DAY.

I was waiting for the perfect weekend to start sewing.
a weekend in which I had nothing else to do,
when the laudry is all folded, and the windows are clean,
the children are HAPPILY playing together on the carpet.

But as the weeks passed,
I slowly realized that the day would NEVER come.

So amid huge towers of laundry, fingerprint windows,
and bickering children I dropped everything, got out
my sewing machine and went to work.

neck roll pillow tutorial sewing

I chose to tackle this neck roll pillow.
by DIYDesign.

It seemed most simple, she posted lots of photos and measurements,
and I already had the pillow forms.

Also, just a side note that this is a Stash Buster project!
There are small amounts of fabric required so it’s great for using up left over fabric,
or to clear out those remnants you picked up on impluse from Joanns.

Ahem.

I used some White Blossom Eyelet fabric left over from my curtains,
and the other white fabric is “who knows what” from the sale bin.

As embelishment I used cheepo lace, some twine, and some tan edging.

So want to see how they came out?

For some reason my first pillow came out a little tight.
On my second one I added another half inch to the length of the pattern as I seem to take liberty with my seam allowances.

Here is one next to my “store bought” pillows.

Not to SHABBY if I do say so myself!

My daughter was so impressed she gasped at how pretty they turned out.

(or perhaps in surprise that I was the one who sewed it. )

And the best thing about this pattern is that you can easily untie the sides
and change your pillow case whenever you like!


The Power of Wax….

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So yesterday I posted all about my crazy yellow dresser.

It just turned out WAY brighter then I had intended:

Yowza Yellow Dresser:

Well today, in an attempt to rectify the screeming yellow,
I tried adding in a little wax.

So here is the stuff I picked up.

It’s called Fiddes and Son Supreme Wax Polish
and the color is Jacobean

It’s really thick and kinda looks like birdy doo

But that’s okay, because it’s going to rescue my dresser from a classic craft fail.

And it’s super simple to use:

All you have to do is rub the birdy doo wax into the wood,
in all the areas you want a bit more shabby.

Which in my case is like the entire thing.

We are using gloves and doing this outside because,
the wax stinks…….not like birdy doo,
but like the kind of stuff that
will make you THINK you can FLY like a birdy.

And that is certainly not our intention this afternoon.

So here is a side by side shot of the drawers:

You can see the bottom two have been waxed.

The color is toned down just enough that it’s not giving me a headache anymore.

Looking much better,
tons more depth!

Here is the BEFORE and AFTER shot:

It’s hard to tell in the photo, but in person it makes a huge difference.

When you look closer you can see a whole new tone to the piece:

Before and After Close UP:

It’s just the color that I wanted!

I will be using birdy doo on EVERYTHING from now on!

Love it!

Shabby Summer

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Okay, I know I haven’t posted much Shabbiness this Summer.

I’ve been SO busy this year,
but the NEED to paint something finally overcame me
and I did squeeze in one little project this week.

I have had this dresser sitting in my closet for a couple of years,
just waiting to be shabbied up.

Or down.

I’m not really sure the proper verbage there.

But the point is that I scored this baby for $15 at a yard sale,
and have had big plans (in my head) for it over the last few years.

Well, today was the day!

Here’s how it all went down.

Wash.

Light Sand.

Undercoat….

I did a quick spray of all the areas I wanted the color to show through.

Time to paint!

Three coats latter…still not the exact color, but I’m pooped.

Time to start sanding….

and sanding….

and even more sanding…

Adding some pretty hardware to the top drawers….
(Keeping the old hardware for the bottom.)

It took about 2 1/2 hours, but here she is all gussied up!

Yikes that is really YELLOW!!

Going to take some getting used to…

Loving the glass knobs, so girly!

Overall cost:
Dresser $15
Paint $13 (though I only used half)
Spray Paint $5 (again, over half left)
Knobs $16

Total Cost $49
(or $40 if you count the leftover paint for another project)

Not to bad shabby!

But, I’m wondering if there is an easy way to tone down the yellow a bit?
I was thinking a tad more golden brown….

Check out a few shabby projects from the past!