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A few weeks ago, our full length mirror was mysteriously knocked over and cracked. We’ve narrowed down the suspects, but our main lead has done a pretty good job of expressing her innocence.
The accident cracked a whole corner off of the mirror, so I cut the mirror and sanded the edge so it could still be used. Unfortunately, no one in our house is under 4 foot tall, so it looked a little silly propped against the wall. Emily was gone this weekend, so I figured it was the right time to do something about it. Besides, my tools have been feeling a little neglected in the garage.
My idea was to take a pallet, break it down, and build a frame for the mirror. I had two pallets on hand, a pretty new one and one that had some wear on it. I decided to break down the older one. Once I got it broken apart, I found the number 98 printed on it and decided that was just too cool to cover up.
So instead of trying to sand it down and make it look like new, I decided this pallet was going to stay in it’s weathered condition.
I did some quick measurements and cut 45 degree angles for each of the pieces.
As with most of my projects, I generally have an idea of what I want to do, but figure out the details as I go along. For this project, the “details” were how I would connect the pieces and how I would hold the mirror on the frame. The solution was pretty simple. I cut some “L’s” out of plywood and used them to both hold the corners of the mirror and help hold the frame together.
I glued the frame together then attached my “L” pieces to it, then clamped it up and let it dry.
Next I had to cut down the mirror to fit in the nook in our bedroom, where I thought it would look the best. An even 3 feet was just about perfect.
I cut the mirror, put it in the back of the frame, then used another piece of plywood to hold it in place. I added a simple hanger, and this project was ready to be displayed. Truly, until it was hung, I wasn’t sure if Emily would like it or think it was “a little too dirty to be in the house.” To my relief, she loved it when she got home.
Let me know what you think about this project. Would you have liked it better nicely sanded and stained, or is the weathered frame more your style?
Another week has flown by, another random Friday for you all.
1. After a successful garage sale (we made almost $300!), two items that I’d been intending on refinishing and then gave up didn’t sell (a crappy old chair I found on the side of a road and the side table I picked up when visiting my friend Emily in OKC). I decided it was a sign that I was meant to get in gear and actually refinish them. All it took was season one of Dawson’s Creek and four episodes of Burn Notice to go from this:
To this:
Not too bad, right? Daniel used some pieces of extra wood he found in the garage to replace the rotted-out seat and the missing board on the seat back as well. I spent about $10 on some outdoor fabric and new padding for the seat at Joann Fabric – the paint was leftover from a recent re-painting of the porch (which you can kind of see in the “after” picture). Now our front porch won’t look so empty when potential buyers stop by. I am thinking of getting a little chalkboard that says “Welcome Potential Homebuyers!” and putting it on the table. Maybe that would be too much…
2. We recently attended Shakespeare in the Park to see “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream” with a few friends. Unfortunately, it was nearly 100 degrees and we arrived a bit late so we were seated way too far back to really see or hear anything well. So like the small children we become when it’s too hot and we can’t hear anything, we took pictures on Instagram and left at intermission. We want to go again – maybe for their other play, Antony & Cleopatra – before the summer is over. I always preferred Shakespearean tragedies to comedies anyways.
3. Finally, the euthanasia of Lennox in Northern Ireland has hit a lot of us in the dog community – especially the pit bull community – pretty hard. Breed Specific Legislation is unfair and have been shown to be ineffective. Topeka, KS and the state of Ohio recently repealed their BSL, but there are many cities in the United States and countries around the world that still ban certain dogs based on their looks. So while Lennox’s story is unique because so many people heard about it and rallied in support of him, there are many other dogs being put to sleep each day with no one to fight for them. Look at your city and state to see if BSL exists. If it does, please write your government leaders asking to repeal these outdated and ineffective laws. Because at one time Dobermans, Rottweilers, and German Shepherds were subject to BSL. It’s pit bulls now. What breed might it be in the future?
Yesterday I showed you my piggy project that was inspired by Yellow Brick Home’s hot pink T-Rex…
Well, the inspiration didn’t stop there! I also was pretty obsessed with YBH’s painted camera, so I decided to paint my own vintage camera that I found at Those Were the Days Antique Mall in Warrensburg on my very last day of school.
Just like with the piggies, I started off with a few light coats of primer.
I intended to use the same Key Lime spray paint as I did with the piggies, but then I remembered how much I loved the simple white of YBH’s camera…
Since I didn’t buy any white paint, I just decided to go over the primer with the clear gloss sealant and call it good. I really like how it turned out.
Daniel thinks it needs a couple more coats of paint to cover up the bits of black showing through, but I like it how it is.
What do you think?
I have been salivating over all of the spray painted things I’ve seen on home/DIY/style blogs lately…well, especially stuff from Scott & Kim’s beautiful Yellow Brick Home. So yesterday I pinned a couple things Kim spray painted for her new studio…including a cool, old camera and a sexy T-Rexy (catch that movie reference?)…
Okay, confession time: I am typically really bad about pinning some project idea and then never getting around to actually doing said project. But yesterday, when Daniel and I were recovering from a whirlwind graduation weekend by watching Doc Martin (which is helping to get us through the hump while we wait for a new season of Sherlock and Downton Abbey), I had an epiphany – I could actually do a project or two right then (shocking revelation, right?). So, we scurried over to Sutherlands where I spent way too much time hemming and hawing over bright spray paint in yellows, blues, and greens. When I enlisted Daniel’s help, he deftly chose Rust-oleum Key Lime and some spray primer, and we were back home in a flash.
I didn’t have my own T-Rex to paint, but I did have a piggy that needed a fresh new look.
This piggy is from the Todd Oldham for Target dorm collection that I had in my dorm room back in the day, and it’s been in our bedroom ever since Daniel & I got married. But let’s just say that my style has evolved a bit since then. This piggy even still had the sticker on – so I had to scrape that off before I could get started.
I applied two light coats of primer first – essentially allowing me to start with a blank slate. I also found another little piggy to paint while I waited on the big piggy to dry.
After allowing the primer to dry for a few hours, I applied a couple thin coats of Key Lime paint.
Once I had a nice, even coating of Key Lime, I thought I would apply some clear gloss sealant for added protection. Here is where things started to go awry. I noticed after the first thin coat on the big piggy that the paint underneath the clear sealant was starting to crackle.
At first I freaked out, but then I started to kind of like it. I decided not to put the clear sealant on the little piggy so I could compare to see which one I liked more.
I placed the big piggy back in our bedroom on our dresser…
Then the little piggy went into our office…
So which one do you prefer? Super smooth little piggy or crackly big piggy? I’m still trying to decide…
Ooooh, and check back tomorrow to see how my painted camera experiment turned out!
Our Waldo Bungie 