Mirror to Chalkboard

A couple months ago I found the perfect ornate mirror at a thrift store. I had been looking for one for a long time, knowing that I wanted to turn to use the frame with a chalkboard and finally this one showed up in my path. It lived untouched on our fainting sofa until Saturday, the day before out engagement photos, when Peter and I decided we wanted it to be a prop. Of course, I swore I had a before picture and of course I don’t. Arghhh.  I’m going to blame the fact that we were running around like crazy people.

The picture of the back of the mirror will show you the original color.

I removed the red ribbon and the screws from the back of the mirror. If you want to turn the mirror into a chalkboard then you can fit a piece of wood to the frame or you can just use the cardboard. I opted for the latter. Spray the cardboard and the frame with primer.

Follow up with the color that you chose for the mirror and chalkboard paint for the cardboard. The main reason that it took us so long to get around to this project was that we were’t sure what color we wanted the frame. We should’ve just done it since we can always repaint, but we were back and forth between a statement color, silver, trying to silver leaf, or white. I think this is a great choice for us for now.

Here’s the final product.

And here it is in action.

These are the sneak peak from our fabulous photographer Mary Sledd. If you’re in the Austin area and looking for a photographer I definitely recommend her. When I get a bit more time I’ll write more of a review.

What projects have you been putting off for awhile? Is there anything that you think would really motivate you to move forward with them?

Bathroom Makeover: Fixture Update

All of the light fixtures in our house have a copper patina finish. It’s interesting, because they actually get uglier when you dust them. The finish is unpleasant in every room in the house, but paired with the silver faucets and accessories in the bathroom it was downright unsightly. I forgot to take a before photo until I was already removing the fixture from the wall, so please forgive the bad picture.

We spent a few days browsing light fixtures and realized that we would spend about $100 to get the same look in a different finish, so we did what any sensible person would do and spray painted it.

After shutting off the power and disconnecting the wires, we were left with this.

We carefully taped off the part of the fixture that house the light bulbs.

After just one coat of Kilz and a few light coats of  spray paint, the fixture was looking a hundred times better.

I have to be honest: I love it. It really goes with the light and airy vibe that we’re hoping to achieve in our new space. Plus, the picture shows what else we’ve been doing for the past two days. Things are starting to come together beautifully.

I think the best part of this project is that I was playing electrician/painter while Peter was cooking for a party. I guess we’re not the most traditional couple. He was excited because he got to try new things in the kitchen and I was excited because I got to learn how to connect all the wires. Win-Win.

So, what do you think? I was a little apprehensive about using something flammable to paint a light fixture, but after looking into it more and testing the temperature of the fixture when it’s warm, it should be fine.

Bathroom Makeover: Chapter Four: How to Caulk a Bathroom

After Peter finished removing the grout and caulk that sealed our bathtub, we were stuck with the question of which one to use. We knew that you weren’t supposed to mix grout and caulk but which one do you use for a bathtub seal? After a lot of googling I learned that the correct answer is caulk. Here’s why: The foundation of a house will inevitably shift over time. Grout is such a hard substance that if you have used grout to connect seams (think bathtub to wall or one tile wall to another) it will crack when there is any shifting in your foundation. Since caulk had a bit more give, it can hold up better to any minor shifting. If you own a used house/condo/apartment and the previous owner used grout to fill these parts, you need to beware that if/when the grout cracks mold, mildew, and other types of ick are likely to accumulate in those wet crevices. Make sense?

Even after we knew that we would need to caulk things we still had some decisions to make. Many caulks swear that they will not mildew. After researching this on google and talking to my dad (have I mentioned that he’s the handiest person I know?) I learned that a lot of the brands that promise not to mildew still do it anyway. Apparently a lot of handy people do not consider it to be a permanent solution. You’re supposed to go into it knowing that it will eventually get gross again and at that time you’ll have to rip it out and start over.

My dad swears by using tape to get sooth edges. So this was the technique that we used. Start with a clean, dry surface. Use tape to expose only the surface that you want to be covered in caulk.

We used relatively inexpensive caulk that came out of a tube rather than buying a caulk gun. This may seem like common knowledge but if you choose to use a tube, start by cutting a smaller hole and then make it larger as need be. Squeeze a steady stream of caulk into the hole and then use a wet finger to smooth out the top. Make sure not to put an excessive amount, otherwise when you remove the tape you will have a raised caulk line.

Remove the tape while the caulk is still wet.

Let the caulk dry per the directions on the back on the container. Then you’re done. As tempting as they may seem, you really don’t need any of the special gadgets. It’s actually a lot easier than I thought and my dad’s trick of using tape left us with a really professional-looking line.

Here’s a before photo to remind you of the progress.

Have you ever caulked a bathroom? If so, feel free to add the tricks that worked for you.

Bathroom Makeover: Chapter Two (Shades of Grey)

I will warn you that this may be one of those epic books that has about 700 chapters. Hopefully not. I mentioned yesterday that taking off the door to the linen closet (To be clear, I’m not talking about the actual bathroom door. I’m open to a lot of things but no bathroom door is definitely not one of them!) was a huge turning point for us. It instantly went from a giant unconquerable task to something that we could manage one step at a time. Why did we think it was such a turning point? See for yourselves.

Before:

After:

Doesn’t that feel a million times more open?  Imagine Peter and me sitting on our bed a about midnight on a Friday night. I say, “It’s just so cramped in there. That door gets in the way.” And then Peter exclaiming, “Let’s just rip it off!!” Here’s an action shot just for fun.

Unfortunately, removing the door left us with huge slits and holes in our door frame from where the hinges used to be.

The holes can be easily patched using wood filler. I put some in each hole, making sure to pack it into the small crevices in the back.

After letting the wood filler dry for about 24 hours, I sanded off the excess, and then repeated the process. If I was going to do this over again I would have put an insane amount of wood filler over the hole so that when I sanded it I wouldn’t have to add any extra. The reason being that making wet wood filler attach to dried wood filler is much more difficult than when it is all wet. I ended up battling the bits that were falling right off onto the floor.

When the holes were patched and the door was off for a few days, Peter and I couldn’t bare to look at the awful wall color any longer. For some reason, the linen closet was painted a terrible yellow color. You’d really have to see it to understand just how bad it was. I’ve attached a photo below but it really doesn’t do the color justice. If you want to get an idea imagine urine mixed with whipping cream and then covered it with high glass paint. It was really that bad!

Anyone who knows me well knows that grey is my absolute favorite color. (I remember asking a friend of mine if it was OK to paint my entire house in different shades of grey. The short answer is no but I still believe I could make it work.) After a trip to Home Depot, we brought home a few paint swatches and taped them inside the closet to get a better idea of what the paint would look like.

Wondering what we chose? You’ll have to come back to find out, but since I forgot to take pictures when we first removed the door, the after photo at the top will give you a sneak peak of what’s to come.

What’s going on in your bathrooms? Many of you are probably following Meg’s bathroom reno. Heather wrote in yesterday saying that she has an embarrassing bathroom as well. Does anyone else have anything to share? Or does anyone else just want to help me encourage Heather to post her bathroom photos? (Misery loves company.)

Slipper Makeover

This tutorial was the reason that I fell in love with ~Ruffles and Stuff~.  I saw the picture of these perfectly embellished slippers and I swooned. I was uncertain about my sewing skills but the tutorial seemed so easy and I had confidence from my recent success of making a tutu, so I went for it. I left work and went straight to store, after store, after store searching for everything I needed. When I finally got home, I was so burnt out that I left the materials hanging in a bag on our closet door.

But last week, while Peter was out of town I pulled them out and decided to give it a try. Amazingly, it turned out really well. Here’s the boring before:

And here’s the amazing after:

If you want to do try it yourself, here’s what I did. I started with basic Isotoner slippers. I bought mine on sale from Kohls. I cut the seams to remove the the little bows from each slipper. Using a white cotton, peach cotton, and gold tulle I created three flowers for each slipper. I was a bit concerned about this step because I didn’t know how to make fabric flowers. I learned that several wavy circles stacked on top of each other works out pretty well.

Then fold each flower in half and sew a small little “x” into it. This keeps the flower together, without taking away its movement.

Finally, add three champagne pearls and sew the flowers on to the slippers.

Now prance around your house and relish in the femininity of your new slippers!!

Have you guys found any tutorials that you just had to try? How’d they go?