Mock of Monday {Antiqued Mirror}

Have any of you happened to come across this mirror collage at Anthropologie?

I am in love with the antiqued look of the mirrors.

I have wanted to try to recreate them for awhile, but I've been too scared to try. The process involves the use of a couple of highly toxic chemicals and to be perfectly honest that really freaks me out.

Today, I finally got up the nerve and went out and bought all of the supplies:

Paint thinner

Muriatic Acid

Chemical Resistant Gloves

I recently purchased a set of of oval mirrors and thought they would be the perfect guinea pigs to test it out on.

Ready to get your Bill Nye on? Here we go.

First, remove the mirror from the frame and place on a thick layer of newspaper.


Put on some glasses and gloves and say a little prayer. No seriously. You don't want to look like this when you're done.


Then pour some of the thinner into a disposable cup

and apply liberally to the back of the mirror with an old brush. The paint thinner will soften the protective coating on the back of the mirror allowing you to scrape it off.



Let it sit for however long the instructions recommend you leave it on for. {the stuff I used recommended 15 minutes}.
Then, scrape away the coating with a spackle blade. I don't know if I just had stubborn mirrors or what, but I had to apply thinner twice because not all of the coating came off the first time. I'm not gonna lie, it took a little elbow grease but it eventually came off.

After all of the coating has been removed, wipe the mirror backs off with a wet paper towels, or rinse with the hose. I opted for the hose.

Now you need to prepare the muriatic acid. I purchased a small plastic funnel at Walmart for .69 cents which I used to pour the acid into a squirt bottle.
You will use it to lightly spray the acid around the edges of the mirror. The aid works really fast so just be ready with the hose in hand to rinse the mirrors off. It will only take about a minute.
Gently dab off all of the moisture on the mirror and lay face down to dry.
Once dry, apply a coat of gold spray paint to the back and allow to dry some more.

Then place the mirror back into the frame and...VOILA! An awesome antiqued mirror.

The cost of the supplies is a little investment: $10 for muriatic acid, $8 for paint thinner and $6 for gloves for a grand total of $24. But, I have enough supplies left over for several other mirrors.

Aknowledgements to Mandi over at Vintage Revivals for having the kahuna's to antique a mirror first. You go gurl!

Saturday {non shop} spotlight

I know that on Saturday's I am supposed to feature something from the shop, but I figured that since we are kinda inbetween projects right now I would just feature another one of my awesome finds. Hope you don't mind.

One of my besties called me from an estate sale where I found this little beauty.

Listen, I realize some of you may have just puked a little in your mouth, but I really like it. At this point in time, I don't plan on recovering it. I want to try and work around the awesome velvety fabric. I know if you were here to stroke the velvety awesomeness you'd be sold too.

I think the headboard would be perfect for girls' room. Problem is, I just redid their bedroom a little over a year ago, and I know that the hubs would have a coronary if I redid it again. But, my mind is spinning with ideas and I might not have the strength to withstand my decorating urges. I may have to call a couple of gal pals over and gettin' er done while hubs is out of town on business next week. We'll see.

Til then, here are a few inspiration pics of fun/funky headboards I came across today.

Photo courtesy of design sponge.

Photo courtesy of house beautiful

Picture courtesy of house beautiful

I know you must be really jealous of my precious. Why don't you run along and find yourself your own piece of funkaliciousness. You know you want to!

Thrifty Throwdown Thursday

Mama hit the motherload today!

The stars must have aligned or something because I haven't had this much luck at the thrift store in a long time.

Wanna see what I found?

A set of oval mirrors.

They were $12 a piece which is a little steep for this cheapskate, but I loved the size and shape enough that I went ahead and grabbed them.
I'll just make the kids eat cold cereal the next few nights to buffer the cost...just kidding! not really, though. I have a really cool antiquing technique I am dying to try on them. Fingers crossed it works out. If so, I'll post pics and a tute soon.

I am super excited about this dresser. I love the shape and size

and the fact that it stands on legs.

It came with a mirror, but I haven't decided whether or not I want to reattach it.

The wood is still in reasonably good condition, so I may take that into consideration as I refinish it.

I didn't notice this little issue til I got her home.

I checked all of the drawers to make sure they opened and closed smoothly, but it never dawned on me to check the bottoms to see if they were cracked or broken. If I can fix the problem she will probably end up at the shop...or maybe not. Have I ever mentioned that I'm really indecisive?

Oh ya, and one more item! I also found a huge hutch for a screamin' good deal. I don't have any pictures because when I found it, I was carrying a sleeping child in one arm and pushing a kiddo in a cart with the other. I couldn't really manage a camera. I am planning on picking it up tonight, so I will post pics then. Or maybe I'll wait til my Saturday Shop Spotlight {refer to indecisive comment above}. As awesome as it is, I can't keep it. I would have to get rid of the dining table to fit it in the nook and I'm pretty sure the hubs would say that eating is more important than looking at pretty dishes {although I would beg to differ}.

I am so excited for all of these fun projects in the pipeline. I am hoping to get to them soon. I am dying to try some {chalk paint} which seems to be all the rage right now. Have any of you ever heard of it/used it? Just curious.

Better Late than Never: Mock off Monday {Chalk Board Spoon and Fork}

Listen, I know this post's a day late and I'm really sorry. And I know that the last thing you wanna hear right now is a lame excuse for my slacker-ness. But listen, I'm gonna tell you anyway. Sunday night I came home to a pool of water on the kitchen floor. The culprit: a malfunctioning valve in the dishwasher. Is it covered under warranty even though the dishwasher is only two years old. Heck no!

Needless to say, I spent yesterday calling repair men and hoping that my wood floors wouldn't need need to be replaced. Did I mention that it also leaked into the basement downstairs? Ya, awesome. It's the hubs baby now, cause I got better things to do like make a feak-tastic knock off of somebody else's work. Can you handle it?

I saw this fun chalkboard spoon & fork at Pier 1 the other day.

They weren't hellishly expensive {$40 a piece}, but the color scheme didn't really match my kitchen. So, I decided to make my own version instead.

Here's what I used:


And these old cabinet doors as my canvas:



But you could use an old piece of wood or anything with a flat surface really. Just an FYI, you can pick up random cabinet doors at IKEA for a couple of bucks. The {As Is} section is fast becoming my favorite area...even more than the food court...all right not really. Nothing can take the place of a heaping mound of hot, swedish meatballs, smothered in artery blocking gravy and accompanied by heart attack mashed potatoes and lingonberry sauce. Not healthy, but oh so yummy. Uh-hum, back to cabinet doors.

I prepped my cabinets:
Sanded:


Primed:


Painted-first coat:


And then used candle wax to help make it look all old and chippy:



Painted again- final coat:


Then I wiped off all of the waxy areas, to reveal old, chippy deliciousness:




While the paint was drying I prepped my spoon and fork stensil.
I used contact paper and freehanded an image onto the back and cut the image out. I used additional contact paper to protect the edges of the cabinet doors from paint over spray.



Then I sprayed it with chalkboard paint.

After it had ample time to dry, I removed the contact paper.
And voila..really plain, nothing special, spoon and fork chalkboards.

So, the finished product really didn't do anything for me. I really hate it when things just don't turn out right the first time.

Time for some brainstorming. I'm in the process of redoing my living room/kitchen area and I'm trying to stick to neutral colors and oraganic fabrics and accents. So by process of elimination I decided to go with burlap. I love burlap. It's neutral, but at the same time has great texture.

I used burlap to line the inside panel of the cabinet door. Then gave it a more finished look by gluing burlap cording along the edge.



Insead of using chalkboard paint this time, I opted to use chalkboard vinyl. I traced out an image of a fork and spoon onto the back then cut them out. I used spray adhesive to stick them to the burlap...and voila.

A much better end product.




These babies are gonna go great in my kitchen. I like that they are artwork, but also functional at the same time.

I ended up spending $6 for the burlap and cording and $11 for the chalkboard vinyl. The cabinet doors were a dollar a piece and everything else I had on hand. That's a grand total of $20, or $10 for each piece...a fourth of the price of the original. Not too shabby methinks. Do you know how many meatballs I can buy with the money I saved? I think I might have to reward myself with a little trip to IKEA now. See ya at the meatballs.