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Saturday, August 31, 2019

Dining Room Mirror Update

Hi again,


Trying to make up for lost blogging time with a slew of posts before conference season gets in full swing.

Below is a picture of my very first DIY project - an IKEA mirror that I painted white and added tiles too, to mimic a mirror I couldn't afford.  It's been years and its (partially) survived a lot of moves, though I did have to replace the inner mirror a few times - shout out to Dulles Glass and Mirror, they have the best variety of custom mirror sizes at in stock prices and high quality shipping!
 

Anyway, some of the tiles had been hanging off for a while and I just didn't like the look of the mirror.  It didn't help that we hung it WAY too high and my husband didn't really want to move it again (yeah, I'm going to blame him, but really, it was heavy and I didn't really want to move it again either).  So...I started to source new mirrors and came across this one from Pottery Barn.






Beautiful, right?  But the price?  No.

So, I decided to make my own.  I threw out the mirror frame, but the mirror itself was still perfect for the wall, so I wanted to still use it.  I wasn't sure if I wanted silver or bronze for the frame, so I decided to start with using Wasi tape on the mirror.  I liked the look of it so much, I decided to stick with the Wasi tape and not do framing AT ALL.  I did have to source Wasi tape from multiple JOANN's who seemed to be the only place that had the metallic Wasi tape in a muted gold/bronze that the hubs and I could agree on.

Next we had to figure out how to hang the mirror with no backing.  Easy peasy - mirror clips from Home Deport.  We got two packs, for four on the bottom and four on the top, because this mirror was HEAVY.  Here's the final product!






I'm wondering how the Wasi tape will hold up over time, so I'll keep you updated.  On to the next one!

Entryway Updates

Hi everyone,

It took a while, but I'm back with a few small projects for you to check out.  We've had a slew of family visitors this month, so I've been a little slower with the posts, but the projects have been rolling along.

First up, a small entryway update.



The hubs wanted a little more freedom to move into the living room and dining room from this small hallway leading to the kitchen.  Of course, I forgot to take pictures of everything before I moved everything and sold it.  I previously had our dining room console table from Target and the teal green mirror from the Baltimore house here, and he felt that the console table was a little too wide for the space.  He wasn't wrong, but the console table functioned as a organization station, for mail, keys, and storage.  I wasn't sure we would be able to get the function we needed from a smaller table.  Here's the mirror below, but we used a different console table with it, pictured right below that picture.  We sold both items pretty quickly on LetGo actually, which I was happy about.  But that meant it was time to find a new table.











I wanted very specific dimensions for the new table as well as a wood and metal look, similar to the previous table.  I did a lot of online shopping, but couldn't find a table that met both the dimensions and the look I needed.  So we went shopping for something custom on Etsy.

Etsy show Gokojo had EXACTLY what I was looking for in terms of look and was able to work with me on the dimensions AND the color to match some of the wood tones we already had in the room, something I totally was not expecting.  We went with the Reclaimed Wood Console Table - Lentini Design, in a custom color somewhere between slate and provincial.  I sent the shop owner pictures of the other wood items in the living room and he was able to match the wood stain from the pictures.  Truly amazing!

Gokojo Etsy Shop Image

Next, I sourced a gold mirror from LetGo for $15 - the seller was in Virginia but agreed to meet me in DC early one weekend morning.  It had a little arch and a little detail.  I touched up the spray paint with some gold from my own stock.  I had to do some touch up paint on the wall to, before adding our clock from Amazon, which changes time automatically for Daylight Savings and looks so classic.




So...right after I took these pictures, I was reviewing them and noticed how prominent the HVAC vent was in the photos.  I pointed it out to the hubs, who had also noticed, and thought it was because the previous table was so much wider that you couldn't really see the vent as easily so we never noticed it.  Let's chalk this up under "incidental design problems when you try to change small things".  

So I did a little online search and found a few Pinterest tutorials for how to cover unsightly vents.  This one by Simplicity in the South seemed to fit the bill for what I was looking for - simple and cheap.

I went to Home Depot and found the things I needed - metal decorative radiator screen, white spray paint, and wood trim.


 
We don't have a table saw, so I had to cut 45 degree angles on the small trim using a hand saw, which worked well once I came up with a system.  I taped off the edges of the screen, because it was pretty sharp.  I then spray painted everything white and joined everything using glue and clamps to let it dry for 24 hours.  After drying, I gave it once more round of spray paint and then added wood filler to the edges.  There are some minor imperfections but give where the screen is hanging, it looks good enough for now.  We hung it up using velcro strips so we can take it down when we leave or if work needs to be done on the HVAC.








And now the entryway is DONE!  Just in time for our last summer guest, my father and brother.  My brother has mobility issues, so the larger space in the entry was perfect for him.  We were able to move the organization station and storage items to the storage console behind the couch - hopefully will be able to show you living room pictures next time the house gets cleaned.  But I'm loving the new look of the house entry point and hope you do too!







You got a little sneak peak at the next project in this post - I finally updated our dining room mirror, my very first DIY project.  Can't wait to share that with you soon.  Happy end of summer!

E