Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Broken Mirror to Organizing Center

This is another project from my archives. While spring cleaning my son's room a few months ago the mirror over his dresser broke. But no bad luck here! I love the frame on the old mirror so I let it sit for a couple of weeks trying to figure just what I wanted to do with it. I COULDN'T toss it out. NO WAY! So finally I thought of making it into a bulletin board! I felt pretty brilliant - I am sure it's been done before but I felt pretty good about my idea. LOL Here is the before pic.



After sanding the old brittle finish and cleaning it up I painted it black. Then sanded that finish down, to make it look worn and distressed, then applied a 1 step stain and sealer. Once I had all that finished and let it dry a couple of days I added the cork. I bought this at Lowe's in rolls. I rolled it out and measured it. drew a line and cut it with scissors. This cork is pretty thin so I used 2 layers. I brushed on an even coat of Elmer's wood glue to glue it all into place. Then to keep it flat (remember it came in a roll and still wants to roll up) I laid down books then put canned goods on top of the books to weight it down. My pantry was empty but I did end up with a cool project! LOL On each side you will see I also added hooks.



I still don't have fun push pins for it. Maybe I should add that project to my list! let me know if you have any ideas. If I choose your's I'll feature your project on my blog!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

From Lurker to Blogger


So, I am trlying this whole blog thing. I have a few new goals for 2008 and thought this would be a good way to record the journey!
The photo is of an old project from a couple years ago. I pulled these 2 chairs out of the trash and as you can see, they were quite worn. But, it was all consmetic so I threw them in the back of my truck and drove home. As soon as I saw them I saw their potential. First, I wanted them to be simple. I wanted them to be light in color and I wanted a pop of red. Straight to the fabric store I went. Of course, I had to check the clearence bin first - you just never know what kind of treasure you may find there. And guess what?! This fabric was my treasure! I paid $10 for 2 yards of high quality, designer fabirc. SCORE! I then sanded and painted (with paint I had in the garage - no idea what brand or the color name) then I ripped off the old fabric, replaced the cushoin with some fresh batting and recovered with my new, beautiful red, floral fabric! I had plans to sell them but when I sent pics to my mom she wanted them. It's now a couple years later and we still pull them up to the table at her house when the whole family is over. I just love a project like that!! Just $10!
I have another project to post in a day or two. Broken mirror 7 years of bad luck? Or an opportunity for something totally new? hmmmm..... Check back and see what I mean!
Shelley