Thursday, October 27, 2011

please no judging.

okay. i am doing something ridiculous and crazy right now. i turned on my pandora christmas station... i couldn't wait any longer! here is my defense:

1. stores have had christmas stuff out since september
2. i was shopping around for christmas stuff yesterday
3. i consider november 1st to be the beginning of the christmas season, so i almost made it..
4. i have no kids, so halloween isn't really a holiday we celebrate around here with much excitement
5. i was listening to the adele station but they were playing dumb stuff, so what was a girl to do?!

so i think it's reasonable.. ...... ish. okay, i'm a nut but i don't care. i try my hardest to wait until november 1st every year, and i've made it quite a few times. and to be honest, i made it further this year than i have in the past... haha okay, you can judge. i'll allow it. at least you can rest assured i feel totally ridiculous listening to christmas music when it's going to be 75 degrees here today. but in 5 days it's going to be holiday city up in here. i love the holidays!!! thanksgiving is my very favorite day of the year. yay!!!


so, if you judged me for the christmas music you can't judge me for this. only one judgment per blog entry please. i changed up my mantel again... but it was for a reason people! this makes the third time this fall.. but i couldn't help it. okay here is my story...

i live in an apartment with windows facing the south. plus there are trees all around, which is great. but that means i have zero light up in here. plus the fact that it's somewhat small. so what works for making rooms appear larger and brighter? mirrors. plus, since christmas is on the brain i knew i needed a mirror on my mantel by christmas. all my favorite pictures of mantels had mirrors on them. so i knew it was necessary.

i took my mom and myself to homegoods a couple weeks ago and decided to buy a mirror while i was there. the only one i liked that i thought was a good price was this one

emily is fascinated with herself


i really liked the detail on the frame


and i just thought this was too cute not to show you : )


the only problem was that i didn't want a black mirror. so of course the only logical thing to do was to buy a $40 mirror that was the wrong color and paint it. clearly. so that's what i did. i wanted a silver mirror, but i also liked the look of a white mirror. so i decided to paint it white and brush over the detailing with silver craft paint.

i decided to just use a paint brush instead of spray paint... i'm not sure if it was the right decision or not. i didn't want to mess with trying to get the mirror out of the frame to paint it, and i also didn't want to spend days covering and taping off the mirror. plus not having a yard really limits my spray painting abilities. so i painted it by hand.. it took about 4 coats. i didn't use primer... when will i learn that lesson? probably never.

don't worry. the mirror is taped around the edges; all i had was clear packing tape.


so i waited a long time for all these coats to dry, but i got impatient and i'm really glad i did.

i decided to brush some martha stewart metallic craft paint over the edges





as i started brushing the silver on i realized some paint was still a little wet, so the white paint mixed with the silver and dulled it a little. i was actually happy about it because without the mixing of the two, the silver seemed a little too bright and harsh on the white. i really wanted it to show up, but i didn't want it to look to grey on the white. i was glad once they mixed because it was a little more subtle.

see? you can definitely see the silver, but it's blended instead of being so harsh.




i really really love it. i think it's better than any mirror i've found in the store. it's almost exactly what i wanted. and it looks beautiful on the mantel. i'll show it in all its glory and beauty.... another time : )

4 comments:

  1. this sounds exactly like something i would do--glad to know im not alone :) it turned out fabulous and looks way more than $40 bucks, good job!!!

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  2. Girl, I am soooo gunna judge on you the Christmas music: you ARE officially fabulous!!!! In my opinion, Christmas music should blare year-round. The edges on your new frame really are pretty, and I like how you painted it and added the silver. Can’t wait to see your renovated mantle! By the way, Emily is so sweet; I want to snuggle with her haha

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  3. No judgement here.. I had to physically restrain myself from getting out my trusty Celtic Woman Christmas CD this morning! I am so ready for Christmas music I could scream!! :)

    I love the mirror and the white/silver combination is beautiful!! I think it will look really good with your Christmas paraphernalia and I can't wait to see it all put together next week!

    (Don't lie - you know you will change it up again next week! :)0

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  4. Definitly not judging! I am so ready for Christmas decorations its not even funny, I even already put Christmas items in my shop! The mirror is beautiful! I really love it and I can't wait to see what you have done with your mantel!

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