Mirror mirror on the wall, you're the fairest of them all!

Well, I got the mirror finished, and I am going to go ahead and put it out there that I LOVE IT!

When I started out, I really didn't know where I was going with it {not a good plan}. I did however know what colors I wanted to incorporate. However, after the stool debacle I was a little hesitant to jump off of the neutral train. Forging ahead the mirror first got some more life with the same green paint that was used on my coffee table tray. That's a pop of color for you!

The room has a more rustic look so I watered down the grey used on the stencil walled entry and formed a glaze. This glaze was rubbed all over the mirror.

Some stain is then applied to the detailing in order to give the piece some more depth. And there you have it!

Sometimes it's just a free simple change that makes a room fresh!  I am still thinking that I want to do something more with those plates, but I'm not sure yet.

Office Makeover, A Work in Progress!

Goal for the weekend:

1.  Finish my Christmas cards

2.  Finish some photo book Christmas gifts {ugh, already finished once, but new site has better deal!}

3.  Finish the following office project

4.  And most importantly, spend some quality time with the family!

I will am hoping to finish up this project this weekend as it has been sitting mostly done for three to four weeks.

A work in progress!

Painting Metal Windows

I finally finished painting the exterior of the house.  I had lost all motivation two weeks ago and we had just a nice relaxing weekend.  That left me to get to it last week, and I finished it {I break things down to manageable size, so I still have other parts of the exterior to go}.  It looks pretty much the same as my last post {here} since all I had to really do was the final coat of the trim work.  The biggest difference was the painting of the window mullions.  I can't believe what a difference it makes.  

Before of the Window {and a peek at my helper}

After

I started by scraping off all of the gunk from the mullions, and giving them a good wash.  I didn't sand them because the metal was pretty weathered.  I started taping off the glass, but it was taking a really long time to make all of the cut ins and I knew I would still have to scrape the glass when I was done {like my rationale?}.  After all of the coats were applied to the window mullions I went back in with a glass scraper and got all of the paint off of the panes.  

...and the result is much better than I ever could anticipate!  Before the mullions just blended into the window, now the pop out and you can see all of the detail.  Here are a few more of the After photos!

Now all I need to do is get that same lantern as I have on the front of the house, but that'll have to wait until after the holidays!!

Dining Room in Transition

As with many homeowners your home is always a work in progress. Mine is nothing different, in fact I wonder if I would ever feel finished even if I were to have a million dollars and do everything I wanted to at once. I feel like such an adult, I can now have more people around my dining table without bringing in the camping chairs or patio furniture. Below is a photo taken a couple days after we moved in. Shockingly this was not the worst room in the house, you should have seen the bathrooms! Our home had been a rental for a few years and so most of the fixtures hadn't been update and mini-blinds, YUCK, adorned every window in the house.

Before

Below is a picture from last winter when I finally upgraded the dining table to a longer one that I could fit six, gasp, people around at dinner. Only problem was that I only had four dining chairs. And so the problem loomed until last week when I finally got two more dining chairs. I have been sick all weekend otherwise I would have had a dinner party just to break in the new chairs. The only thing that has stayed untouched in the original room is the four chairs (and those will eventually get touched). The biggest party for me came when the mini-blinds came down and the natural woven shades went up. The walls getting painted were a close second, and I mean a CLOSE second.

Tansitioning

Okay, so for a game of I spy can you tell the changes other than the two gorgeous, wonderful, couldn't be better chairs from the transitioning photo and the after photo?

After

Okay, I give you a hint. I painted the store bought cabinet black and painted to back panel of it blue/gray to coordinate with the drapes (they have a woven thread of blue, gray and green in circles throughout). I also took the glass off of the light fixture and replaced it with a drum shade. I think this really softens the look and gives off more light. Like I said before, it is always a work in progress. However, this work in progress is much improved if I do say so ;)