This is a sponsored post brought to you by FrogTape for Bower Power’s Frog Tape Fridays. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.
Goodbye goldie locks. It’s not me….it was you. The brownish orangey tone just wasn’t my cup of joe…errr…cup of Jer 
Anything would be better in my book than the current finish…so it came next in our whirlwind dining room makeover. The first thing I did was wipe it all down (it’s like a dust magnet and that is a big no-no when it comes to painting). I then covered up the mirror part with FrogTape and brown paint paper so that it would be easy to clean up.
Time for painting…here’s what I used: Zinsser Bulls Eye 123 Primer & Rustoleum Paint n Primer in one in white. I love the Zinsser primer. It’s like Taylor Swift…it really does stick to everything. I feel like 32 sister
I chose to go with the satin paint over the primer because I wanted the mirror to be more subtle than the effect that a gloss would give. And yes, the Rustoleum has primer in it but I’ve found that a light dusting of the Zinsser primer helps things stick just a smidge better.
A few coats later, I have one very white mirror. So much better than the orange.
I went ahead and hung it up after removing the paper and tape…it immediately was more my style.
Doesn’t it look so much better against the dark gray? I love the contrast.
Oh and some folks were asking for a wide open shot of the dining room. It’s in transition right now so please don’t think this is finished by any means. I asked Jer to pull this old table out of storage (and we had to pick up the glass top from the friend he rented from 7 years ago!!). I love the table but it’s obviously too small for this space for long term. But it’s a nice stand-in till my new beauty arrives…aka…when we find the time to drive up to Chattanooga, rent a uhaul and bring it home
I think I might just go ahead and paint the base just for kicks. And I need sconces. I took out the old ones…they just weren’t screaming dining room to me.
oh and ignore the too-short curtains. I had three…the fourth curtain was left at the old house in the bathroom…and obviously they are high-watering it. I just wanted to see how the dark brown looked. The linen looks really good to me….it’s now just a waiting game till I can either go to Ikea to buy the longer ones or make my own.
Another random note….I like the round pendant light in here with the round table but I’m unsure how it will look with the large rectangular table-to-be. Anyone out there with a rectangular table and a round pendant? If we don’t love it, I guess I could switch it out with the kitchen table light. We’ll have to wait and see what looks best I guess.
So there you have it folks…new life in an old mirror. I think Jer’s great aunt would be surprised to see how modern her mirror looks now…it definitely doesn’t look like it got a bad self-tan anymore, right?!
It’s here! And I’m done! Did you guys get your Pinterest Challenge projects done? I always feel like I’m never finished on time. Which is bad when you promise people that your post will be up around 10am. Is it 10am yet?! Okay…so if you are newish or just don’t pay much attention…this is Pinterest Challenge reveal day! The day where we come back together after a week of looking through our thousands of pins and actually get the doing done. Then we congregate back here and share. It’s like therapy for Pinners Anonymous.
SOoooo….here’s my inspiration for what I wanted to tackle this time around…
Yup. That’s one honkin’ big letter. (and a cool light fixture but that’s beside the point). I love love love the oversized letters you can see on wall all over the place. It’s just a great statement…great as in extra large AND awesome. Both definitions
Anyhoo…dictionary aside….here is my finished project:
And can you believe it cost me only $7.25?! Seriously. It did. I am still kinda shocked too.
I used pickets from Home Depot that were knocked down to $1.25 each. So that is 6 pickets. That’s all I had to buy because I already had everything else. Crazy. Why didn’t I just do this sooner!?
Once I got them home (and the boys down for a nap), I went to work on the sanding. Since the wood is pressure treated, it’s important to take certain precautions. Like…don’t breathe in the dust (it’s key to wear a mask!)…and make sure you seal it or paint it before using it inside your home. OH and if you are gonna use pressure treated wood, make sure it doesn’t get wet or come in contact with food or kids (who might decide to suck on a corner of the letter just for kicks). Since ours is a piece that will get hung very high in Weston’s room…I think we are in the clear
Okay…so sand all the sides….
I love sanding sometimes. Especially when the wood becomes alive again. It definitely happened here…
Then I wanted my angles. So I had to mark the bottom of one board to get started….
Then I simply cut three more just like it.
This is the part where I say…you figure it out. Obviously a letter like W is full of cuts. I’m not gonna explain each one. That would be ridiculously boring.
After we cut out the letter itself, we cut boards to go around it…like an outline. Angles were everywhere
At this point, I was wishing that we named our kid Larry. Or Tyton (that name was actually a final three name for Weston – fun fact!).
After making each cut, you wanna make sure to sand the edges because the pickets do splinter badly.
The original plan was to add lights. Like a marquee sign.
But once I marked the places for drilling and really thought about it, I got this sick dread in my stomach and knew that these extra cafe lights would need to find a different home. There was just no way I wanted to drill holes into my over-sized consonant.
When it came time to assemble, we used a bit of wood glue and some brads.
We nailed it all together in sections…each long piece in the center was boosted up with scrap 2×4′s so it got a really cool 3D effect. (see the marks where we were gonna put the lights? whew! So glad I didn’t go through with it!)
After it was all assembled, it came time for the finish.
The inside of the W got two coats of this semi-gloss paint ‘n primer in one. It’s actually an exterior paint called DuraMax by Valspar and it was in my stash of extra paints (we had painted our front door this color – it’s ironically called Front Door Red).
Peeks in a red dress…every letter-lovin’-man’s dream
Then I decided to stain the outside my favorite stain color – Dark Walnut by Minwax. I simply used a foam brush to wipe it on and a plastic-bagged hand to wipe it off. I couldn’t find my plastic gloves
Then came sealing time. A couple coats of this spray sealer and we were set.
After sufficient dry time, we moved it back inside and snapped a few with Weston. This sucker is big. Like a fortune 500 letter. It eats vowels for breakfast. Sorry…the cheese can not be helped. Eventually it will go in Weston’s room….and then several years down the road, when the boys share a room, it’ll be in there for both of them. (another fun fact…I shared a room with my sister and feel like having to share a room at some point in childhood is a great way to learn true life lessons. Any sharers out there?! Love it, hate it? Kill your sibling?)
I’m really excited to have this project done. Those angles were a test of patience. But I have big plans for Weston’s room and I can’t wait to see this bad boy hanging on the wall!
Now for the fun part! The sharing! Remember my gorg co-hosts for the challenge?
- Emily from Sparkle meets Pop
- Renee from Red Bird Blue
- Sherry from Young House Love
Hop on over and see their tackled projects! And now for some details before we get to see YOUR projects…Just as a reminder, Pinterest doesn’t know about this challenge (or endorse, sponsor, etc.)…they just simply supply the place for the awesome to gather.
Did you also conquer a project? Did you blog about it? I’d love to see it! Here are the instructions if you are a linky-party newbie…
- click on the blue “Add Your Link” button at the bottom of this post – it has a blue frog head on it add a link to your PC project blog post in the url field (please do not link to your home page) for “name” write a short descriptive name for your project (e.g. “Industrial Sidetable”)
- pretty pretty please remember to link in the body of your post to the original source of the photo on Pinterest as well as back to me and this editions hosts above – it’s just a big ole fashioned linky love fest! Love you forever & thanks.
- If you’d rather just link over to your project in the comment section, feel free to do that – or even add a link to Facebook or a free photo sharing site like Flickr with your pics if you don’t have a blog (remember to set the gallery to public so we can all see it).
That’s it! Hope you all have an oversized fun time getting something checked off that must-do list!
My mother is one of those original DIYers. She says it’s because they didn’t have any money. I know the real truth though. It’s because it’s in her blood. My Pappap (her father) built his own house that he lives in to this day. She was only a small child when she would help carry the bricks used for the walls. When she comes over to talk to me, we don’t look at each other in the face…because she’s bent over pulling rogue weeds. She can’t help it. It’s in her blood…in her bones…it’s on a cellular level…that need to improve things with her own two hands.
Now that she’s gotten a little older…she’s 39 now (you’re welcome mom!)…she can’t do quite as much. She has bad feet, a bad knee, a bad shoulder. The girl can still dig faster than a Playboy bunny around old rich men…but it’s hard on her.
I say all this because I know most of you are the same as me. You love your mamas. You want other people to love them too. And mom…I appreciate the fact that you didn’t let me become a hooker, or shave my head and discouraged me from spending any money on those N’Sync posters in the mall. You da bomb dot mom. (haha)
The point of all this is that I was quite excited that Delta Faucet Company contacted me after posting about my mother’s basement countertop makeover. Remember when her lackluster counters got made over into a high contrast black? Here’s the before…
and here’s the after…
It looked so much better but I still think that it has a little bit further to go. Hence the photoshop of my vision below. And since my mom had summer plans to host a missionary family down there for the summer, I knew that if she was gonna make any improvements, it would be now. So when I shared the exciting news that Delta wanted to give her a free faucet to help finish the space, she was ecstatic. Personally I feel like my mom deserves this thing after putting up with me for so many years. Sure it’s just a faucet…but anytime you can, I’m sure you would give freely to your own mama.
Plus, anything would be an improvement over the standard ole builder grade one she had already.
Delta sent her the Pilar faucet in oil rubbed bronze. It has Touch20 Technology which basically means you can tap it with your wrist or elbow or any other sticky-outtie body part and it turns on. I call it Mike. Because it’s magic
My brother is a plumber so he installed it for her. He was even impressed by how nice and well made it was and joked that it was nicer than her upstairs kitchen faucet. I guess like they say - faucet others how you would like to be fauceted They say that right?!
When I was looking at all her basement pictures, I decided to photoshop a little more. I switched out the plain door for something a little more decorative. (Mom do you like this idea? Because I think I can do it for you if you do all the measurements! )
While I was at her house, I also thought this scene was blogworthy. It was her mantle with her collection of mercury glass.
She’s picked up the pieces over time and I love the arrangement.
My favorite is the hex piece on the far right in the one below. Mom….I hope you remember that when you die Put it in the will…I also want Dad when you’re gone…write that down.
Disclaimer: Delta Faucet Company provided the faucet for my mother’s basement but did not ask for a review or even a mention of it in a post. I just like things that turn on when you touch them…that sounds dirty…but believe me, this faucet is all about keeping you clean
