I believe I have mentioned a time or four hundred that I am a terrible DIY-er. Pinterest gets me all excited thinking I can easily accomplish any craft, and then my lack of necessary skills makes the task extremely difficult to finish to the pinned photo results. Thankfully, there are a few DIY tricks that even I have mastered, and can execute relatively easily.
Lesson one: Spray paint is your best friend. I was put on a spending freeze for house stuff back in December {thanks B, for the huge buzz kill}. I have slowed my buying frenzy way down, but still like finding random little treasures to make this house our own. In my town, there are three kinds of stores that outnumber everything else: Pawn shops, Goodwill stores, and dentist offices. I have no desire to go into pawn shops, and I have a dentist back home I can still see when I need to, but those Goodwill stores have come in quite handy when I am searching for random home goods. When you find something ugly that could be really cool in a different color, try spray painting it.
Back in January, I found the coolest peach velour wing back chair for my office at a consignment store. That same visit, I found an amazing wood mirror with intricate carving details in the frame. It was beautiful, and I wanted it, but not for $70 when that was what I was already paying for my chair. With Billy's voice in my head telling me to stop buying stuff, I passed on the mirror, but not without a heavy heart. I went back a few weeks later to see if the mirror was still available, but it had been sold.
Cut to the other day when I was picking up paint for the master bedroom. I stopped in a few Goodwill stores looking for matching nightstands. Instead, I found this big old mirror with a molded plastic frame that was so close to being pretty I just had to take it home. It was a far cry from the gorgeous carved wood mirror I loved, but for 40 bucks it seemed like a steal. I also grabbed a can of gloss white spray paint knowing I would need to do something about the ugly gold frame before it went with my home's decor.
I covered the mirror with paper and tape, and did a light dusting to get it ready for paint. I should have been better about removing all the accumulated dust from the many crevices, but I'm lazy and impatient. Notice how fake gold and plastic-y the mirror looks? Wait till you see it later.
I laid the mirror on a big box in the backyard. My grass is dead, so I didn't mind a big white rectangle on the grass when this was done. I sprayed a thick first coat and watched as bubbles formed and left spots uncovered. Now, I had picked a spray paint by Rust-o-leum that said it bonded to paint, so this bubbling bothered me. I figured I would give it a chance to dry, then attack again.
I came back an hour later and gave the mirror another thick coat, making sure those bubble spots were covered and there was no longer any hint of fake gold. I moved the mirror to the patio to dry overnight, and hoped for the best.
The next day, I was pleased to find my mirror looking pretty awesome. It had dried overnight and didn't have any bubble spots to be covered. I brought it inside and pulled off the paper and tape, setting it in the newly painted master to see how it would look.
Of course the glossy white pops and looks great against my gray-blue walls. I think the mirror looks way classier as a glossy white than it did fake gold. Dare I say it might not even look like plastic anymore? I won't go that far, but I like it. I can't wait to put this behemoth up. Now I just have to figure out what wall to put it on, and have B help me hang it. Even plastic, it's pretty heavy.
Slowly but surely I am decorating my house. That furniture-less master is my main project, but I have an open mind for the entire house and like to snap up pieces as I find them.
So, the moral of the story is, don't be afraid to spray paint something that isn't quite perfect if you think it has a great look and could be better.