Thrifty Thursday...Take one!

Alright, well, lets see...where do I start??  I mean, since this is the first "blog" I have ever written, why not just jump "write" in!!  :)

In honor of "Thrifty Thursday", I'd like to share a little fixer-upper I did a couple months ago.  I was in the process of dreaming of how I wanted to decorate my newly finished basement and I couldn't quite wrap my head around "kid friendly" and "chic" (yes, kid-friendly-chic)....I mean, is there really a happy medium??

So here's what I did. I went to the closest Salvation Army (then later HomeGoods). ;) and looked around for things I could use to cover my walls. I was thinking frames and mirrors. So, what did I find???  Exactly that. Frames and mirrors. (You'll see what I decide to do with the frames in a later post when start that project!). I found a gorgeous mirror (except that gold really isn't my "color") but the detail work on it was really pretty...and of course, (and almost more importantly) it was cheap!

As with most of my projects, I try to do them on my kitchen island...why?  well, because its big enough (Christy and I have the same massive island)...and because I can still keep an eye on my kids in the family room. So I prepped my "working area" with newspaper to cover the granite and jumped right in!

Here is a "before/during" picture of the mirror (as halfway through painting the first coat I remembered that I didn't take a proper "before picture"):

I chose a "duck egg blue" color (that I am in LOVE with and that you'll probably see a lot more of).  The only "prep work" I did before painting the first coat was wipe off the dust and tape off the mirror.  I painted a thin coat of paint, let it dry for about 30-45 minutes (because I am impatient)...then started on the second coat.  After that dried I decided it needed something more....I REALLY wanted to bring out that detail work that I fell in love with at the store....so, what better way than to "antique" it?!  Duh!  So I grabbed my "antiquing glaze" and gave it a good "rub-a-dub-dub"...wiped off the excess, added a little more where I thought it needed it, and....voilà!!  Here is a picture of the mirror after I let the glaze dry for about 20 minutes....

And here is a close-up of the detail work.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out!  Now....if I could just decide where to hang it in my "kid-friendly, yet chic" basement!