From a dress into a...MIRROR?!?

I'm currently in the process of turning my master bedroom from boring into fantastic! My chosen color scheme is black and white with yellow accents. This mirror was transformed as a part of my bedroom makeover. This was picked up for $4 at a yardsale.

Excuse the dust under the bed in the first picture...my housekeeper clearly isn't doing her job :)

So, as you can see this mirror was painted with a finish that made it look dusty in the crevices (should fit right in then!) and the cheetah print wasn't going to work with my black and white scheme. I thought about painting over the cheetah print with arcrylic paint and attempting to do black and white pinstriping, but not being much of a painter that idea was vetoed. I decided that I would cover it with fabric. So I popped the cheetah out of the frame and set about covering it with a black and white jersey dress that no longer fit. (I had been keeping it in hopes of fitting in it again but who are we kidding here?) Since I'm still new to this blogging thing I forgot to take a picture of the dress before I sliced and diced and hot glued. But here's what's left.

While the mirror was deconstructed I also spray painted the frame a glossy back. Goodbye dusty looking frame! I popped the newly covered part back into the frame and TA-DAAA! Here's the final product. All total this redo cost me $5. $4 for the mirror and $1 for the spray paint (the $1 kind at Wal-Mart)!

 

Linking to Coastal Charm Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

No Sew Roman Shade Re-Do

My newest project involved taking a pair of curtains and a roman shade, both given to me by my grandma (if you're sensing that I get a lot of things from my grandma then you would be correct). She picked up the roman shade at a yard sale for $3. I'm not sure what she paid for the curtains but I know she purchased them at our local Goodwill.

Here is a picture of the curtains. I had them hanging in my room (and by hanging I mean I took t-pins and attached it to the window frame) for the longest time as I frankly just didn't like these curtains. Curtains make a room look so much more finished and normally I really like the look of them but for some reason these just weren't appealing to me. Maybe the fabric was just too heavy for the room or the stripes were running the wrong way. Regardless, here they are.

Not being pleased with the curtains I started thinking about my options. I thought I might try a roman shade as none of my other rooms have them (yet). Have you priced those things recently?! So, I asked my grandma to be on the lookout for a roman shade for me (again, you are probably sensing a theme) on the cheap. She found one in the right size at a yard sale. The only problem with it was that it had no color. Well, it did have a color, but I call it Boring Khaki. Neutral, but I needed a pop of color. Here it is.

So I brainstormed for a while and finally asked my Mom her opinion on taking the curtain (whose color actually did go quite well in the room) and attaching it to the roman shade, but instead of the stripes running horizontally, we run them vertically as they would have been had I been the curtain designer. A little snipping and liquid stich later we had the final product!

"Pickled" Pink No More!! Laundry Room Redo

While my laundry room wasn't terrible looking by any means, it just wasn't really working for me. The single wire shelf was great for hanging clothes to dry but it wasn't practical storage wise. I keep cleaning supplies here and my parents' pool clothes, not to mention laundry supplies. The paint color was ok, but since all of the other rooms are now various shades of neutral colors, this one stood out a quite a bit and no longer went with the vibe of the house. Here is a before picture--complete with a pair of pants hanging to dry (hey I keep it real here).

And here is the after picture.

Much better. Wouldn't you agree? Here's what I did to make this transformation happen. And all for a little less than $150! The pickled cabinets from the previous post were sanded and given a nice coat of white paint to match the base trim in the room. I spray painted the cabinet hinges a silver metallic with spray paint I borrowed from my parents. The cabinets didn't go all the way across the laundry room, so that problem was solved by installing floating shelves and placing decorative baskets on them. The idea was mine, but the installation of the shelves was accomplished by my awesome parents. The floating shelves are actually made from of a hollow core door purchased at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore for $3. (If you'll recall there were actually two sets of upper cabinets but both of them would have been too large to fit in the space so we just used the larger of the two and improvised.) I repainted the room a dark grayish-blue. The ceiling I painted a light purple. The clothes pins on the door fronts are from etsy and the purple glass knobs on the doors are from the Hobby Lobby. I even got creative and hung my ironing board on a "Laundry" sign from Hobby Lobby.  

I'll be completely honest-I'm not that happy with the wall color. I have visions of light silver walls and purple accents in here. The current wall color is just too dark. This grayish-blue is actually the second repainting of the room. The first gray I chose had too much green in it. I was almost finished painting the room when I said, "WAIT! I don't like this color, I've got to repaint it or I'm not going to be happy." So a quick run to Lowe's later and this is the color I came back with. This will have do for now as I'm not up for a third repainting. YET. Not to mention I haven't found the right silver for my "vision". 

Here's a breakdown of the costs:

$15 for the cabinets (three were purchased for $45, or $15 each)

$3 for the shelves (a hollow core door from Habitat)

$5 for the first paint color (this was an oops can at Lowe's)

$30 for the second paint color

$7 for the ceiling paint (this was plain white paint I purchased at Wal-Mart and mixed myself with a sample of purple paint I had gotten in the mail)

$26 for the decorative baskets ($13 each from Tuesday Morning)

$12 for the "Laundry" sign (form Hobby Lobby)

$12 for the cabinet knobs (3 @ $4 ea. from Hobby Lobby)

$16 for the clothespin decals (from etsy)

(the white cabinet paint I already had and the metallic silver for the hinges was borrowed)

For a grand total of $126.

Linking To:
Debbie Doo's Newbie Monday
Nifty Thrifty Sunday at Nifty Thrifty Things
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm