A New Ballard Inspired Mirror

I must confess. I have a mirror in every room of my house. I LOVE mirrors. And no, it's not because I enjoy looking at myself. I just love what a mirror can bring to a room. They can reflect light in an otherwise dark corner, they can make a room look bigger, they serve as great focal points. A great mirror is a piece of art. Mirrors pull a room together, much like curtains do. What's not to love about a mirror? Therefore you can only imagine my great joy when I came across this beauty at Goodwill for $19.91 (side note--seems everything I buy from Goodwill here lately is $19.91).

I've had her hanging on the wall behind my kitchen table as is while I looked for inspiration. Granted, I could have left her alone and many people probably would have been perfectly happy to do so. To me she just didn't have that oomph about her. Finally I came across this as my inspiration mirror. This is the Cassidy Mirror from Ballard Designs. It retails for $189 on their website. I liked that it had a gold ring encircling the mirror part, surrounded by some color and interesting detail.

I chose out my paint, a deep blue from Clark & Kensington (another free sample from Ace Hardware), and went to work. The paint is supposed to have a primer in it so I didn't bother priming. Honestly, it took me a little time to begin working on her. I was so afraid I would mess her up. Finally, I just took the plunge. After all, worse case scenario I would have been out $20 and would have to search for something else to put behind my kitchen table BUT if things went as planned I would have a beautiful mirror for a mere fraction of the cost. I did have a minor panic attack when I put on the first stroke of dark blue but at that point there was no turning back. Here she is mid way.

Surprisingly, the paint went on well but I did have to put on two coats. I didn't tape off around the gold part so I had to be extra careful when I was painting beside it. (The reflection in the mirror is of my basement ceiling. I haven't quite learned how to blur that out.) Two coats of paint later and I was ready to glaze. Once again I turned to the Martha Stewart Glaze. This time in a gold color called Medallion. This mirror had great details. Some that I didn't even see until I glazed her. In the end I did stray a little from my inspiration photo but that's what the creative process is all about. The more distressed and nautical look of the Ballard mirror wouldn't have vibed as well with my decor.

I love the way this mirror turned out! Here is the final product plus a few close ups so you can see those great details.

ALSO, for any of my readers familiar with my thrifted red bed redo I have finally purchased a mattress and have a picture of the bed--complete with bed linens--on that post. You can view the updated post HERE.

I'm partying here:
Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed
Frugal Friday at the Shabby Nest
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove
Inspiration Friday at At the Picket Fence

Footstool Find

Once again things have been busy at Casa de Rafters. As the weather gets warmer I've been spending more time tending to outside things like the yard and the garden. I expanded the size of the garden this year to get another row in. I also gave up on growing an eggplant after two years of failures! Yesterday I got my first small garden haul.

That's three zucchinis, two green peppers, and a bunch of hot banana peppers. If things continue to go as planned pretty soon I'll be giving produce away I won't because able to eat all of it!

That's the first ripe strawberry of the year. I highly recommend growing a strawberry plant on a sunny patio. They have so much more flavor than the ones at the store.

I also rescued a footstool from an overgrown over flower bed in my yard. It was half buried in monkey grass. This flower bed has been on my to-do list since I moved in  (almost two years ago now. YIKES!!) but I just don't know how I want to fix it or what I want to plant. So there is sits neglected at the side of my house. At least I have managed to take away all the monkey grass which lead me to the footstool.

It was a pitiful site before. This picture is even after I had cleaner her up! I guess that's what being out in the elements for many years will do to you.

I am unable to reach the tallest shelves in my laundry room cabinet so I decided to put this to use in the laundry room. After all, it is still completely functional, just not that attractive. I took some of the leftover purple paint that I used in my laundry room light redo. And wha-la! Now she's functional AND pretty!