Bottle Cap Mirror - Finished!

After many months of selling fine beer at the restaurant I work at, I have finally collected enough pretty & interesting bottle caps to finish my bottle cap mirror! (Disclaimer: I *did* have a little help from some work friends in collecting some of the bottle caps. Sharing is caring.)

To give you a reminder, this is what it looked like back in March when I began this project. I seriously underestimated the number of caps I needed to cover the entirety of the tiny mirror I picked out for this project. I specifically wanted something small, but it still required 72 caps! That is a lot of delicious beer!  

For this project I only wanted to use the caps from delicious beers (and a couple hard ciders). Sorry, jumbo Miller Lite cap, you no good for me.

And...it is finished!

I loved how it turned out. The hot pink I used for the main part of the mirror added the perfect pop of color. This project was very simple; the most difficult and time consuming part was collecting enough caps! After I spray painted the hot pink color onto the mirror I used my trusty hot glue gun to affix the caps, and that was it. This is the perfect project to use up all those bottle caps you will undoubtedly acquire after that big 4th of July party. I hope you will be inspired to create sometime unique and kind of kitschy for your home.

Thanks for reading!  

White Ceramic Chicken

This is a quick & easy DIY makeover that has a big impact. 

Every once in a while I make time to check out the local thrift stores. The last time I went I found this amazing ceramic chicken. I love chickens & this little one was pretty cute, but rather tired looking. I knew I had to take it home with me & make it pretty!

Before Chicken

After I got the chicken home I cleaned it with soap & hot water, then let it dry completely.

I took it outside with a drop cloth, and used spray primer & spray paint to make it pretty!

I used one coat of Zissner spray primer (because that stuff sticks to everything!) and two coats of Heirloom White spray paint.

I let the paint dry then sprayed it with a coat of polycrylic. The Heirloom White paint is a matte finish which is why I chose to finish the chicken with polycrylic; I wanted a shiny chicken. If my spray paint was a glossy finish I would not have bothered with the sealer coat. 

After Chicken!

Check out how nice the chicken looks now! 

I have not decided where it will stay, but for now it is hanging out on my newly updated IKEA bookshelf. (Blog post to come later!)

This was a quick & simple project that transformed a forlorn thrift store find into one of my favorite home decorations! I hope you will be inspired to transform one of your old statues into a new treasure!


I am linking up with Tip Junkie today!

DIY Vase

Hello! I found the inspiration for this project via Pinterest. Of course!

S bought me a bottle of this delicious Pinot Noir that has this fantastic rooster label. He knows that I enjoy roosters & Pinot Noir. He is such a great guy! I really love roosters so I really didn't want to just drink the wine and recycle the bottle. I wanted to keep the bottle forever because it makes me smile!

First I painted a layer of polycrylic over the cute label. I let that dry for a day, then painted a second coat, and let that coat dry for two days. I used painters tape to carefully cover the label where I did not want to get any paint.

I used puffy paint to make a million little dots all over the bottle. I let the puffy paint dry for a day.

(Lots of waiting with this project!)

After the puffy paint was dry, I spray painted the entire bottle. I let the spray paint dry for about ten minutes, then carefully pulled the painters tape off the label.

Then I let the bottle dry for another full day.

Then I put it on my mantle, next to my fish bottles, and it was pretty!

I have been keeping my cupcake flags in my new rooster vase & fish bottles.

I think my new vase looks so cute up on my mantle with all my other bottles!

Happy President's Day!

Magazine Holder Make-Over

Happy Friday to everyone!
We, like many, have piles of magazines in our bathroom area. I didn't necessarily enjoy using the window ledge as a magazine holder, but it worked for a while. 

During the spring & summer months (when the weather is nice!) S & I like to check out the local thrift stores. Last summer we were out looking for a dresser, when S discovered a magazine rack! 

Silly me, when I finally got around to this project, I was so excited to paint it, I forgot to take a before picture. 

Sad, I know.

What I can tell you about this particular magazine rack was that it was quite ugly. It was just dull, dark brown wood. Bleh.

So, hence the excitement at painting it!

Like many of my projects, I used Zissners spray primer. I like the spray primer to get at all the nooks & crannys. Zissners sticks to every surface you can imagine, which is wonderful for us DIYers!

Before...ish. 

This is the magazine rack after I primed it.

During painting. 

I did one coat of primer, two coats of spray paint, and one coat of spray polycrylic.

After!

I just love how it turned out. It is teal, shiny, & totally useful!

Go forth & be inspired!

Chartreuse Mirror Make-Over

So, I've had this mirror since before elementary school. It used to belong to a white and gold colored bedroom set with two twin beds, two three-drawer dressers, and this mirror! My little sister and I shared a room until I was sixteen, and I guess this was our first bedroom set.

I don't have a before picture of when the mirror was white and gold. I took the mirror from my childhood home when S and I moved in together to the home in Catonsville. It was there that I painted it purple and it hung in our dining room for a while, partially covered by a giant credenza.

I never got around to re-painting the mirror while we were in Silver Spring. It just sat underneath our bed; waiting for the day when it would shine again!

Now that our bedroom has a totally different color scheme that any of our other bedrooms, I felt it was time to dust off the old mirror and repaint it chartreuse to go along with our Grey & Chartreuse bedroom makeover.

Before

Can you see it in the back of the picture there? Haha, it's there, I promise! It was painted dark purple.

I used one coat of Zinsser spray primer, two light coats of Montana Gold spray paint, and a coat of spray polycrylic to seal the deal!

I love it!

Check out the neat outline the spray paint made on my drop cloth. 

I just had to take a picture of it!  

Spray painting the frame on our fire escape/patio.

After!