Showing posts with label Ikea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ikea. Show all posts

Thursday, June 9, 2011

{Dining Room Mirrors}

Long long ago I bought these mirrors from Ikea.
I got a brilliant idea of what to do with them, and blog teased my genius project here.
Mostly because I thought I would get them done in a timely fashion...
5 months later, the project is finished!


I started with a romance novel that I picked up from the Arizona State Fair for free, and ripped it to shreds. I attempted to remove most of the white space, to leave behind just the pretty print. It didn't matter the size or shape of the pieces, I made it work.

With the addition of an oh so handy bottle of modge podge, I glued & painted & stuck & waited patiently for each side of the mirrors to dry before starting the next side. It was tedious. 5 months worth of tedious. (No, not really. I tend to start & stop projects often since I always loose interest. Not my favorite personality quirk.)


When the mirrors were finally finished, it was time to figure out how the heck I was going to attach them to the wall. Not a surprise that these cheap Ikea mirrors didn't come with any sort of backing, wires or ANY help with actually mounting them. Perfect. 

Two trips to Home Depot and a trip to Lowe's later, I had found enough confidence to hack at them myself. A knowledgeable employee told me I should use a staple gun & wire, instead of the eye hooks I had originally purchased. So I bought some. Of course they were the wrong ones. So I had to go back again to swap them out. Hurray for gas wastage.


Three harmed Trader Joe's bags and a half of a roll of masking tape was all it took to measure out where I wanted to place the mirrors. I have to admit that this method worked wonders, I only hammered ONE hole per mirror into my wall! Then ripped off the paper bags from underneath, leaving only the nails. Somehow I managed to not sustain a single injury which was amazing. But then again this whole process took about 2 hours. Guh.


The detail!


My dining room is starting to look more & more finished every day. Woo!

Monday, April 4, 2011

{things I love}

 I love:
  • Saturday mornings.
  • Waking up early with a whole day of nothing to do.
  • When your boyfriend makes you breakfast even though most days he pretends he doesn't know his way around a kitchen at all.
  • And when that breakfast is crepes.
  • And they are delicious.
  • When all you have to worry about is sitting there. 
  • With no makeup, in your sweats, enjoying.
  • (Picture to follow. Beware..puffy eyes & no makeup!)
  • And then you feel energized enough to take on the rest of the day.
  • Which happens to be a trip to your most favorite place.
  • A place of dreams & happiness.
  • And you get to wander around the showrooms.
  • And somehow your boyfriend doesn't complain about how long you are taking.
  • And you make mental notes of all the new items you are coming back to buy when you are alone and won't be judged.
  • When you find super cheap decor that will fit perfectly in that awkward gap above your kitchen sink that you have been puzzled about what to do with for months. 
  • Then you head home to spend the remainder of the afternoon on a new obsession, Pinterest
  • And the weather is nice, so you rearrange your furniture.
  • And your boyfriend comes home with Resident Evil 2 for Playstation, and you stay up to play until 2 a.m.
  • And you laugh every time one of you screams when a very outdated and pixelated  zombie or giant tarantula jumps out from a corner. 
  • And you realize you're not very good at boy videogames. 
I love the weekend.