Dust Your Shoulders Off...

The title of this post really has 0% to do with what you're about to read, other than the fact that I had to "dust off" my thrift store find before spray painting it. I however, can't get this song out of my head!

I've recently stumbled on some awesome blogs, where people are turning yard sale items, or thrift store finds into some awesome decor. And since this old house has been draining my wallet in home improvement projects recently, I figure I can use all the help I can get.

I found this mirror at my local St. Vincent dePaul. I'm not really sure who St. Vincent is, but he has some awesome stuff. After reading (stalking) my blogland friends (we're BFF's eventhough they may not know it) I have been blessed with an eye for crap. Yep, you heard me right! I can spot crap a mile away, and I could immediately tell you that I could spray paint it or add some new material to it and it would look awesome. FHH (future handy hubby) thinks I'm nuts and is constantly saying "Can't you just leave anything alone? Why do you have to spray paint EVERYTHING?"

Well, FHH, I'm not made of money and when I can't afford what I want, I'll make it myself. Like in the case of this mirror. I have been eyeing message board projects where people have painted chalkboard paint on their walls or even on their backsplashes and appliances! I may have crazy colored paint, but I know for a fact I can re-paint when the time comes without any complication. I haven't however worked with chalkboard paint before so I wanted to take a little caution. I also had an option of buying chalkboard paint in the spray paint variety...so I knew this would save me some time!

Before, Ignore the DOG HAIR!

So while checking out all of St. Vincent's cool stuff, I spotted this oldie but goldie, mirror. With my eye for crap, I knew I could make this into something awesome. Throw in some spray chalkboard paint for the mirror and some hot pink spray paint for the frame and I was in business!

Mirror Before

Chalkboard Paint Finished

After

What do you guys think? I just have to find a way to mount this to the wall, it's pretty heavy!

Final Cost of the Message Board:
Mirror: $10.00
Chalkboard Paint: $3.00 w/Coupon
Spray Paint: $3.50

Total: $16.50

No way I could have bought this for that price! I'm pumped!

You Win Some...You Lose Some

I've been redoing my bathroom recently. More to come on that later...

However, this weekend's project was only supposed to be installing beadboard to the ceiling. I have been checking out the different wooden options and recently came across textured wallpaper that was supposed to resemble the real stuff. After reading several reviews online, I decided to try it out.

After a trip to Lowe's, I settled on the Allen + Roth brand. A roll covers 11 square feet and is about $20. It comes pre-pasted...so per the reviews it should have been as simple as dunking the paper in water, letting the paper set for 5 mins then smoothing it on the ceiling. All in all, it was that simple, but getting it to cling to the ceiling right away involved another step...screaming and saying a few choice words when the pre-pasted paper wouldn't stick. Try hanging on to something that was wet on one side and the other was covered in a solution the consistency of thinned petroleum jelly. This stuff was sliding all over the place.

Horrible i-Phone picture, but it looks great! IMO...

After 2 pieces were up on the ceiling we decided to take the light fixture down. As always...we found an interesting discovery. Water was pooled in the bottom of the globe and rust, mold and lots of other unwanted goodness. So...off to ikea we went for a new light fixture...hoping of course that the steam from the shower was the cause of all the excess moisture. I had been eying this cool chandelier that worked with the rest of the bathroom. Unfortunately for us, we didn't pay attention to how the chandelier was hanging from the ceiling.

Mold, and Knot and Tube Wiring

While the beadboard looks awesome and at first glance could be mistaken for the real thing...this chandelier hangs way too low, even for our short heights and the S-hook included...it just won't work. So back up goes the old light fixture, until we can find something else. Easier said than done though...the 2 rusted screws on this fixture were the biggest PITA to remove and re-install and I don't mean the pocket-bread variety. We replaced those with two new screws and putting it back up went much smoother.

Whoops...guess we'll be more careful
when picking out a fixture!

In other news...I found out my entire house has knob and tube wiring, which they stopped installing in the 30's. Yeah, my house is old! As long as the k&t was installed properly and wasn't modified to over increase it's load, the wiring is safe. However, knowing how everything else has gone in my house, I'm guessing this will probably need replacing down the road. Alana 1 - Money Pit - 9,781!

I guess you can't win them all...