The Perfect Mirror

Thank to my wonderful mother-in-law, I scored The. Perfect. Mirror. for our blank living room wall.

Do you recall seeing this while shopping online?

Z Gallerie: $199

Or this one?

Horchow Cyrus Sunburst Mirror: Was $387, Sale: $249

A Nieman Marcus Version:

Was $650, Sale $496

Drum roll please .........................

Mine was only $99 at Home Goods!

As you can see, I recently put together a shelf behind our sectional (still needs a coat of paint). I propped up a lamp, just to act as a visual, but my plans for the space include flanking the mirror with two lamps (hopefully adding some color) and then adding books, candles, and other accessories to the shelf to balance everything out.

Here are some of my favorite lamp options. Some are in my budget and others are way out of it, but I couldn't help myself.

CSNStores.com: $119

Homedecorators.com: $59

Ivgstores.com: $100

Laylagrace.com: $250

Laylagrace.com: $585 (hate the shade and never pay $585, obviously! the base is pretty though)

Laylagrace.com: $375

Shadesoflight.com: $225

Laylagrace.com: $375

While searching for the beautiful lamps above, I came across this bad boy (pictured below). You might recognize him from the picture of my new purchase above. He makes an appearance in the bottom right corner. Only thing is, I didn't pay the $185 asking price from shadesoflight.com, I didn't even pay $100, or $50, but instead $29 at my local Home Goods!

I think today is going to be a great day:)

Do you have a favorite "lamp look" from above or one you would like to share? I would love to hear your thoughts. I, of course, will not be purchasing any of these lamps online, but instead will start searching my HG for some good deals. It would be nice to go in their with a clear version of what I want and your opinions would really help me out!

What my house looks like today....

Well, first off all, check out the weather we will be getting this week...

• Overview
• Hourly
• Tomorrow
• Weekend
• 5-Day
• 10-Day
• Month
• Map

TodayMay 19

Fri20

Sat21

Sun22

Mon23

T-Storms	Scattered T-Storms	Isolated T-Storms	Scattered T-Storms	Scattered T-Storms
73°F	77°	80°	81°	78°
High	High	High	High	High
64°	66°	61°	67°	65°
Low	Low	Low	Low	Low
Chance of Rain: 80%	Chance of Rain: 60%	Chance of Rain: 30%	Chance of Rain: 30%	Chance of Rain: 50%

Details

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Next 5 Days

No fun at all:( Hopefully it means I can get some projects done around the house. We shall see!

I do have something that will keep me happy during this coming weekend though...

My peonies bloomed! I was ecstatic to see a pink bloom this year. They look fabulous sitting on our dining room table.

This is what one of my kitchen cabinets looks like...

(excuse the color, it is very off!)

I don't know if I will ever be able to decide!

Last, but not least, I finally got around to hanging up my bulletin board...

What I didn't show you was the pile of laundry waiting to head downstairs and all of the dog toys scattered around the living room!

Anyway, I am heading out for some shopping with my sister-in-laws and mother-in-law this afternoon. Hopefully we find some fantastic deals because that is the only way I will be able to get anything.

Have a great day!

Sunburst Mirror Feature

My $9 Sunburst Mirror is being feature on A' La Mode Maven today!

Can this be done?

I am throwing a going away party for my cousin/best friend on June 12th. Please note, the day before that, June 11th I am helping with my friends baby shower. This weekend we are swamped with graduations and next weekend we are headed to the lake. That means, I have about 12-15 days that I could spend painting my kitchen cabinets in order to debut them at the going away party. I think it would be great to have a timeline, but I am scared it is cutting it too close. Especially because I don't have any of the supplies yet. You all know I was planning on using Rustoleum's Cabinet Kit, but after doing my research, calling HD, and emailing Rustoleum, I sadly report that you are not able to custom tint the paint. Therefore, I will be doing my cabinets the ol' fashion way. It would be great if my husband was on board with this project and would offer to help me out, but I am on my own on this one, "If you want to paint the kitchen cabinets, fine, but I'm not helping you!". How rude (he actually works 10 hours days at the office and I am sitting at home all day, so I guess I understand where he is coming from!). It might actually work out better, he isn't very detail oriented and I want the cabinets to come out lookin' perfect! 

I am stuck between two colors...

Chelsea Gray:

I was actually rather surprised by this color when I picked up the paint chip at Ace Hardware. It is a variation of green! I am scared that painting orange, oak cabinets this color might turn the color from a subtle greenish/gray to hunter green. 

The other option is Fieldstone:

With this color, I am worried it is going to blend in too much with the surrounding color in the dining room.

Seen here:

Tough choice, right?

Our kitchen currently has white laminate countertops and a white backsplash that will be staying for a while...

If you have any advice/input on color choices or techniques I would love to hear from you!

Have a great day:)

After I published this post I went and got out ALL of my paint swatches and hung them up on the cabinets.

This one is close to chelsea gray, but doesn't seem to have any green undertones.

Martha Stewart Cement Gray:

This one has a little bit of green in it too...

AcePaint Medium Gray

FYI: The reason I liked Chelsea gray in the first place was because I saw Genevieve on Dear Genevieve use it on kitchen cabinets. I am starting to recall that they did look a little more brown than gray.

I have noticed (since I started putting up all the paint chips) that the brownish/green grays actually look best with the wall color. I think if I can find one that is a gray/brown and less green than it would look great. The cement gray above might be the best choice yet. We shall see!

Daily Deals

I've come across some good things today and thought I needed to share!

These hanging wall vases are $12.95 each from crateandbarrel.

This ottoman is only $104 at overstock.com.

Only $26 for this Liz Claiborne 6 piece striped towel set on qvc.com.

$25 for this 2X3 floral rug on qvc.com.

Get this! Only $69 for this velvet slipper chair from target.com!!!

I really wish I had a spot in my home for a couple of these bad boys:(

DIY Bulletin Board Tutorial

Stay with me here folks. On this project I used all left over materials from my DIY Headboard, seen here...

Materials needed:

- Plywood - whatever size you want your board to be

- Fabric

- 1 inch foam padding

- Nail head trim

- Rubber mallet 

- Measuring tape

- Glue gun/spray adhesive

-Staple gun

*Keep in mind I am going to use some pictures from my headboard because it is essentially the same process and I didn't take very good pictures this time around*

Step 1:

Lay out your plywood and cut your foam to fit it...

You will probably want to keep your plywood a square, but whatever floats your boat:)

There is no need to add the mdf board around the edges like I did on the headboard. Just lay out your foam to fully cover the plywood and use a hot glue gun or spray adhesive to get it to stick to the plywood.

Step 2:

Cover your foam with fabric and turn it over. Begin stapling the fabric to the back of the plywood. I find it best to put a couple staples on each end and then go back through, pull tight, and add a bunch more.

Step 3: Turn it back over and begin adding your nailhead trim in whatever design you please.

I used leftover nailhead trim, which is much easier to keep straight than hundreds of individual nails. I cut a piece of a glue stick that I used to measure from the edge of the board to the line of my nailhead to make sure it was even all the way around.

You should be left with something that looks like this!

Because I used 1 inch foam, I don't have to stick the thumb tacks all the way to the plywood. They are very secure just sticking through the fabric and foam padding. You could also make this with no padding, or just batting if you want to. I recommend using whatever you have on hand.

I finally got around to hanging this bad boy up!