tropical depression maggie

I'm pretty good at finishing any project I start.  Actually, I'm very good.  I'm so good that I get impatient if I can't do everything RIGHTNOW.  Waiting for paint to dry so I can move on the the next step is tedious.

Scot has been in Las Vegas again for work for the past 2.5 weeks and I got bored.  So I decided to redecorate.  Well, sort of.  I didn't have any ideas about what exactly I wanted to do, so I took his (very roomy when the seats are folded down) vehicle over to the Antique Store Of Fabulousness to browse.  I really don't remember what it was I had in mind that I was kinda-sorta looking for, but I found a nasty looking headboard in the back of a pile at the back of the store.  It was a yellow-y, multi-textured mix of fake wood, rattan, and bamboo and it was calling me desperately for help.  So I took it home and made it beautiful!  More on that in a second.

With ideas for my new headboard (which would find a new home in guest room #2) swirling around in my head, I sighed in sadness staring at the (America's Next Top Model reference coming up!) sheer drecktitude that was what we'd taken to calling "the Maggie Room" because it housed the random bits of furniture I brought with me when I moved in.  "The Maggie Room," at best, could be called the "Tropical Depression Room."  Old palm tree bedspread, random vintage-y tropical posters (which I heart very much), and a sad looking paper mache parrot my grandparents brought back from Acapulco like 20 years ago.  His name is Pablo and after I dusted him off and hung him back up we're both much happier.

I started off with the headboard and over the next week I'd replaced the bedspread, cleaned out the junk, and fashioned a curtain to hide the shelves of the "Random Bookshelf Of Shame" which held anything that I couldn't bear to part with but couldn't find a home for either.

Here's the run down for the headboard- The only place I had to paint it was if I leaned it against the rickety fence surrounding my garden.  Keeping careful not to spray paint my bell peppers, I covered it with a coat of primer, followed an hour or so later by several coats of shiny black paint.  It was simple and striking.  And for some weird reason the black paint dusted off right on my hands whenever I touched it the next evening.  I really don't know why this happened (if you know, please enlighten me) but I found a can of clear gloss enamel from when I did Chandy ('memba her???) so a couple coats of that sealed it up.  Because this is a sort-of surprise for Scot, I wanted to finish it up before he gets home tomorrow but there was no way in this lifetime I could (or wanted to bother with) attach the headboard to the frame by myself.  So I took some of the pavers we had left over from when the guys did the porch and stacked them behind the frame to sit the headboard on.  It's kind of precariously perched back there but since no one sleeps in that bed anyway I think it's okay.  BTW, consider yourself warned and if you come visit me you are responsible for telling me to tell Scot to put your bed together so you don't wind up with a concussion in the middle of the night.  I'm good at delegating like that, I just need a reminder.

Room Makeover:
Headboard: $35
Primer/Paint: $8
New Bedspread: $42
Fabric and tension rods for bookshelf: $9
TOTAL for NEW guest room: $94!  Not bad if I say so myself.  

Enjoy :)

TROPICAL DEPRESSION BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE- SHELVES OF SHAME

AFTER (I even painted the coral sculpture on top of the bookshelf red!)

BEFORE- WHAT IS THIS SPACE???

AFTER- OH IT'S AN OFFICE/GUEST ROOM!

this is Pablo

HEADBOARD BEFORE

HEADBOARD AFTER!

mirror mirror, in the driveway

Believe it or not, there's still a trace of a bruise on my leg from that stupid bike incident (scroll back and check the date...yeah, it's been that long.)  Anyway, I'll be off the bicycle for a couple weeks because Scot is out of town- out in Las Vegas for work in Airbus school- and I refuse to ride again unless he's available to come rescue me when I wipe out again.  The last time he was gone for this long, I took over the garage and rehabbed some furniture- a chair, a bench, and a magazine rack.  This time, I decided to tackle the oval standing mirror I bought at the antique shop a few months back.

I checked the ever-growing paint supply cabinet and was glad to see we had a couple cans of primer still hanging around.  I swung by Home Depot (also known as "Second- Home" Depot) for a can of glossy brown spray paint, hoping just 1 would get the job done.  I mean, there's not much to this mirror.

The trickiest part was covering the mirror  with tape and newspaper- I trimmed some paper into an oval shape and stuck blue painter's tape over every reflective part that was still showing.  I unscrewed the mirror from the base, got some newspaper on the driveway and went to work with the primer on Monday afternoon.

Do you know what happens in Florida in the afternoon?

Yeah, it rains.

No sooner had I finished priming, the skies opened up and armageddon hit.  I scrambled to heft up my pieces and get them back into the garage, fortunately the primer dried pretty fast so it wasn't much of a setback.  It poured down the rest of the day, into the night.  Thunder, lightning, it was ridiculous.  Not just any old afternoon storm, this lasted forever and the pool even started filling to the top.  Wind whipped the outdoor curtains around, my cat was beside herself, and I was bored to tears.

Next morning was much better- I was up extra-early and out in the driveway getting a coat of brown on the base of the mirror.  The actual mirror part got finished yesterday and now there's some light newspaper outline in brown spray paint on the driveway.  Ooops.  I better finish up all the projects I want to do before we get the pavers put down on it next year.  Anyway, check how it turned out!  I love it!

BEFORE:

AFTER!

It matches the bedroom furniture much better now and I'm thrilled with how it came out.  Oh, and I also learned how to get spray paint off a mirror, should you somehow manage to get it on there even though you taped and newspapered, and taped some more.  Simple put some nail polish on a cotton round and wipe it off.  Easy-peasy!

Mirror- $35

Spray paint- $4

Primer- already owned

TOTAL: $39 for pure awesomeness!!!!