Monday, July 2, 2012

Eastern infatuation Part II




Love at first sight? Oh, complete and utter infatuation. 
Butterflies in stomach. Heart beating a little faster. 
All of that.


For years I have been drooling over large Moroccan or Indian trays and tray tables, 
but always found them far too expensive to justify a purchase...


... so when the other day I stumbled upon one of these old, beaten-in but oh-so-beautiful trays in a second-hand shop for an incredibly modest sum, I played out the whole cocker spaniel register (big eyes, tilting of head, etc) to the man in the house and congratulated him on having solved his present conundrums for my upcoming birthday...


At the moment, it is resting on a "three-legged plant holder", 
far too spindly and too tall for such a table, but a quick fix for now...





And, just for fun, I built a tripod for the little parasol using three twigs from the garden.



***

Sanselig Jul




Some time ago, I mentioned that a few of my photos will be part of Norwegian photographer, interior stylist and writer Franciska Munck-Johansen's new Christmas book, Sanselig Jul, which will be for sale in November. Just like her previous book, Sanselig Sommer (Summer For All the Senses), it will be filled with inspiring images and decorating ideas from a number of bloggers as well as from Franciska herself. Those of you who might be interested in this book can read more about it and prebook it here.

***
Wishing you a great start to the new week, and hope that the rain - that is 
keeping us hostage here in south west England - does not reach you!
Helena

Sunday, July 1, 2012

DIY Love Mirror, Bedroom Updates

Greetings!  I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  I've said this before but anytime I make a special change in a room, it always seems to inspire other changes, as well. 


This past week I finally got around to changing out our master bedroom and bath door knobs and plates to the match the porcelain door knobs I put on our pocket door.  I got lucky and found just what I needed in my hubby's collection.  I was planning to just change them and be done with it but I was so happy with the results that I put a fresh coat of paint on the doors and then decided to also paint our bedroom Classic Gray by Benjamin Moore. 


I love it so much in our dining room and since our master bedroom is right off the dining room, I thought it was a logical choice.  I just wasn't happy with the dark paint in our bedroom anymore. 

Well, this led to me wanting to improve the art work in our room, as well.  Besides the barn door behind our bed, there really isn't much on our walls in the bedroom and truth be told, our bedroom is the room we stash everything in, though it doesn't look like that from the photos.  But I've never shared the other side of the room with you, which is usually where everything is piled up.  :) 

Anyway, I wanted to put a mirror of some sort above our Anthropologie inspired dresser, so, I scoured the internet with ideas and came across this photo.

I absolutely loved the somewhat whimsical, chic simplicity of it and knew I could create a fun version for our bedroom.  Here's what you need.


This mirror cost less than $30 to make.  I used two boxes of mirror tiles from Lowe's, 1 x 2's and a  sheet of ceramic tiles.  (You need to remove the little square tiles from the sheet.)  First thing I did was build a frame with the 1 x 2's.  My frame is 3 feet x 4 feet, which is the size of 12 tiles.


I put the whole thing together with our nail gun.  Next, I attached a piece of scrap wainscot to the top of the frame with finishing nails.  Don't worry if it doesn't fit your frame perfectly.  


Before I moved on to the next step, I wrote all our love sayings on each individual mirror tile with a silver permanent marker.  I chose our sayings from cards that I save from my hubby and kiddos.  I always save the cards they give me and this worked out perfectly.  It's best to have that step finished before attaching the tiles to the frame.  Then I applied mirror adhesive to the frame and began laying down my tiles.


These photos aren't as great because it was late at night when I was working on this part.  After laying down all the tiles, I took the tiny ceramic tiles and glued them to each center connecting all four corners.


Then I painted the frame white to match the ceramic tiles.  After that, I cleaned off all my fingerprints, let it cure overnight flat on the ground and then attached a wire and two screw eyes to the back to hang it on the wall.  Here's how it looks in the room.


This mirror just makes me smile every time I walk into our bedroom.  It's fun and whimsical and I love how each saying reminds me of a special occasion with my family.  


I also love the generous size of it.  You could also make a smaller version though, if you needed to.  I know this kind of art isn't for everyone but it sure makes us happy!  

Have a great day!
Diana