✥ Reader Feature: Tween Room ✥

Did you guys have a good weekend? Mine was full of work- blah!
{Aaaannnnd today is kinda a big deal for me- nothin to do with blogging- but somebody cross your fingers for me or say a prayer that I don't get tongue-tied and fall on my face. Of course I'll share more down the road...if all goes well! Ha!}

Today Kelly from Oak House 5 has come to hang out with us! Kelly is a real sweetheart. She blogs about her home- and all things pertaining to it, including:  recipes, design, decor, , and family anecdotes.
Today she is here to share her younger daughter's bedroom. I may be having bedroom envy- this is a far cry from the white box I grew up in... no jealousy though, I swear!
This room is so perfect for a young girl! It makes me want to snatch one up just to I have a reason to make a room look this cool! I am a little obsessed with the black striped curtains, the yellow walls, and a photo gallery wall to rival anything a "real" designer could come up with- Kelly has no formal training, she's just cool like that!!

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This is my 11 year old daughter's room. I  don't normally do children's rooms, but I LOVED helping Abby with this room. The yellow is so happy and this is not a "show" room, everything in this room is personal and kid friendly. From the bedding to the art to the ballet bar, karaoke machine and massive stereo, this is my girl's place for reading, dancing, singing and jamming out to her own personal playlists. I couldn't be happier with the project!

Everything on the walls is either old and sentimental or something that just "spoke" to Abby from clearance sales to garage sales. It was all about building a room around Abigail's extraordinary character.

The tween years are hard, she is growing up but still loves her dolls. We came up with a great way to get the dolls off the floor where she can still enjoy them by mounting these floating shelves from Target.

A kids room needs to be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I feel like this room fits my daughter and we like to think of it as understated whimsey on a budget! Whatever your child's personality, let their space reflect it! Happy decorating!

Cheers,
Kelly

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Don't you just love that room? Sigh...I love how Kelly embraced and designed an Anthropologie-ish, vintage-y space. Can you believe she had the items on the gallery wall in her attic?! I think I could go shopping in an attic like that!!

 Since we don't all have teenaged girls- I thought a share a little more eye candy from Kelly's home! 

 Her entire home looks like it's straight out of a magazine! It is so, so beautiful. Check it out for yourself here.

But whatever you do- make sure you check out Kelly's amazing kitchen reno! It is so, completely amazing!! Can you believe that chandy? Ohmygosh! {Shh, I may have already featured this room  a few months ago!}

[PS] I feature YOU GUYS  {my readers} every Monday! Do you have a room makeover- or maybe have a home tour you'd like to share? 

Drop me a email or shoot me a link. Let's see if we can work it out!!  xoxo

Faux Zinc Mirror [Laminate Mirror Makeover]

Good morning dear friends. I've been blogging for awhile now- so there's really no good excuse for the terrible, awful thing I've done. But let me tell you what it is- and then try to explain myself, then, and only then, I hope you can forgive me.

The story begins, before I started blogging, and before I decided what my style was. I lived in a very brown house, with very brown furniture and very brown decor. One of those brown items- a laminate mirror with scrolling flowers on it. I bought it back in 2004 when the hubs and I moved into our first real apartment. Since then I've had it stored- you know, until I could figure out something to do with it.

Then, late one night, Z was meeting with his editor and I was hiding out in our room. So I used what was in there to keep me busy. 

Some Rub-n-Buff, an old toothbrush, and this mirror.

Now, how in the world was I to know this mirror would start to look awesome!?! When I figured it out- I grabbed the camera and took a pic of the last but of brown, flowery-ness.

There you have the truth. Can you forgive me? 

UPDATE: I found a before pic! However, since I didn't really know how to take pics then, the detail on the mirror isn't very prominent. But you get the idea.

Now my problem is, how are you going to understand the amazing before and after transformation?! You won't. Bummer, guess you'll just have to take my word for it. I've used the Rub n Buff for zillions of things in the past. But never on a whole mirror and never with results this cool!

 

I used a toothbrush cause that stuff can soak through cloth and even rubber gloves!! This way, your hands stay clean. 

If you look on the left side of the frame, where the toothbrush is, you'll see a light coating of Rub n Buff. You can see the original texture showing through. 

But if you look on the right side of the frame, you can see where I built the Rub n Buff up higher in some places. It made the finish uneven and mottled looking.

Then, an amazing thing happened, it really started looking like zinc!! An incredible stroke of luck!

 If you don't "Buff" the Rub n Buff, it will come off on your hands. I used the toothbrush to polish it- then some cheese cloth to give it one last once over. It makes the mirror safe to touch- and look at how reflective the finish is. 

I used a little black glaze to darken some of the areas and catch in some of the grooves. If you rub too hard it WILL take off some of the silver finish. So use it sparingly with a light touch. You can see in the pic above, the mirror's a little darker in places. 

I found this listing for a real zinc mirror- selling on Amazon- and I think it looks so similar!! Can you believe it? Restoration Hardware- you know, my favorite store- sells zinc mirrors and they charge an arm and a leg for them. Their version is a darker gray zinc, though.


I totally cannot believe this mirror turned out well! Like I thought I would salvage the mirror but that it would need a whole new frame. For a 2 dollar bottle of silver finish I replicated the look of a $90 mirror!

I don't think paint could have transformed it the same way, it would have either left the same flowers or there would have been a plain silver finish. This way I have the textural look of one of my favorite metals!

I just love when you can salvage something that you saw as garbage. But I still wish I had a before pic. Just trust me, it's better now! ;-)

{Psst: If you're interested- I made the giant B from cardboard and paper mache, tutorial is here- and the French Bee Lamp tutorial is here.}

 

Looking for places to link up your projects? Check out my Party page.

I'm also linked up here.