Guest Poster: Lilikoi Joy

Hi everyone! I'm Sharon from Lilikoi Joy and I'm guest posting here on Denyse's blog today. Don't you all love her? If we didn't live on the opposite side of the country from each other, she'd be a gal I'd love to hang out with. She's creative, gorgeous, and so supportive of other bloggers with her blogging parties and positive comments back to everyone. The girl's got it goin' on! Today's post is my way of helping out while she's in the middle of moving. It's almost like I'm there with her lugging that big heavy couch up the stairs, but without the backache for me! Okay, maybe not quite the same, but still... :)

I want to share with you a project I just finished up as part of our master bedroom makeover. You know those cheap plastic framed door mirrors that you can find at just about any big box store? I was in one of those stores awhile back and as I walked by the mirrors that were on sale for $4.99 each, the thought occurred to me that they looked like tall narrow windows. I love bedrooms that have windows on either side of a bed and thought, "I should take these home and put them above the nightstands so they look like pretty windows!" But when I got home and put them on the wall, they looked less like pretty windows and more like...cheap door mirrors that I stuck on the wall. It's not terrible, but it's not all that pretty either. They do reflect light back into the room, and they do remind me of a window, so I guess they met most of my requirements. Here's what they looked like hanging above my nightstands before I prettied them up:

Meh...

It would have been easier (and way more expensive) to get new mirrors, but I already had these and I have a hard time throwing stuff out when they still have life left in them (like when I turned my son's plastic kiddie mirror into a sunburst mirror). I like the challenge of taking something that someone else would think is disposable or worn and making it look new and different. I spent the last couple years with a very specific picture in my mind of how I wanted to pretty these up, and this past week those mirrors finally got their glam makeover:

My original plan was to silver leaf these mirror frames. I love that look! Let me just say that I've never used silver leaf before. I must have been insane thinking I could just stroll on in and silver leaf two huge pieces without any experience with it! The moment I started working with it, I knew instantly that I would not be able to finish one mirror let alone two without pulling my hair out. It flaked all over and kept crumbling apart, it stuck to my fingers, it didn't take well to all the corners and curves on the moldings, and I quickly realized I would need a lot more silver leaf (and patience) to finish this than I had on hand. Then I remembered I had silver metallic spray paint in my craft cabinet. So much easier! I think this mirror would look amazing with a gold or brass finish too. Black or dark espresso brown would be fantastic too, giving these mirrors a tropical vibe. If you wanted to tone down and "age" the silver a bit, you could always use a dark glaze or something like a dark colored Rub n Buff on it too. So many options if I ever get tired of the silver!

If you're a silver leaf wizard, I say go for it. I'm also a little jealous of your skillz.

The total cost of this mirror for me was about $45 per mirror to make. $45! That's less than a hundred bucks for two huge mirrors! I can barely find one decent large mirror for a hundred bucks let alone two! If you don't have the mirror or some of the other DIY materials we always have on hand like wood filler, caulk, nails, sandpaper painter's tape, etc, then it will cost you more, maybe around $65 I'm guessing. That's still a great bargain for a huge mirror that's chic and unique. 

If you're interested in seeing more about how this mirror came about and a full tutorial on how to make it yourself, click on over to my place: Upcycle a Door Mirror from Drab to Fab

I'm really happy about how these turned out. I haven't had a chance to hang them yet but I propped them up on the nightstands just to see, and I was so excited! This master bedroom makeover (Operation Sultrify as I like to call it) is coming along nicely so far.

If you'd like to follow how the rest of the bedroom makeover is coming along, or want to see any of my other posts (I blog about DIY, home improvement, cooking/baking, and other random domestic-y kind of stuff), I'd love to have you! Just hop over to Lilikoi Joy and follow via any of the follow buttons that are over there.

Thanks so much Denyse for letting me crash your blog today. I hope moving week is going smoothly for you guys!