Heading toward autumn.

Graphic = love.

Pewter oval mirror.

Like I said, I was in the process of faux finishing a small over mirror I've had for years to look pewter. I love pewter like no one's business, so when I was brainstorming as to what to do with this folksie little mirror, it seemed perfect to go with the aged metallic look.

Pretty easy faux, honestly. I painted over the flowers with white to help the silver pop. After two coats of silver acrylic paint dried (spray paint would also work, but I used what I had on hand), I stippled black paint over the entire thing, then raced the clock to wipe away the excess with a bit of muslin, and then fade it with a dry brush.

I'm more or less in love with it. :D

Jewelry chandelier.

One of my first projects? Jewelry storage. Since my bathroom is literally half the size of my old one, with no counter-top space, I had to relocate my jewelry to another form of display/organization. Here's what I came up with:



Please excuse the clutter! With many projects comes an explosion of... random paints. I made the earring displays from frames with tulle hot-glued to the back. The mirror is currently in the process of being painted a faux pewter.

But look! No necklaces! I had been hanging them on one of two towel racks I had at my old place, but this new bathroom has one prime real estate towel bar, so no go. I have too many for my little dress form to successfully display, so I originally thought I'd reuse my cork boards and pin them in the closet. However, after unpacking them, they had been damaged by their own super sticky adhesive squares, and I abandoned that idea.

Instead, I decided I wanted to paint a chandelier in my closet, and hang my necklaces from pins at its points. Behold, a silly little 2 AM project!



Roughed in, with the doodle visible to the far right on a yellow legal pad sheet of paper.



Filled in for the most part, but with detailing to follow. Yes, it looks like an octopus alien. No, I do not mind it.



And here it is with the full effect. I like it, even if it's clearly home-made (rather than a decal). But it was cheaper, and only took about an hour from start to finish. Problem, solved!

Getting back into things.

Since my last update, a lot has happened. Basically, I decided to move out of my four bedroom, four bath suite-style student apartment, and into a two bedroom, two and a half bath townhouse in a quiet cul-du-sac. It was pretty abrupt. It was dramatic. It had several personal factors weighing on it's finality. But it had to happen sometime, and so it did.

Now I have a whole new place to decorate and perfect for a year before I go off to grad school(!) and... it's been consuming my every thought. Well, maybe not every. But definitely 85% of my thoughts.

With my new room come several issues of spacial planning and storage, and so soon after I'd pretty much maximized my old 10' x 10' box. I now have a 11' x 15' master-style bedroom with two (awkward) closets and a tiny bathroom. It's got asymmetrical windows. It's got four doors. It's got oddly placed cable hook-ups. It's got potential.

But I've more or less decided that I need new furniture. My old, 1980s country particleboard armoire and dresser have really met the end of their days. Drawers are falling out of their tracks, veneer is bubbling from water damage, and really, they're pretty ugly. So they should hopefully be replaced by a customizable Expedit storage (yes, I fall into Ikea now) and workspace system.

However, with all of these new challenges, and my down time before the school semester starts again, I've started a lot of small projects to get the sauciness to its maximum level. Excited? I am.