Monday, October 31

Day 31 - Reflecting

It's the last day of October!?! And so today we wrap up my 31 day series Hidden Potential. So I thought we would do a little reflecting today. Starting with a little makeover.


This barely counts as a makeover because it was SO fast and easy. Baby B loves to look in the mirror, so when I found this mirror at a yard sale for $0.50 I grabbed it for his room. (see how this fits the reflecting theme? I know, I'm bad.)


I loved the shape, but wanted to make it more fun and fitting for a little boy's room. I started by taping the mirror around the edges, making sure not to leave any gaps for paint to sneak through. Then I used paper to cover the rest of the mirror and taped it down.



I took it outside and gave it a quick once over with some sandpaper, just enough to rough up the finish a little.


Then I gave it a thin coat with a glossy red spray paint. The wood color was still showing through pretty badly at that point, so I followed the directions on the can to apply several more thin coats.


Ahhhh. Much better. Then I just let it sit for a few hours to give it time to thoroughly dry and cure, before pulling off the paint and tape.


And I just want to give a shout out to this paint. I had this sitting in the basement (someone gave it to me when they moved and didn't want to pack it. that's where most of my mystery paint came from!) and decided to give it a try. It is Krylon Fusion for Plastic (but it says it works great on other surfaces too) and it changed my idea that all spray paints are equal. They are not. I don't know where to get this or how much it costs, but I'm going to find out! It worked great!  It went on SO smoothly with a nice even spray. I didn't have a single drip or splatter (which are pretty common with cheap spray paint). And after a few light coats it covered the wood wonderfully  with a clean, shiny finish. Seriously. The mirror looks like it came red, not like it was painted. So yeah, I love this paint. Now where were we?


Oh yeah, next step. Putting it in Baby B's room. I had planned to hang it above the dresser so he could enjoy it during diaper changes but since we switched out the dressers I had to rethink things. Enter Plan B. Baby B has turned into a crawling fiend (and even pulled up on the coffee table today) so we decided to hang it way down near the floor so he can crawl right up and take a peek. And to make sure he doesn't pull it down, we're thinking about drilling right through the wooden frame into the wall. It will take some touch up work afterward, but safety first!


Project Total: $0.50 - frame from a yard sale (already had the paint)


And now for a little reflection on the past month. I had a lot of fun doing this series (and I hope you enjoyed it) and I will definitely consider joining again next year. But if I do, I think I'll be a little more prepared. It was more work than I expected and I ended up frantically writing most of my posts the day they were supposed to go up! But it was a fun challenge and if it's something you think you would enjoy, you should join in next year. I think I have even more ideas now than I started with! Not to mention all the great stuff I'm learning from some of the other 31 dayers (you can see all the participants here). But that's enough rambling from me. Now please excuse me while I take a few days off from this bloggy madness. I'll be back soon with a few new things we've been working on. :) 

Thanks for following my 31 Day's series! (you can find links to each days' post here)

Were you inspired to find any hidden potential this month? What were your favorite projects or ideas? And suggestions for next year? Are you thinking about doing a series of your own next year?

3 comments:

  1. Great little project to end the series. I enjoyed the posts, and I look forward to what you have to show us in the future!

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  2. I love that red! Good tip on the spray paint, I'll have to try that kind sometime!
    And congratulations on completing 31 Days!! :)

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  3. thank you, both! I had a lot of fun writing the series, thanks for following!

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