So here's the finished project. What do you think?

Who's the fairest of them all? ;)

I have to say Ithink my Evil Queen looks awesome before this rose mirror!

And here she is above Dracula's castle and a small array of gargoyles. Somehow it all just goes together, doesn't it ? Spooky, yet rather goofy. Just like me! ;)

MIRROR, MIRROR...

So here's the story on this mirror. It belonged to my mother and is one of the few things I have left from her. However (imagine me kicking myself here for forgetting to take a "before" picture) it was kind of a cheesy looking spray painted looking gold and white. Just not my style. Nevertheless, because of its sentimental value I've lugged it all about with me. So I finally pulled it out of the closet and decided to give it a makeover so that I could have it out and enjoy it and be reminded of my mom at the same time. Hopefully, she'd understand.

I also found this nifty shelf at Michael's quite some time ago. It was originally done in that currently popular shabby chic finish of crackled off white. Since I always knew one day I was going to break down and repaint the mirror I picked it up as well. I think they make a pretty neat set.

So then I thought, "Hey wouldn't it be cool to put my Evil Queen on that shelf in front of the mirror?" Though I DO like her current mirror of bones too! LOL Anyway, I'm far from deciding where to hang it at this point and I'll need to get the wall painting done first and the furniture rearranged so for now she stays where she is and the shelf has been put away in the closet for the nonce.

Here's some details of the mirror and shelf and what it looked like with just its black base coat.

So one more small project down. Now I'm busily working on the pedestal that will hold my Sappho statue. Don't worry, I'll be sure to put up the pics when it's done!

ONE PROJECT AT A TIME

This was the mirror before I went to town on it with a paintbrush.

And this is the mirror after it got its "antique silver" transformation.

And this is Renefield, my faithful companion who hung out on the fireplace while I worked.

First, a coat of black paint.

Now I realize the cool HGTV folks on their various shows would probably have removed the mirror from the frame, taken the frame outside and spray painted it black. Well, it's cold outside right now! And I'm just too lazy to dismantle a mirror and put it back together. Besides, me with tools and a mirror is just asking for 7 years bad luck. So I left it right on the fireplace where it was hanging and just stood on my ottoman to reach the top.

After the black paint dried, I just dry brushed silver leafing paint over the top and it's all done! Now what will I paint next?

I HAVE A SOFA!





OK so it's not the sectional we have our hearts set on. But it's a Flexsteel (which is a very spendy furniture company. Check out their website : http://www.flexsteel.com/home/ . Their couches just don't die) in fabulous condition and it's very comfy. AND it's a wonderful pale silver gray velvety fabric. Truthfully, I'd have been happier if it were darker, like a charcoal gray, but hey, it goes with the new color scheme I'm working on and I couldn't argue with the price... which was... FREE! That's right, free. See, Portland is way into the eco thing and they are HUGE on recycling here. So on yahoogroups there's what's called a "freecycle" list, where people post for free things they'd otherwise be throwing away or hauling to the dump. When I saw the ad for "free silver couch" I couldn't resist going to take a look at it. When I peeked under the cushions and saw it was a Flexsteel I knew it was going home with me.
This couch belonged to a young couple who'd recieved it from a friend but they're moving to a new apartment and decided it didn't fit. I don't think they had any idea what they had. It's way nicer than the couch they are keeping actually but they seemed to be doing the earth toned thing so I guess that's why they decided to give this one the boot. So I called up my fabulous (and truck owning) friend Danielle and we went and got it last night. I'm soooo stoked!



So here, once again, is the old couch. It wasn't bad really and was even a darker shade of gray than the new one. BUT it has those HIDEOUS little pink stripes all over it! I swear guys, those pink stripes used to literally make me grind my teeth I hated them so much! LOL Plus it had ended up with a hole on one corner from the move and one of the brass strips on the arms had always been missing since I acquired it. Anyway I donated it to our apartment complex's laundryroom so it'll get a lot more use and didn't end up at the dump wasting space. Uh oh... I think this whole Portland mind set is starting to get to me... LOL



Here's the new sofa with a couple of my big black pillows tossed on it. New pillow covers will be getting started on today for all the sofa pillows. A few dashes of red in there should jazz it up a bit. I know it looks pretty boring but I decided to go really minialmist on the furniture and plan to really showcase some of my art and collectibles instead. This way it won't be too busy for my apartment sized living space.




And here's a close up of the yummy silver velvety fabric. I'm soooo glad I don't have to slipcover an entire sofa now! I'm still on the hunt for an ottoman and then I'll have to hunt up some fabric that looks close enough to this to slipcover the ottoman in. Then I'll just have the dreaded chairs to deal with!
Well, I'm off to my next project, which is repainting the mirror over the fireplace! See ya later!

The Dread "Before" Pictures

I've decided that since the dining room opens onto the living room I'm going to have to break down and include it in the decorating redo.




Something it always does my heart good to see... Mark in the kitchen! However, as you can also see, underneath the bar area has basically become storage space. That needs to get cleaned up and a couple of bar stools put in place.



Against the far wall we have my old beat up (but beloved and irreplacable because it belonged to my great grandmother) costume armoire, a cheesy bookcase, and the baker's rack/coffee bar. So here's the plan: The bookcase is going to go away. Don't ask me where the books are going, I haven't figured that one out yet. A small freezer (yes, Mark has already measured the space and found a freezer to fit at Home Depot) will go in its place. My costumes are about to get a serious culling and the rest are going to go into a decorative trunk (that I've yet to find) and will be out in the living room. The armoire is going to get painted black with decorative silver Celtic motifs (the dining room is an extension of Mark's space after all) and I'm going to put a simple shelving unit in it so he'll have some more kitchen storage space. Don't tell him, it's going to be a surprise! As for the dining table and chairs... they're going to get a coat of black paint as well and I'm going to carry the silver Celtic motif over to the top of the table as well. The chairs are also going to get tie on red cushions. I think I'll probably move the Celtic rug that's currently in the living room to under the table.


Yet another view of the dining room as seen from the living room.



My living room window. I'll be doing a similar window treatment here but the colors will now be silver.



My cool glass topped coffee table. The end tables match it. These will go great with the new color scheme so they are definitely staying.



My beloved Chinee chest. It'll be moving into the bedroom and the fish tank will be coming out to the living room.



My gorgeous Sappho statue that Mark got me for Xmas. I've bought a plaster pedestal for her with a wonderful Greek motif and I'm going to try to paint it to match the finish on the statue.



This basic black bookcase gets to stay but as you can see its very cluttered with my knick knacks and consequently you really can't see any of them well. Part of the plan is to create different ways and places to display them and use at least one more shelf on the bookcase for books!




This corner where the TV is just looks really unbalanced. A taller TV cabinet to offset the bookcase is definitely in order. And yeah, that's the Home & Garden channel plaing on the TV! It's soooo addicting!



Scary corner full of junk and cat tree!



Is it my imagination or does it just look a little too Christmas-y in here??? Say bye-bye boring green chair. Yer gettin' a makeover! The lamps and end tables will be staying though.
There's also just really too much artwork on this wall... and none of it in nice frames. So I'll be reducing the amount of pictures and reframing the few that will remain in better frames to match the monochromatic color scheme. This is also the wall that's going to get repainted in a textured gray.



OK you can't see the window treatment very well here but, as you CAN see, I have a great view of the woods out this window.



The OTHER boring green chair. It will also be getting a new slipcover to match the other chair. The black faux leather ottoman will get to stay as is.



As you can see, the mirror above the fireplace is gold now. I'm going to paint it antique silver instead. I'll also be painting the "mortar" between the "rocks" on the fireplace in gray so it'll look more realistic.



Wow, I never cease to be surprised by how ugly my couch is! But it's going to get slipcovered. The green and burgundy pillows (while pretty) will also be getting new covers in colors to compliment the new monochromatic color scheme.


So that's what I have to work with so far. Ideas? Suggestions? Donations? LOL

On to the living room

On To The Living Room

Well now that the bedroom is pretty well finished it's time to move on to the living room! This, however, will be a much more extensive project. So my plan is to tackle it one small project at a time. My idea for this room is the "grown up Goth" living room that I've always really wanted. Heretofore my "style" has been a war between just that and a more traditional English library look in burgundy and hunter green. I DO really like that look and the day will come when I will indeed go with just that... in an actual library. But since I kept acquiring black pieces and things in a monochromatic color scheme, and since these things really don't go with the green and burgundy color scheme I've decided to do away with all the green and burgundy and get serious about monochromes. Below are pictures of my "inspiration rooms" which have been gleaned from... you guessed it... HGTV! Yes, they have a website too!




"Old World"



"Transitional"

The styles of these rooms are "Old World" and "Transitional." What really appeals to me about them is their color schemes. Now obviously since I have black pets that like to sit on my furniture (and also because I'm a klutz who's sure to spill things on any pale colored object!) white couches are right out, as is pretty much white anything. But I'm in love with all the pale silvery grays. My master plan is to go with this pale gray palette with some splashes of deep red. Since my own stuff is definitely a mix of modern and Old World my "new" living room will be a Transitional style.

For a splash of color I'm thinking about going with a rich, really dark red rug and red accent pillows. The rug may also be a fairly spendy item. I'm hoping for something kind of like this:



Or I could go with something that pulls in both the gray and red like this:


Or possibly I may stay with the cooler gray tones and just do accent pillows and throws in the reds so perhaps something like this:

This rug could be a really good option as it would blend really well with the pale shades of gray scheme so I'm giving it some serious thought.


And lastly, I could just go black. 'Cause nothing is cooler than black!


Anyone care to vote on the rug issue?
Replacing our current ugly sofa with a new one will likely be the most expensive part of this redo and will therefore probably be one of the last things to get done. But once I got to thinking (always a dangerous pastime for me) I realized that the design above was basically just a couch with a double wide ottoman pushed up against it. While the piece above (for over $1,700 from Target) IS a sectional because the sofa portion is actually 3 separate pieces that can be broken apart and configured as chairs if you’d like, since I want it to sit in exactly the design pictured above I developed a cunning plan. I am going to shop for an ottoman and then I am going to make matching slipcovers for the couch and ottoman and arrange them like this picture. Then at least I’ll have something that has the look I want at a price I can afford until such time as I can afford the real thing.

I'll be recovering my currently green wing chairs in a pale silver gray. I really LOVE the stripped chairs in the Transitional room but I'm afraid reupholstery might be beyond my skill set. So I’ve decided to make tailored slip covers even though I fear this may be beyond my sewing skills. Of course 16th century Italian gowns used to also be beyond my skill set so I know I can do it, I just also know a lot of teeth gnashing and swearing will be involved! But I haven’t liked any of the premade slipcovers I’ve been able to find and having them done is very expensive. So I’m gonna have to go for it. However, I do have a Plan B if it turns out I just can‘t accomplish it.. It involves stretch velvet and a staple gun. Be afraid, be VERY afraid... I don't hate my green chairs, in fact I'm still pretty fond of them. But they are getting rather shop worn and since I got them for free to begin with I don't feel too bad about experimenting on them. Say bye-bye trusty old green chairs!




I love this curtain in a silver silk dupioni. Even if I don't do the curtains in this fabric I'm at least going to do some accent pillows in it.



Here's the exact TV armoire I'm planning on buying from Target. At $250 the price is reasonable and I should be able to save up enough for it in the fairly near future.


This is the perfect ottoman. Not only is it the right size but it provides some desperately needed storage. And it can always be used as extra seating when I finally get the sectional sofa I really want. At $100 at Target, this is an item I'm seriously thinking about.

One of the projects I'll be embarking on soon will be to paint a "feature" wall in a textured gray. I'm hoping to end up with it looking rather like the wall in the Old World inspiration room. You'll see the wall I'm talking about in the "before picture" portion of this blog.

Well, that's it for now. Feel free to share your thoughts and ideas with me. I need all the help I can get!