Finally, a Friday Post!

I love to cruise Goodwill and Habitat ReStore places.  I almost never leave without a purchase, and that purchase is rarely without a plan for improvement.

Several weeks ago, I found four Ikea "Malma" mirrors for dirt cheap.

Ikea's picture on their website for the Malma, which is pretty pathetic.

The initial stain was a dark wood, which I primed incorrectly, sanded, and then primed correctly.

I covered the glass with some paper and got to work spray painting.

Set out to dry on a pretty, sunny day!

I got the idea from, duh, Pinterest to trace a pattern onto the frame and then come back to hand-paint the pattern in my chosen colors.  I originally planned a damask, but found this pattern to be more whimsical and easier to tackle:

Pretty pretty!

So, I flipped it over and got to work laying down a layer of colored pencil around the edges where the pattern would be traced:

Scribble...

Then I taped the scribbled side down onto the frame and got busy tracing the pattern.

Adhere here.

Apply firm, gentle pressure.

It takes some serious squinting, but you can see the pattern transferred to the wood nicely:

Purty flowurs...

They're pretty impractical as far as mirrors go (3" by 3"), but I knew the exact spot where we could hang them where they'd add much needed color and light.  All they need now is some fun paint.  I did start painting one of the frames with beachy, washed-out greens and yellows, but I may double back on that plan and go for a more striking combination of navy blue and bright yellow.  I might also just take a page from this palette and just go nuts with it:

It's a swatch from fabric.com that I ran across and pretty much love to pieces.  Kitchen curtains, maybe?

Anyway, once I have a functioning camera again, I will post the results.  I love doing stuff like this.  It's a great way for me to put my often annoying need to hyperfocus on something irrelevant to good use.