Saturday, November 16, 2013

DIY.. Mirror, mirror on the wall..


Wether Irma will turn into a little princess or a disobedient girl, we will find out. Even though I still think, every girl needs a mirror.

DIY
golden framed mirror

I bought the golden frame for the mirror in Berlin at a Chinese store years ago.
Instead of framing some kind of stuff with it, I turned it into a mirror.
Therefor you need a mirror surface, a thin plywood board for the back, small nails and a hammer and maybe silicone or mounting glue.
If you know the exact measurements, you can let a glazier cut the mirror.
The plywood board shouldnt be thicker than 0.2. You can find them in most hardware stores and can let them cut it for you too.

After that you continue as if you inserted a normal picture into a frame.
You put in the mirror instead of the picture and if you want to make sure, you can secure it with silicone or mounting glue on the frame.
On the back you attach the plywood board.
The mirror and the board are held together with small nails, that are pound into the inside of the frame.

Just be careful, that the foil on the back of the mirror dont get damaged, because only that makes a mirror a mirror!





DIY
Pin board


The other golden frame I discovered at a flea market and was turned into a pin board.

Therefor cut a cork board (you can find that in a hardware store too) and a plywood board into the same measurements.
The cork board has to be at least 0.2 thick, because you want to be able to put pins into it.
Glue the board onto the plywood board and insert it secured with silicone or mounting glue into the frame.

As soon as the silicone is dry, you can paint the cork board in any color you want or let it in its natural state.
I used left over lacquer paint.
Just dont be surprised, because the cork greatly absorbs the paint and you have to go over it a couple of times, so the paint turns out to be saturated and even.
 










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Out of old make new.. Irmas kids room dresser..

I really wanted to get rid of this dresser. I thought it looked like a huge, spooky coffin, who weighs a felt ton and looks horrible. In my opinion a really mean object.
Because Vladimir wasnt too fond of it either, but didnt want to throw it away, I tried to sell it on the internet. Even then no one wanted to have it and who can blame them!!


DIY
and after..
DIY
Before


I couldnt get rid of this thing and so it found itself between the moving boxes and I was still lumbered with it.
Since we didnt have anything to lose and I had furniture-paint-fever, this monstrosity had to bite the dust too.
So Irmas room wouldnt become too green, we chose a light maroon tone and a strong blue tone as final colors, fitting the bench mattress fabric.


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DIY





















I admit, I still wouldnt put this dresser in the living room.
But it fits surprisingly well into the kids room. It reminds me a little of Alice in Wonderland.
None the less it now seems a lot friendlier and nobody has to be scared of any villains in the dresser.



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Thursday, November 14, 2013

Out of old make new.. Irmas bedroom furniture..

When I was 8 months pregnant, Vladimir and I moved with kit and caboodle into a family friendly apartment.
At the perfect time I got the often heard of energy boost during the last weeks of the pregnancy.
Vladimir is self employed and had to work from morning until late evening. So I could run riot as I pleased in our new home. I unpacked boxes, organized everything and found the right places.
It went even so far, that I washed all our clothes before I put them in the closet. In retrospect that was great, but if I think about it, I was nuts.
Just nesting.

During that time I also painted some furniture for Irmas bedroom. Old furniture, that we wouldve thrown away otherwise, had a new purpose.

To paint/lacquer the furniture I used recommended paint on water basis.  It is so low in odor, that you can paint in the apartment without problem and without strain your lungs.
Then you only need a brush for the edges and a foam roller for the big areas, so they're  smooth.


DIY redo furniture


This huge chest is actually a fallen over closet corpus, that before painting shone in a worn out, cold white. I wanted to burn that ugly thing, but Vladimir had the idea to make over the closet corpus and turn it into a bench.

While I painted diligently, my mom helped sewing the pillow cases and a new cover for the old foam mattress. The foam mattress was in my parents attic. It got washed and cut into the tight size.
Soon Irma can frolic and climb around and the chest has a lot of storage to put toys in it.


DIY
Redo a closet corpus to a chest



My parents bought the dresser over 30 years ago. As my mom likes to say, even back then the dresser was cheap furniture and was only bought, to be able to through it away without a guilty conscience when something better came upon. Unexpectedly the dresser followed every move, until I took it with me into my student flat.
From the original dark brown I painted it bright red, then piggy pink and now old green. My dad drilled a couple knob holes into it, so we could screw in the colorful ceramic knobs.
And so we still didnt get rid of that thing.



DIY

DIY




The little wooden chest was already standing in my kids bedroom. Now it fit perfectly to Irmas golden princess mirror.



DIY

DIY
DIY























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