Collaged mirror with gelli prints

I bought this starburst mirror at the thrift store for $8 and decided to collage it with gelli prints. I knew I wanted it to be in the basement entryway, which we recently painted blue. Also, I plan to have some orange accents in the basement. I made a bunch of blue and red/orange gelli prints specifically for this project.

Here are my gelli prints cut out. I am alternating blue and orange pieces.

In progress. I painted the starburst gold before adding the gelli prints.

 Complete.

 Here is a shot of the completed mirror (I took this picture at night, so the lighting is a little off).

 Here it is  hanging in the entryway.

 (I photoshopped myself out of the mirror reflection. I hadn't dressed up for a selfie).

Basement Entry renovation

We finally have the basement entryway done.

Here are some before shots of the basement entryway. This is one end. This wall had pressboard paneling and we had it replaced with drywall. We replaced the laminate floor with Alterna tile flooring. We repainted the ceiling and walls and changed out the light fixture.

 

This wall was unfinished previously. We moved the door to the bedroom here.

Here the new entry has been framed out for the door. The door used to be to the right and set back from the hall (where you see purple on the right side).

There was a small kitchenette at the other end, with a hallway between the two areas.  The sink was not hooked up anymore, and this seemed like wasted space to us. We decided to have this be a part of the adjacent room (which is my art room, but could be used as a bedroom). This increased the size of my art room dramatically. The wall on the left was removed and the hallway will end where the wall on the right is.

Original kitchenette (bathroom beyond).

View from adjacent room. You can see the kitchenette area (was on left) is now part of this room (picture taken from roughly same place as photo above).

The bathroom door is at the end of the hall on the right, and art room door is on the left.

Master bedroom renovation

We finally are getting the final touches done in the renovated basement rooms.

Here is our completed master bedroom.

Here is the room before. It really doesn't look much different in these photos, but a lot of work was done. I liked the original paint color, so it is pretty much the same color as before. Most of the original walls had pressboard paneling on them. We had that removed and had it replaced with drywall. We got rid of the ceiling fan, and replaced the flooring, base, and crown trim.

Here you can see that the existing room (beyond, as seen from the basement entryway) was not completely finished. I don't know why this area was not finished.  We actually moved the door to the bedroom to this location. The door was originally down the hall.

After the pressboard was removed.

New drywall.

There is a walk-in closet at one end. Since we moved the entry door, we have to move the entry to the closet as well.

The basement rooms had textured wallpaper on the ceiling. It was in decent shape and we were not up to the task of removing it, nor did we want to replace the drywall on all the ceilings, so in the bedroom (and entryway) we just repainted the ceilings. You can see how the white really makes a difference. Also the previous paint was a bit shiny, and now it is matte.

We replaced the blond laminate floor with click lock vinyl. If water ever gets in the basement, these could be removed, dried off, and reinstalled. Pergo type floors are ruined if they get wet. The only down side is there is no padding under it, so it is rather hard and you can feel the variances in the concrete floor underneath. We also put frosted cling film on the windows, so we have privacy without blocking out the light.

Revamping thrift store finds with spray paint

Spray paint is great for sprucing up a thrift store find.  I have been hunting for an interesting plant stand that would hold a large pot for a while now. I ran across this "faux bamboo" plastic plant stand for $2 at the local thrift store.  It breaks down into separate pieces which made it easier for spray painting.

After a couple coats and re-assembly, it looks very nice,

And fits my plants well.

While I was at it, I found this plastic "faux bamboo and rattan" mirror.

I gave it an orange paint job. I know some people will think this is a horrible color, but I plan on having an aqua/orange color scheme in the basement bathroom.  I will take it to the Modernism Show in Denver, but if it doesn't sell, it's going in my bathroom.

Fixing up a thrift store find is a great way to find an item for your home and putting your own mark on it. I may paint colored stripes on the plant stand legs (or yarn bomb them) to add some more color to the room.

Fabric storage

I had a lot of fabric to put away after the move. The fabrics in the green bins with pink striped lids will stay in those containers, but the other fabrics will get new homes from the two large plastic storage containers, one of the smaller plastic containers (the other like this is UFOs), the black trash bag and other miscellaneous containers.

The majority of the fabric will be stacked in this shelving unit (which will be replaced in the future by something prettier). The cardboard boxes are office supplies and such.

I also will be using this plastic cubby unit. This was originally a sales display for toys at a defunct Borders store, where I bought it for $30.

Full disclosure, I do have other fabrics in a few of these Ikea units. 

And fat quarters in these cabinets.

We are going from this:

To this. These are commercial fabrics, vintage sheeting, and on top, canvas and a chenille bedspread. There are some unfinished skeleton pillows in the mix too.

And this. 

 

 

And also this.  I bought three of these "under bed" storage drawers at Bed, Bath, and Beyond because they will perfectly fit in the built-in in this room.  I bought three of them, but only filled two. I told my husband I must need more fabric since I have an empty one.  One is all whites (some cottons, some polyester, some large lace pieces). The other is all hand dyes.  Most of the fabric in the Ikea drawer units are also hand dyes.

Here you can see the black storage drawers in the built-in.  You can also see one of my Ikea units in the closet with the small white cabinet that has fat quarters inside.  The red bucket holds my batting and some clear vinyl. I hung my pillow inserts from pants hangers on the clothes rod.

This certainly isn't the best organization in the world. I do have hand dyed fabric in multiple places, as wall as marbled fabrics and some other categories that are located in more than one place. But at least all the fabric has a home. There is still a section of this room that has not been dealt with. I will do a complete room shot when that part has been straightened up.