Wednesday, April 4, 2012

a GREAT frame

After my first day post, I got several comments on my fancy mirror.  It is SO fabulous.  We found it about a year ago at a yard sale just down the street.  It's like 56" long/tall and has a very intricate frame.  Of course I was appalled by the GOLD color, but knew that it would be the perfect addition to our master.  Beautiful, antique, it even had beveled glass...SCORE.

 


After living at our home for 1.25 days we cracked the glass. 
YEP. HUGE. CRACK. BROKEN. DONE.
ugh, we were so annoyed! 
We stashed it away in the basement  workshop, just knowing we could use that awesome frame.


Now that we are in the clear and know that CAT-5 will remain in her current locale, I have decided her room needs a make over.  Currently painted bright yellow, she informed me upon arrival that it needed to be repainted purple with pink polka dots.  While I don't think I am quite there yet, we have settled on some cute bedding.  Her room is officially under construction. 

CAT-5 is an artist and comes home with no less than 26 masterpieces a week from school, so that only means that she needs to display them in some manner.  The obvious first project for her room would be a bulletin board.  Of course...THE frame, it is just the right size to fit over her dresser and it is so feminine, it will be just perfect.

Oh how I LOVE the frame, but it does pose a challenge to paint.  When embarking on such a journey I would really prefer to spray.  I spray paint everything, I mean why not?  However while we have an entire shelf full of sprays not one would work for this project.  The old fashion way it is, the BRUSH.


BUT first you have to clean the thing.  It isn't going to come out of the dungeon workshop after a year of storage spotless.  So first I spray it down with TSP



Then I scrape any loose paint. 


Then I lightly sand.  Look people, I am lazy and have no intentions of ever stripping anything unless there is no other options.  All you need to do is sand.



{if you notice in this corner there is an entire piece of the molding missing, this will not matter when it is done.  When you are out looking don't sweat the small stuff, paint makes everything pretty}

After you sand, get the hubs to attach the sprayer thing to the compressor and air blow all of the little junk off.  Perfect, now wipe everything down for a smooth surface! NOW for the brush. DIP in paint, get a LOT of paint on your brush and go to town!


 This is after like three coats.


 
Then I switch to the sponge brush.  Squish this little brush all into the little crevices.  You can apply TONS of paint at this time.  Because I plan on using some type of wash/glaze on this I don't mind the gold coming through. 



This is after about 6 coats.  OBVIOUSLY, I am going to have to apply the last coats with spray.



After that I can apply the glaze accent and pick the fabric for the board!  WOOHOOOO!  This is going to be a long one, but totally worth it!

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