We have landed...

Into our mini apartment house tour.

And of course, I had to start with the entrance or landing strip if you will. I had three objectives.

1. Add a super cool hallway mirror.
2. Add a pop of color.
3. Be organized.

My friend Kara and I found a plastic gold mirror at a garage sale one day while on a walk. I didn't even have $$ so she spotted me the 15 bucks to carry this puppy home.

So I started with this:

And using this as inspiration:

I ended up with this:


My inspiration for our living room is gray, white and yellow, so I decided to bring the gray into the hall way with a bit of a twist and used a bit more of a blue gray. I picked up a small paint sample jar of Valspar Lighthouse Shadows (4008-3B) to paint the mirror. Yes, I was a very bad organic blogger- I didn't take the time to use low VOC paint, which I completely regretted later as the smell wafted through the house. You can see how small the paint jar was in this pic. (and my trusty helper- too bad he doesn't have opposable thumbs)


I used the glue gun to secure on the orange embellishment that I bought at a fabric store, and I had enough paint left over to paint an old hat rack to match. Since the small paint jars only come in matte, I spray painted on a sheer gloss to give it a bit of shine.



A magazine rack that we bought from Ikea years ago provides storage for keys, doggie bags, and all the other bits that you empty out of your pocket when you enter your apartment. Plus, it gives us handy storage for our umbrellas- which we've needed a lot this winter. Ideally, we'd have a larger piece, but for now we're using what we got.

I added a few more pops of orange, including a bunch of the colorful scarfs that I wear almost every day, and called it done.

Total project cost: $15 mirror, $5 can of paint, and $4 for spray paint. Total: $24 bucks give or take.

I love the splash of color and I love getting one last glance at the mirror as I leave for work in the morning- I've been known to have tooth paste everywhere.

So what do you think of the orange? Did I accomplish my goal?