A new powder room mirror sparks a full-fledged renovation!

You know that phrase that talks about a spark starting a fire? Well, in this case a mirror is sparking a full-fledged powder room makeover. And I am so excited!!

This mirror was a thrift shop find I scored for about $15. I loved its scrolly-top and the mirror was in perfect condition. It came home with me and got the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint treatment in Old White with clear and dark wax.

Since it didn't sell at the holiday show I exhibited at, I brought it home and claimed it for my powder room. We built our home 2 years ago, and the powder room was pretty standard, with the builder-grade oval frameless mirror. So, I took it down, patched and painted the holes, and hung Miss Pretty over the sink!

I snapped this quick photo, posted it to my Facebook biz page, and knew immediately that this room needs paint! White walls do nothing to accentuate the curves on the mirror. I want it to pop out at you as the showpiece in the room (even though it will have to battle it out for the title against the fabulous ironwork shelf). A quick survey about paint colors generated some of my highest ever Facebook stats! Many of you said to paint it a various shade of blue, or plum, or chocolate brown. I'm still on the fence about the paint color, BUT, I know exactly what I intend to do in my space to give it some pizzazz...STENCIL!!

This moroccan beauty is available on Cutting Edge Stencils. I'm going to purchase this stencil and do one wall with it.

TIP:  I had a friend ask how to do this without having bleeding edges (when the paint seeps under the stencil and your edges are not crisp). I watched several tutorials on Cutting Edge's website, and the trick  is to wipe paint off your roller onto a paper towel, before you apply it to the wall. The same goes for furniture, whether you stencil with a roller or a brush, always blot your tool on a paper towel to remove excess paint!!

I plan to tape off the toilet and sink, and go to town. But first, I need to find a new light fixture for over the mirror. It too is builder standard and not attractive at all. I'd love to find something really cool, like a barn light. If you know of a great, inexpensive source, share the love!

I'd like to get this work all completed in the coming month, so I can surprise hubby when he gets home again. Stay tuned, there will be a tutorial video coming for this project!

Time to play blog catch up - a recap of what I've been up to lately

Has it really been a month since I blogged? I'm sorry folks, time has really gotten away from me this past month. I can blame it on a lot of things, like being uber busy with work (both painting and book publicity), preparing for the holidays, or one of the biggest events that sucked me dry - a holiday show that I painted several large pieces of furniture and accessories for. So let's start there - with a recap of the show...

The Holiday Extravaganza show was a huge success for me. I sold all of the furniture I took, and nearly all of the small decorative pieces as well. And more importantly, I made many contacts with people interested in custom paint work. It was so fun to see many of the friends I have made on my Twig and Twine Facebook page, as well as my son's teachers, and our neighbors. And my hubby was home! So I had his muscles to help with the heavy lifting - thank you baby!

Here's a photo of my space:

Since the show, I've done no painting. I took the remainder of December off to decorate and prepare for the holidays. We put up a couple of trees.

And crafted gingerbread houses for my son's kindergarten class.

We had out of town family come for a visit, too. Here's a first - I made a breakfast pizza. (I'll stick to painting!)

Our family celebrated the holidays a bit early this year, as hubby had to deploy before the 25th. But, it's okay, he got to see Ohio State beat Michigan, so all was good!

We also began a major basement renovation. Well, not really we...a construction company is doing all the work. But, we get to make a lot of design decisions, so that is fun. Phase 1 is complete, which included a week of major noise (poor Charlotte was hiding in the closet for most of it). They finished all the framing, HVAC, plumbing and electrical. Here's a sneak peek...

We had selected pendant lights for the bar area that turned out to be too big for the space. So, instead of returning them, we hung them over our kitchen island. I LOVE them! In fact, I think they are perfect for our kitchen (which probably means they wouldn't have been perfect for the basement bar). See, everything works out like its supposed to!

Christmas morning came and we opened Santa's gifts, which included Skylanders and a pooping reindeer for Saxon.

Charlotte enjoyed her new comfy sherpa blanket.

And hubby gave me a fabulous new I-Pad mini - perfect for the mass amounts of reading I love to do! Mother-in-law gave me gift cards to Home Goods and Pottery Barn (she knows me so well)!
With those I bought a weathered wood mirror and a lantern.

We did some traveling to see family and are now having our first evening alone, with nothing to do, in weeks. Hence, why I am sitting here, able to play blog catch-up. My lack of blogging has been eating at me. I laid in bed thinking, "I have got to get on the computer and write something!"

And speaking of writing, here's something that perhaps I shouldn't even mention, because its so far from being a reality at this point. But, it was flattering and exciting nonetheless...I was asked to consider writing a how-to project book for painting furniture! If more develops on this topic, I'll be sure to let ya know.

So, the holidays are almost over and I hope to be more regular with my blogging. And with the New Year comes resolutions for things I hope to do with the blog. Of course I want to grow my blog and Facebook audience, and to do so, I want to provide a lot more how-to. I plan to provide more tutorials for craft projects, for painting, and other decorative goodies I have in store. So, please come along into 2013 with me...and always feel welcome to leave comments, concerns, requests or questions! Happy New Year my Nester friends!