How to Refinish Your Mirrored Closet Door Frames

I had one request for this, so I thought I would just post instructions here, in case someone else out there would like to try refinishing their closet door tracks and frames.


First, take apart the whole thing. The WHOLE thing. Remember where each piece goes, maybe label the under not-showing sides with masking tape indicating their positions. (you could leave the frame around the mirrors if you cover the mirrored surface with newspaper---either way, it takes some work). Take pictures if you need to.

Second take it outside and sand the entire surface REALLY WELL with coarse steel wool. I didn't do as good a job as I should have (rushing---and it was 100+ degrees on the days I decided to do it. Smart, I know.)

Third, prime with spray primer made for anodized metal. Ask someone at the hardware or home improvement store. If you can go to a strictly paint store, all the better. The primer I got was just alright. It bubbled in spots, but it's handle-able. Make sure you use a large drop cloth and weigh down the edges to prevent the plastic from blowing onto your drying surfaces. (yeah, that also happened). I sprayed two sides at a time and let dry then rotated. Let dry a little longer than the can suggests...maybe a couple days.

Fourth, spray with chrome spray paint. Follow the instructions precisely concerning drying and re-coating times. Be careful when touching. If it hasn't cured before handling, you will leave fingerprints. Found that out the hard way, as well! :)

The best spray I've found (and trust me, I've gone through about 5 different kinds) is this one:

Rustoleum Bright Coat in Chrome with Metallic Finish. I only did 2 coats, and it turned out pretty good.

Fifth, and optional, is to seal it with a clear coat enamel. I didn't do that and have noticed some scratches. I have read, in doing research, that the clear coat might take away the chrome look and just make it look gray. So, test it out on a hidden part. I suggest the under side of the track that faces the floor. It the past I've used a really good clear coat on a variety of projects and really loved the results:

DecoArt Triple Thick Glaze brilliant gloss spray

As I said, I did not do this step, but wish I did. You may be able to receive guidance from the paint store people. All you can do is try.

Sixth and final step is reassembly. Not the most fun ever. Those mirrored doors are STINKIN heavy. Get some gentlemen to help!

You could do any color besides chrome, following the same basic instructions. You wouldn't have to be as particular about touching and drying times, either. But I would especially use the glaze on any other color. It would look so cool and shiny.

If I missed something, or was unclear about anything, please ask! I'm not real great at instructions---so I hope this is understandable! It isn't a quick project, but take your time and do all the steps and it will turn out FANTASTIC! (better than mine, for sure, since I was impatient).

Good luck and be brave!!

Too busy for projects....

Ugh. I have so many I need to do. I can barely keep the house decent, let alone unpack and work on projects. I've been neglecting posting pics of the house because I wanted it to look cute and decorated. But I don't know if that's going to happen for a while. I just have to get used to that fact.

So here are some long overdue pictures of the house. Sorry Katy, they are the same ones I emailed you. Nothing else has been done. :/ I am still working on the rest of the house.


Someday you might get to see all of it..... :)

Girls' bathroom. Parisian black white and pink. My mom made the gorgeous shower curtain from laminated cotton fabric, wide grosgrain ribbon and inexpensive cotton. Eventually it will have more of a Parisian flair....

Family Room. Added ceiling fans, painted beams and mounted TV. Someday we will get the cords looking nice and some stuff on the walls. :)

Second view of Family room. The far right niche is the wet bar that will someday be my craft room.

The project I stressed over---but I got to use a wet saw for the first time! Scary but fun!
Glass tile to the ceiling.

Nook and pantry. Several projects left to finish here, too.

View of kitchen and nook from family room. I love my gigantic peninsula. The granite people said it was the largest one they've ever done...weighing 800+lbs! I'm so glad we could do it in one slab instead of two pieces, like they wanted to do.

Many more pictures to come. Slowly, but surely. Someday I will do a post about all the fantastic deals I found. Again...someday.... :)

MOVING DAY

It's 4:15 AM.

Tony and I haven't gone to bed yet.

And won't be at all. Still packing and readying the new house.

I broke down and made Tony buy Mountain Dew. It's truly saved me tonight.

Man. This is the biggest pain. I will be so glad when it's over. Unfortunately, we will still have a lot of stuff here after the movers come in just a few short hours. I just couldn't get it all packed. So we will be coming back and forth for a while. It is what it is. At least we are only moving a few miles away.

I am grateful for this opportunity and we know we are so blessed. Truly, we can't complain about anything. I'm so excited, and a little trepidatious, about starting our lives there. Wondering, most of all, how the girls will adjust. We will all be much happier in our 'new house'.

We've been prepping the girls for the move for weeks saying "momma's (or daddy's) working on the 'new house' " or "pretty soon we'll move to the 'new house' and you'll get to sleep in big girl beds!!" They are SOOO excited for their new "big girl beds". I don't think they even know what it means, but they announce that they are getting "biggurl beyd atta new houuuuse!" every day. I think they can feel the change coming on a deeper level. (how could they not with the disaster that is currently our house? -even more so than normal--which is a scary thought) They didn't want to go to bed tonight and just wanted to stay and get 'cozy' on the couch with me. Tears started to well up when I realized that this would be the last 'cozy' in this house. The last night in the house filled with so many important and special memories! Especially when Jordy looked over at me, saying, almost on the verge of tears, 'my wanna stay he-ure.' Then Avery said 'my wanna stay here too' and then Ashleigh followed suit. I don't know if they just meant here=couch or...could they really mean it that way? I couldn't help but wonder...

Sitting on the couch with them brought thoughts of when Tony and I first moved in, with our hand-me-down couch that only sat three people. Then came the memory of buying our current sectional (which was our first 'big' purchase as a couple), and soon followed by remembering the months, days, hours and minutes I spent on that couch on bed-rest while I carried my three little squirming angels---then bringing them home from the NICU, first Jordyn and Avery after two weeks and Ashleigh two more weeks later. All the time spent {{awake}} taking care of them when they were so tiny, to watching them use that couch to help them take their first steps---which brings us to now when they remove all the pillows, pile them up in front of the couch and yell "One! Two! Go!" and cannon ball into the pillow---and occasionally each other. :)

I just can't believe the time has gone so fast! Five years in, what we thought was, our temporary house...

It's been wonderful. But change is good.

I surely will miss our little house though....

A few last tasks....etc.

Well, tomorrow I will be tiling the back splash. Should be interesting, to say the least. I am having a professional 'show me the ropes' (--er, grout?) and I'm pretty excited. I have always wanted to learn how to do it. I've seen it COUNTLESS times on home make-over shows...so I could TELL you what to do---but as far as actually DOING it, not a clue. After tomorrow I should be a pro! (That was supposed to be a joke...hahaaaa) :)

So on a slightly unrelated note, I was given these little rocking club chairs for free:And have NO CLUE what to do with them.

Recovering them would take too much money and time. I really like the shape and the tufting and stuff, so a slipcover is out---not to mention expensive. And the color actually (and surprisingly) would contrast nicely with my 'aqua-grey-cream-black-and-espresso brown' color-scheme....but they just look.........old.......ya know? Which they are---probably 40 or 50 years or more. Although in PRISTINE condition, I might add!

I thought about spraying them with this stuff. But there isn't really a color I love--maybe the brown or black. Not to mention doing that scares me just a little...but so many people SWEAR by it. I dunno. Suspect.

I thought, maybe a coordinating pillow in an ultra modern print would jazz it up a bit. I like these, but none really GRAB me:

prob my fave, but kinda weird.

no idea what it's supposed to be....

a bit yellow, but the grey and cream is nice....

only a HINT of aqua and maybe a bit too green-ish


straight up orange and cream.
maybe it would bring out the orange in the chairs TOO much...

really like this one, colors are dead on---but is it the right style??

(The print is actually big; this entire picture would be one large pillow!)

I want the pattern to coordinate with this fabric. (picture is brighter than it is in real life):

And I really want some black and white in there somewhere...maybe a damask or zebra or some other large scale print.

So can you see my struggles??

OK, I know, in the grand scheme, very low on the totem pole. But it still occupies my mind! It will be a project down the road a ways anyway, but thought I would throw it out there for some input.

((hint, hint))

;)

Tidbits

Sorry for the bad cell phone pics again. I will take some more this week with the camera now that there isn't so much construction debris floating around!

(Thanks to Tony who has been over there cleaning and vacuuming after the girls go to bed at night. You're the best, hon!!!)

Nook with pantry pocket door, chandelier and a smidgen of the banquette close up of my nailhead detail on the bench. not a quick job---over 200 individual nailheads!
Master bath-Tony's closet.
The frames/track were previously an anodized gold color so I sprayed them chrome.

Front door painted cream and new frosted glass inserts.

Nearly completed dining room. All that's left is the trim around the ceiling and the chandelier that I'm making(ish) that may not work...you will be the judges....


Okay. Hope that satisfies some curiosity out there. :)
More to come. The camera is coming with me this week, I promise!


The move in date is set for the 26th! Wish us luck----we'll need it!!!!!!

Random Non-New House Related Thoughts

A few thoughts:

Design Star.

I always hate the contestants on reality shows. Ok, almost all of the contestants. I usually pick the lesser of the evils to root for. I didn't watch the first season (i think this is only the 2nd?? Could be like the fourth...) Project Runway was on at the same time last season and my husband made me chose...but it wasn't really a choice because he would only watch Runway. Which is totally cool because I-HEART-Runway. Come back soon would ya???) So the previous winner of Design Star, DAVID BROMSTAD, is one of the most talented people I've seen in a long time. I love his show Color Splash on HGTV and try not to miss an episode. He just seems like cool guy. I figure, if the show could produce such a great designer/artist, then I MUST watch it this time. The first episode aired last Sunday and (they keep showing re-runs in case you missed it). I don't really love anyone in particular (except the judges---they picked the perfect balance of people this year! Genevieve Gorder, Vern Yip and Candace Olson. I love all three. I watch all of their shows too.....I think I may have an unhealthy obsession with HGTV........) The contestants are relatively talented, some professionally trained and some self taught, and some actually surprised me! I found myself kind of sad when the episode was over---I could watch design competition type shows 24/7. No kidding! I can't wait for the next episode. If you loved 90210, they are decorating a room in "Brandon's" and "Valerie's" houses in L.A. in an upcoming episode. Should be fun!


Secondly: I love the Kelly Wearstler Imperial Trellis print. Every "designer" from here to Timbuktu has said they are "sooo over it". And yes, I've seen in LOTS of places, every home decorating magazine and high end decor, but dang if I'm still not in love with it. So shoot me.

So what's you're opinion?? Hate it? Love it? Think I shouldn't care if it's one of the biggest current design faux-pas?? The fabric can be found no cheaper than $150/yard. Yes, people. PER YARD!!!! But, I (exhaustedly) researched my brains out and found a replica that is a fraction of the cost. Find it here. What do you think of it? Yes, it's polyester vs. linen. But Linen wrinkles, folks. But $11/yard is wayyyy better. There is another version that is slightly different, but very close. And it's only 8.95/yard. That's more in my price range....

I really appreciate soooo many different styles of decor---especially well designed and thought out ones. That is why it's been so hard to get things picked out for my house because I love sooo many non-coordinating styles. But I think I've done an OK job blending a few of my favorites all while keeping my husbands tastes and my children's needs in mind.

Guess I'd better go and get recording more HGTV!!! ;)

"Ohhhhhhhhh! We're Half-Way Theeeee-eeerrrrrrrre!"

Yes, we're "Livin' on a Prayer"....

that we will finish this project sometime this year! Ha ha!!

No really, we are so close. We've actually made more progress beyond this set of pictures, but I just keep forgetting to bring my camera over to the house with me. And my cell phone pictures are quite pathetic. :) So I apologize about the quality.

But here are some new-ish pictures for y'all:

Girls bath up close:

Pale pink upper wall and ceiling with this faux-tin tile wallpaper on the bottom third of wall (black chair-rail to come):

Family room:

Drywall primed, walls textured and then primed again, ceiling and beams painted.

Close up of ceiling and beams

One wall painted

(the beams are actually a shade or two lighter than ceiling color and done in a high gloss vs. the flat on ceiling. hard to tell, even in 'real life'. darn)



This is my very labor intensive project----the formal dining room.
Here are a series of photos depicting the steps.
[Disclaimer: The 'gold' color was supposed to be a creamy/champagne color---not this intense copper-y gold. but it was a pain to paint, so it's staying. It's growing on me.]

Step 1:
accent the swirls in the plaster with shine and glamour!

Step 2: Shiny silver edge on the dimensional part of ceiling

Step 3: Dramatic Wallpaper on single wall

Close up detail of all three steps:

(I've partially completed the last step which is painting the little lip between the silver and gold parts black to create the illusion of more depth.)

More pictures coming soon! I promise!!