Sunday, May 10, 2009

A Little Paint & A Little Sanding.....


Welcome to another Met Monday hosted by Susan at BetweenNapsonthePorch. This week I decided to show you a small project I worked on in conjunction with my secretary project. After all the black paint was already opened and that was half the labor! A while back a friend had given me two vintage fruit prints. I loved them and I loved the frame they were in but they were missing something. Matting was the key I felt. Off I ran to Michael's to get some matting. I originally thought I would mat them in red and possibly even use some fabric to mat them with. I have been working on my dining room for quite awhile and thought the red/fabric matting would go well with what I have been working on in there. When I got to Michael's and we took the back off of the frames to measure them for matting, imagine my surprise that matting already existed behind the pictures. It had been stored behind the prints and not used. SCORE! There was even lovely wood mullions! Here are the prints as given to me.

At the same time I started thinking about the mirror in my dining room. My table set and side board were the same wood. If there is one thing I can say about myself is that "matchy matchy" is not my style. I like contrast and interest and everything the same finish doesn't give one that. So I made a quick decision to paint the mirror as well. Here is a shot of the mirror before.



Here are the prints with the matting that was store behind them. I was still not loving them. What to do? What to do?









I decided to experiment with some fabric and french gimp. I liked it but was in fear of them looking a little too casual and country for a formal dining room.




In the end I decided just to paint the mullion black. I painted them black and then distressed them with some sand paper since the frame had a distressed finish to it.








Now we were getting somewhere! I did the same to the mirror painting it black and then sanding down some areas to distress it. You can see where the sanding took it back down to the wood in some areas in this shot.








Here all three of them are finished. As you can see I have not yet gotten them up on the wall. The mirror is extremely heavy and I need some muscle for that!






Hopefully I can get the walls in my dining room done by Wednesday for Barbs "Whats on your wall Wednesday" over at Grits and Glamour. In the mean time be sure to visit Susan for more wonderful Met Monday transformations.

22 comments:

  1. Great job. It looks beautiful. I just love your dining room. Oh that wallpaper!!

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  2. Great job. Your dining room is lovely!

    Christi @ A Southern Life
    http://asouthernlife.com

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  3. Everything looks just fantastic! It's hard to believe that just a little black paint, sanding and elbow grease made such a dramatic change!!

    {{HUGS}}

    Robin :o)

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  4. I love the look and I agree with
    you on the matchy - matchy thing !
    I wish I had the muscle to move things around...my stuff sits forever sometimes...lol ! I really do love those frames and prints !
    You lucky thing !
    Hugs ~ Kammy

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  5. Yes! I love the prints/matts now. Perfect. So....are you ready for me on Friday? I thought I would stop by on my way home from Asheville. Let the decorating begin my friend! LOL

    I'll call ya' later ....hugs, Barb

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  6. Love the prints and with the mirror they are just stunning. Such lovely pieces and how fortunate to find the mat in the back. Great transformations and they look so gorgeous. Hugs, Marty

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  7. KD they came out gorgeous!
    Love the mirror painted black. :)

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  8. The prints are beautiful and the changes you made are just right!
    Linda

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  9. They all look great! You sound like me...start one simple little project and it just keeps snowballing into more :0)
    Thank you for sharing these.
    ~Sherrie

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  10. I love what you did with the pictures. They look great. And you are brave to experiment with a big nice mirror! It turned out perfect.

    Good job!

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  11. I love what you did with your frames. That's wonderful! And I am IN LOVE with your wallpaper. Thanks for visiting my blog and becoming my #1 follower. haha!

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  12. Great transformation. I love the black with the distressed finish. And what luck that the prints already had mats. Painting the mullions only was such a simple thing, but what an impact. I love your dining room! Kathy

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  13. oh my they all look beautiful, and i absolutely love your dining room, very welcoming.
    hugs
    janet

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  14. very nice makeover with the frames and mirror, your dining room is cute! :O) Mary @Boogieboard Cottage

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  15. Wow! The black really does set them off beautifully! ~Rhonda :)

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  16. Lovely makeover. Sometimes the simple solutions are the best transformations!

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  17. Hello...

    What beautiful art...I love the fruit prints and they look beautiful framed in black!!! Sweet, that you found the mattes stored behind the prints...hehe!!! I love that you painted the minion black and distressed it as well! Really, really beautiful wall art! Love your big black framed mirror too! The framed prints are perfect to go along side the mirror!!!

    My friend, I just love your green & white toile wallpaper...it's gorgeous!!! And I have to tell you...one of the things that really caught my eye was that beautiful black chandelier with those gorgeous red shades...ooooh, I love it!!! Such a beautiful dining room, my friend! Thanks for sharing it and your projects with us!!!

    Warmest wishes,
    Chari

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  18. Absolutely wonderful!!!
    Your dining room is glorious.
    Now, if I could just pick a direction, perhaps I could make a difference in this place. Decisions, Decisions. Any advice for a confused and stressed gal?

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  19. These projects turned out great! What a wonderful surprise behind those pictures. I think you did just the right amount of distressing after you painted the mirror frame. Great job! laurie

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  20. Paint can truly transform anything. The mats look great painted black. And free on top of that.

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  21. I love this!! I am going to show my husband your beadboard so he can see exactly what I want to do in our dinning room!! So pretty!! =)

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