Day 2 - A Little Tutorial for You

I LOVE those mirrored stars that I would see in Pottery Barn and Ballard Designs catalogs, but $200 (give or take a little) is way more than I'm willing to spend. Hobby Lobby had some, but they still weren't cheap enough for me (even with a 40% off coupon)!

So, I thought about why I like the stars. I realized I was drawn to them not as usable mirrors, but as accent pieces, and I really liked the contrast between the mirror and the dark outlines. So was the mirrored part really all the important? Mmmm...probably not.

I used...

An old star that used to hang outside,

Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint left over from my bed redo,

Some silver spray paint I had on hand,

and painter's tape.

After cleaning off all the dust & stuff, I put 2 coats of Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint on the star.  Once both coats were dry, I added the tape.  I measured 1/4" from each edge, and added my tape.  It was a little time consuming, so I got lazy and started eyeballing the measurements.  They turned out pretty good, though!

I then added 2 coats of silver spray paint, waited for those to dry, and peeled the paint off.

Here is the finished product, right at home!

While I do like the way it turned out, I think I need a little more sparkle in the silver. I think that can be fixed with a little chrome spray paint. Until I can remember to pick some up, I believe our new old start will do just fine.  For now, I think it looks great, especially since it didn't cost me anything!

Now, how does this tie in to my 31 Days? It's helping me live a little more harmoniously with my house, and my pocketbook loves the cost! If you can't afford something you love, improvise. There's no reason any of us shouldn't have beautiful homes just because we can't or don't want to spend a lot of money.

I will also be linking up to some of these parties!