FREE.. Is there anything better?

My lovely friend Kay has been extremely good to me this week.. She went thrift and antique shopping with me in the snow, AND She brought me goodies!!! She also bought me this really lovely silver dish at Goodwill. I will post it in my Silver Sunday post.And I got a mirror and a cool old security key (we both do security) for FREE!!
Wont this mirror be pretty once it's painted black?



I think my key is pretty perfect as-is!




And we can't forget the snow pics from our trip!!!! We went to Marietta and it was a lot worse there than it was here in Calhoun..

Similar for A LOT less!

Before I started blogging I had never heard of Ballard designs! I know that some of you are probably thinking that I must be mistaken, but it's very true.. BUT after seeing all the things all the bloggers had recreated from there I started frequenting their site and even requested a catalog..

Given my mirror obsession, I immediately feel in love withthis mirror. It would look Ab-Fab over my mantle!! However, given the price and my thrifty ways, there's no way I would ever buy it.. Anyway, days later I was looking on the IKEA site and I found this mirror. Dont they look very similar?? And given the price different (over $100 versus $29.99), I MAY have to go with the Ikea mirror.. I dont know though.. They are both beautiful.. Oh the dilemma..

Shaded Mirror

I got this mirror at an antique/thrift mall.. I dont really remember how much I paid for it. I got it about a year and a half ago, and it basically just hung in an empty spot on my wall, as-is, because I wasnt sure what I wanted to do with it.. When I moved to Calhoun back in the summer I decided I wanted it to be burgundy, but once I painted it I wasnt happy with it as a solid color.. I decided to use my favorite painting technique, shading.. I posted a tutorial for shading here if you want to check that out.. Anyway, here's the Before and the After (note the lovely little blue painter's tape lol)..
BEFORE:





AFTER











NOTE: I got a bit of the clear coat on the mirror, but it came off easily with nail polish remover...

Happy Early Birthday to Me!~ lol

Well, this Saturday is my birthday.. yes, I am getting older.. I guess I don't mind it as long as I don't look my age! (And if I do, please dont ruin my fantasy life lol).. Anyhoo, my mother always spoils me.. This year she has outdone herself!! She got me just what I wanted- an early 1900s double clawfoot kitchen table!!



I saw this little beauty online at Rethunk Junk, a cool site run by a local woman who redoes furniture and such.. I lusted over it.. I pined for it.. I longed and wished and finally mentioned it to my mother in passing.. That was all it took.. 3 days later there was a check in my mailbox for the table!!! (Did I mention that my mother is awesome and spoils me rotten?) Now I have this lovely table for my new house AND I get the fun of picking out and re-doing "project" chairs for it YAY!

And in typical Pam fashion, I also bought myself a birthday gift.. er... uh.. gifts.. Yes, I am shameless.. I finally bought myself a headboard! and a mirror *coughs* yes... another mirror.. I just cant help myself.. It was too beautiful to pass up and such a bargain at $27!








All in all I think it's been a Happy Early Birthday for me!