Since the living room redesign, I’ve had a blank wall by the front door. Previous layout had a large, unframed beveled mirror in that spot, but now that just doesn’t quite work there. Since the room is west facing, I’m always looking for ways to add light or reflect existing light, so I considered finding a Louis Philippe mirror for the space – I drool for those – but discovered the cost was more than I could swallow, and the cost of reproductions weren’t any more palatable, either. Then I remembered a post by Mitchell of Optimism and White Paint about how to make your own Trumeau mirror. It seemed to be the perfect blend of mirror and furniture. I loved the idea as soon as I saw it, and realized this was exactly what the doctor ordered for this bare spot.

The solid oak door from Community Forklift

I’m a fan of making great stuff with Citrus investment of time and some sweat equity, rather than spending gobs and gobs of money. During the early lean years, this was especially true, but these days while I certainly make more money than before, I’m finding joy in the challenge of creating something amazing with very little money, using my creativity, Tim’s and the inspiration of bloggers who have shared their projects. It’s also pretty fun to work with Tim on stuff for our house. It was decided I’d make my own version of the Trumeau mirror using Mitchell’s version as my guide.

I found a great solid oak three panel door at my local recycling/salvage arts shop, Community Forklift. It’s 8+ feet tall and really heavy – the price tag? A whopping $10, plus tax. It looked pretty ratty when I first brought it home –covered in dirt, and what looked like used engine oil – oh yeah, the bottom panel was missing. Tim thought I had lost my mind and asked multiple times over the course of the weekend if I didn’t want to find another door –  or better yet, have him make me a new one from the wood we already had from his boat and plane model projects. I said no, this door was special and remained loyal to my new “old” door. The door experienced an immediate improvement once home with us, when it received its first bath in many months. (Years?) Gone were the grease and dirt, in its place was a peach colored door.

the door prepping for sanding

As I mentioned, the door is pretty heavy and it is 2” thick, so hanging it could be difficult, especially since the studs in our house are not evenly spaced like they are in more modern construction. We decided to lean it against the wall, with a few straps to keep it upright attached to the wall. But the door was already more than 8’ tall, so we’d have to cut it down so we could stand it up and allow for some crown molding at the top. Once the saw horses were set up, we began by cutting off 7 inches from the bottom of the door, so that it could stand upright in the room. Next, the three raised panels were removed. The top and bottom panels will be replaced by flat wood so an applique can be applied to a larger area. The middle panel will soon hold the new mirror.

old wooden door getting a new lease on life

While Tim was cutting off the bottom 7 inches of the door, I removed all the hardware the door came with and then began hand scraping off the peach paint. Under that layer of paint were two more layers of turquoise paint. After several hours of hand scraping, in 90+ degree sunny weather, we discovered the power planer removed multiple layers of paint in mere minutes. This was truly an “a ha” moment, since we have several more doors that need repainting and hand scraping would take forever. Once we finished with the paint scrape/planing the door looked like almost new wood.   I spent several weeks sourcing  the wooden appliques online, in salvage stores, but never really finding what I was hoping to find.  And then while I was on eBay I found some ceiling tins that had just the right look for what I hoped to achieve:

Crown molding added to tip of Trumeau mirror made from an old oak door

Fast forward to today, after we’ve considered so many home & garden plastic alternatives: We added crown molding to the top to give it a bit more architectural feel, applied the seashell motif ceiling tins for the top and bottom panels and then primed it all.  Using two colors (light and medium brown) paste wax, I created a distressed/limed patina.  The last part was to add a mirror we had cut to size from Lowes.

A most special thanks to Mitchell at White Paint & Optimism for his how to and inspiration for my DIY Trumeau mirror — this is the finished product:

The finished Trumeau mirror made from an old oak door from Community forklift

The first project was a restoration of the front porch storm door.  There were cracked panes of glass, the bottom was coming apart, the house numbers were mismatched and the paint was cracked and peeling. Additionally, the front porch light has had no cover (for almost 4 years) and the doorbell was just a hole in the exterior trim that carpenter bees were increasingly drawn to explore.  What a fabulous welcome to our house, right?

Here’s the house before the storm door work, new light fixture, door bell, pressure washing from https://www.pressurewashingsugarland.com and planted containers.  It doesn’t look too bad, but that’s because its not a close up shot and the lawn has been done.  I truly believe a well manicured yard hides a multitude of flaws.

The project occurred over two weekends and involved fixing all the wrongs to the storm door, buying a replacement light cover (we look much less ghetto now) and re-wiring the doorbell that Tim accidentally broke during our first few months in the house.

Additionally,we added a great plastic applique from Piccadilly Peddlers on Etsy for the house numbers so folks would actually be able to read our address from the road. Our home is a Cape Cod, and symmetry is one of the hallmark features of this style. To enhance that, I planted several containers with white oleander topiaries under planted with ‘Lemonade’ Lantana and ‘Marghertia’ sweet potato vine. Being from Florida, I was so excited to see the Oleander topiary and Lantana at my local garden center, I saw a chance to use Florida flora give the front porch a traditional look. A second container on each side of the door contains large ferns from Home Depot. After a thorough cleaning with a pressure washer, the front porch was ready to be assembled. After looking at the front porch I’m thinking I might need some nice black accents to really make the entry pop. So I’m on the lookout for black containers to tie in the black shutters on the front of the house. What do you think? What else could we do? Paint the front door and trim black? Or go for the new one from The Screenmobile?

My $8 Ikea pillow covers were the perfect color match for our living room.  I already have have a number of feather and down pillow inserts, so it was nice to only pay for the pillow cover.  More later why our living colors are challenging.   I’ll apologize now for the crappy photos from my Blackberry.

Here’s what they look like in place on the vintage bamboo sofa: The rougher texture adds visual interest against the smoothness of the sofa fabric and the lushness of the berry velvet throw pillow. I like that they’re silk, but they have more texture than the usual smooth texture that dupioni silk imparts. Now, our biggest challenge will be keeping our two Grrr Girls off of them.

Recently, the interior design blogisphere seems to have rediscovered Ikea and found a lot to love. We live within 10, 45 or 60 minutes of three Ikeas, and stop in the closest one a half dozen times a year.  Their regular updating of merchandise assures that there is always something new to discover. There’s one particular area of Ikea I visit regularly, and within it you’ll find a world of affordable accessories, textiles, lighting, rugs, mirrors, picture frames and a regular and a good selection of house plants. Yesterday, I went to pick up a pair of silk pillow covers I saw a month ago. They were $8 each, which is dirt cheap for pillow covers, silk or otherwise.

On my way to pay for my frugal purchases, I passed through the rugs department, as usually looking for standard rug sizes, and in front of me was a display that made me rub my eyes, to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Hanging right in front of me were large swaths of beautifully colored cowhide. For. $249!!!!

In our store they have the traditional Holstein cow black and white, two chestnut brown versions – one a medley of brown shades, the other a chestnut dappled with white spots. The last one was a solid black hide that was sumptuous in its glossiness. That would look amazing draped across a Hollywood Regency style bed. You can see some examples on the Ikea website but they cannot be ordered online, in store purchase only.