Inspired by Liz

Some of you probably read Liz's blog, and if you do, you know how much she loves her spray paint.  Until recently, I was never really a fan.  We typically paint by hand.  I don't know why I though so low of spray paint.  But, I'm here to say I am a convert.  This stuff is great.  And depending on where you shop, you can find loads of colors!  I of course kept it neutral, but I'm itching to try out a really cool color.  (Maybe on the lamps my husband had to have)

So, we've been talking about redoing the dining room.  Adding chair rail and some sort of boxed wall thing (I'm sure it's called wainscoting, but to me, that's bead board, this is different.)  And I wanted to inject a punch of color into our beige room.  I love the neutral, but I really wanted a brighter color, just not the whole great room.

The mirror we had up is big, I mean four feet across and three feet tall.  But, it still looks tiny of the giant wall.  We liked the idea of having a mirror (or mirrors) there, but to get one big enough to fill the space was going to be expensive.  So, after seeing this photo on Liz's post (she saw it here on Apartment Therapy), I knew what I wanted.

I loved the random sizes and colors of the plates.  But, really, I knew it wouldn't fit in my house. But it did inspire me.  I decided I could accomplish a similar look (but with mirrors) and instead of focusing on the different colors, I would paint them all the same and have the shapes and sizes be what was different.

And thus began the great mirror hunt.  We scoured three different flea markets and managed to find 25 acceptable mirrors.  Which I found fairly surprising.  And most of them were $5 or less.  With the most expensive topping $16 (the star burst one).  Some where wood, some metal and miscellaneous other materials.  All told, the mirrors cost just under $100 plus four cans of spray paint.

We were able to take some of the mirrors out, while others required lots of tape to cover them. We let them dry for several days.

Finally, we hung them in a random pattern.  I love how different each one is.  (There are two mirrors missing.  They need new, um, mirrors!) a small 5x7 goes up in the far upper left and a 4x4 goes in the far lower right.

Tomorrow, I will show you the finished dining room, including the wainscoting!