Shed Makeover - How to

Time for the big Shed Makeover Reveal on ShabbyGlam.  This was previously guest-posted on My Repurposed Life.  Thanks to everyone who visited me on Gail's blog!

I turned this vintage window into a mirror,
added a shelf and hooks, and mounted it on my shed.
Find out how to turn any glass into a mirror.

I am in the process of creating my dream backyard.  Phase one is now complete:  The Shed Makeover!  I'm excited to share with you the steps I took to take a hideous old white aluminum shed and turn it into a charming focal point of my salvage-chic backyard.   Here's the pitiful "before" picture...but I saw potential!  Here's a link to the overall design plan for my Dream Backyard.

Shed Before Paint - So Ugly!

Step 1: Paint!

a) CLEAN: My energizer bunny daughter (age 13) and I scrubbed down the shed with DAP T.S.P Substitute heavy-duty cleaner and a roofing brush. This stripped the loose chalky old paint off the shed to prepare for primer. b) PRIME: We primed the entire shed and roof with Zinsser primer.  c) PAINT: Then we put two coats of paint on the shed, including the roof.  We used a flat paint for the green walls and a satin finish paint for the red door.  I painted the edge of the roof brown, but hated it and changed that color to periwinkle blue.

Cleaned the shed of loose paint
with DAP T.S.P. Substitute.

Primed the shed with Zinsser.

Step 2: Add Roof Trim & Frame the Door.  The brown aluminum roof fascia looked insubstantial and boring so my husband offered to add wooden trim!  I painted furring strips ($1.15 per 10 food board...such a bargain!) in a fabulous periwinkle blue, and we (he) mounted them to the aluminum fascia.

Panting the furring strips to use as trim for the shed.

Added wood trim for roof fascia & door trim.

Step 3:  Door Wreath.  I added this Floral Wreath Swag (see how to make the swag) to the door.

Step 4: Shelf.  Next, we added a shelf to the side wall.  We made this using two simple L-brackets that I had left over from another project.

We mounted the L-brackets behind the board to hide them.

Step 4: Vintage Window Painted:  I found these fabulous vintage windows on Craig's list for $5 each!  (I know all you repurposers out there are totally jealous!).  I took one of the windows and cleaned it with DAP's T.S.P. Substitute mentioned above, sanded it, then painted it blue to match the shed trim.

Vintage windows from Craig's list for $5 each!

Scrubbed clean with TSP Substitute, then sanded them down to prep for paint.

Painted Periwinkle Blue! 

Step 5: Vintage Window turned into a Mirror!  My son had a great idea!  He suggested that the window would look better as a mirror.  Roeshel at The DIY Club did a similar vintage-window-turned-mirror project using Krylon Looking Glass Mirror-Like Paint.  I followed her lead, and it worked like a charm!  I masked and taped off areas not to be painted. Next, I sprayed about 5 light coats of Looking Glass, allowing it to dry 1 minute between coats (as recommended on the can).  Because my new mirror was going outside, I sprayed an Rustoleum Outdoor Metalic Finish over the Looking Glass paint to seal it.  Next, I mounted it on the shed.

Krylon Looking Glass Mirror-Like Paint - creates
 a reflective surface that looks like a vintage mirror!

Sprayed Rust-oleum Outdoor Metalic Finish
over the Looking Glass Paint to seal it for Outdoor use.

Masked and taped areas not to be spray painted.

Step 6:  Added outdoor faucet handles:  Don't these make great hooks for my garden tools?

Vintage Window is now this fabulous mirror, complete with fabulous faucet handle hooks!

Give me your feedback:  As you can see in one of the pictures above, I lucked out and found someone getting rid of an entire house full of vintage windows!  If you have ideas on what to make from them, leave a comment on this post!  I definitely want to make a Window Cabinet, like the one Gail did! Love it!

Step 7:  Mount trellis & landscape:  We took a fan trellis and cut it in half to mount on either side of the window.  We planted jasmine vines and flowers, and voila!  

Finished Painted Shed Makeover!  Isn't the vintage window great?

Next phase in the Dream Backyard makeover...build a Fire Pit in front of the shed!