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!

Painted Wind Chime

I found this simple green wind chime at Home Goods on clearance.  It has a beautiful ring to it, but was way too boring for me.

Wind Chime  "Before"

Wind Chime  "After"

I masked off the body of the chime and sprayed the top and bottom Green Apple.  Next, I stenciled a vine pattern around the top in light blue and repeated the stencil on the chime weight.  I outlined the stenciled vine in lime green to give it definition.

Wrapped the body of the chime to prep for spray paint.

Spray painted the top and bottom border Green Apple.

Stenciled a vine pattern around the top, and on the chime weight.

Outlined the blue stenciled vine in green.

I masked off stripes and painted them two-toned blue-green, then removed the tape and painted a thin blue lne on the top and bottom to accentuate the stripe design.

Masked off stripes, then painted two-tone blue and green stripes.

Added a thin blue line to accentuate the stripes and
 also outlined the chime weight in  a blue line.

Completed wind chime in my garden next to my shed.

Rescued Oriental Lanterns

I rescued two oriental lanterns from the dumpster a few months back.   I had no idea what I'd do with them at the time, but when I was painting my bamboo chairs, I sprayed these Green Apple.  Please excuse the "before" picture.  I sprayed the bottom of the lanterns with paint then realized that I needed to take a "before" picture...this was the best I could do.

Hanging Lantern "Before".  

They're spray painted with Green Apple

Rustoleum painter's touch
Satin Green Apple

Painted in pastel blue, purple, and pink over the green apple.

Finished lanterns find a home in the flower garden next to the shed.

Next I painted them in pastel colors, then added whimsical polka dots.  They found a beautiful spot in the yard next to my newly remodeled shed.

Finished Oriental Lanterns - view from below.

Garden Party Decor - Happy Birthday Ann!

Last night I helped throw a surprise birthday party for one of my dear friends, Ann.  We held the get together on the patio at one of our favorite spots, Peg's Cantina in Gulfport, Florida.  It turned out so great that I wanted to share the evening with you!

Beautiful Orange Pitcher -
Don't you love these?

I picked up these great pitchers to give Ann as birthday gifts and filled them with daisies, sunflowers and these wonderful berried greens.  I used multi-colored napkins along the center of the tables as a bright runner.

NOTE TO ANN:  Feel free to make sangrias and margaritas in these pitchers and invite me over.

The Menu - We kept the menu simple.  We had chips with salsa and quac, fish spread, bacon wrapped scallops, and delicious spinach and chicken quesadillas.  We enjoyed Peg's own brewed  craft beers. I highly recommend the Dude Porter - the chocolate undertones are amazing!

Grape Pitcher

I wrote "Happy Birthday Ann" on
votive candles with a purple sharpie.

Happy Birthday Ann candles.

Time to Eat!

We recycled beer bottles for vases and added daisies.

Birthday Girl!

Thanks for giving us a reason to celebrate, Ann!

Jewelry Organizer inside my Armoire

I have more jewelry than I have adequate storage for.  I finally decided to create a storage solution.  I already have an antique armoire in my bedroom.  While all of the shelves are filled with my clothes (which is why you won't see a picture of the inside!), the inside of the armoire doors were a blank slate.  I went to Home Depot and browsed for ideas.  As I rounded the corner of the hardware aisle, I saw these 12" metal sheets, and I thought EUREKA! MAGNETS!  So here's the scoop on how I made a magnetic jewelry organizer inside my armoire.

My Armoire...future jewelry organizer!

First, I drilled holes in the sheet metal.

Next, I drilled a very small hole in the armoire, using the pre-drilled sheet metal as a guide.

I screwed the metal into the cabinet.

Metal installed

Screws are now covered with
 pretty jewel-toned magnets.

I covered the ugly screws with magnets
from Walmart's office supply aisle.

I added hung my jewelry with magnetic bookmarks from Walmart.  I added magnetic metal boxes to store earrings.

I used the existing bar in the armoire to hold longer necklaces and bracelets.

 I repeated the process on the other inside door, so I have twice the storage now!