paint makeovers - inspiration & befores

I have long admired other bloggers' painted furniture makeovers. Such as:

Pretty much everything at Life in the Fun Lane, including this dresser.

And this bench and mirror from Young House Love (lots more projects here)

 

Also this mirror from Little Green Notebook (see before and after, plus lots of others for this same room, here)

 

And this credenza she did:

It takes a good eye to pick up something kinda hideous at Goodwill or a garage sale and turn it into something great. I'm working on developing that skill - but mostly on figuring out where to get the stuff! Where are all these great thrift stores anyway? The closest Goodwill we have is tiny and expensive (they're trying to go upscale - makes sense, but not a place to find cheap furniture/frames!).


But now I've got a couple items of my own lined up to refinish:

I was wandering through a furniture consignment shop recently, and while most of the items were priced higher than would tempt me for a redo piece, I happened upon this oval mirror, originally $25 but marked down to $8, presumably because of a few cracks in the frame.

I loved the frame and the oval shape, so with a few little fixes and a new coat of paint, I think this will be great for the art wall I'm working on in the living room.

And with this next one, I'm totally joining the official ranks of furniture makeover-ers: I pulled it from somebody's trash. Ginger and I were on our morning walk, and I spotted this huge frame sitting with someone's trash at the curb. Throwing out a perfectly good frame that just needs a little paint (and some new art inside), when I have a guest bedroom with no art in it?!

So I picked it up and hauled it home. Unfortunately we still had a ways to go, so my arm got a little tired...

Stay tuned for how these turn out!