Who's the fairest?

Yup, you guessed it. This is a mirror post. Basically, this post will highlight the #1 clutter reducing, good stuff-scoring thing ever: freecycle.

Freecycle has literally taken SO many things we didn't want out of our house. I know you're thinking, "Why don't you just donate everything?" Here's the thing, you can freecycle things you canNOT donate. You can freecycle used candles (people melt them down to make new ones or use in warmers). You can freecycle soaps/bodywashes (ie: things not eligible for individual resale)...perhaps even the soaps and bodywashes left behind by past roommates, in case you happen to have had 9 people live with you in the same house in 8 years. Yes, my house has some semblance of a rotating-roommate syndrome.

In this case, however, freecycle HOOKED me up. You see, I got an email saying that someone was offering a ginormous mirror, something like 2+ feet by 3+ feet. CRAZY. And the best part? Obviously- F.R.E.E. My husband went and picked it up and it was...dusty. So, I cleaned it off with some GreenWorks all-purpose spray cleaner and some paper towels Then, I filled the nail holes (previous owners had just nailed it into the wall and we wanted to go the picture-hanger route) with wood putty, sanded, and taped it off to paint! Sidenote: Super stupid to paint with a new rug...but it was FREEZING so i covered it with newspaper, sheets, and then moved the can away to hammer it closed. I painted this with Valspar Interior/Exterior Gloss. We got it to do the floating shelves I still haven't blogged about we hung in the living room. Supplies: painter's tape, small roller, angled brush, sand paper (for prior sanding)

Yup. This happened.

 This took a BAJILLION coats. It took me 4 or 5 actually. I went ahead and pulled the tape off after 3-4 coats and then went ahead and touched up with the brush. If paint got on the mirror, I used ye ol' razor blade to scrape it off of the glass.

 I like to make the same mistakes twice...and in close-up...and after putting on my paintin' shirt.

 And now, the march upstairs to the bedroom! My husband was still super dressy. I liked it. Please don't mind the hot mess that is a) my dresser top, b) paint swatches stuck on our wall with electrical tape, c) my bed. We centered the mirror over the two Malm dressers that we have in our bedroom (yes, this led to re-centering out entire bedroom...maybe you'll hear about that by next month?)

 My husband changed into more comfortable clothes, put the "hanging kit" on the mirror. We bought one at Lowe's for like, $7? We wanted to make sure it would hold it because this mirror is SOLID. It probably weighs 15-20 lbs. He got a little help from Duchess. #kittyphotobomb

 This is the hanger. Self-explanatory. I still give a caption. I can't help myself.

We hung it and I just, I didn't feel good. I could see some of the hanger, but I LOVE the wire hanging kits because you just have to adjust the wire (as seen on the left side of the mirror). He adjusted it, moved out of the way of the photo (haha), and displayed how terribly off-center my bedroom is, as evidenced by the canvas hung on the opposite wall. Ugh.

 Adjusted, wire clipped and hidden, mirror leveled (the tiny red thing to the right of my husband's head).

 AAAAAAAND...gratuitous smiley self-portrait in the new mirror. Chris likes this because it looks like I'm just doing "victory hands" instead of actually holding the camera. I like that I don't look as tired-drunk as I actually was. I think we hung this at midnight or, as my husband likes to call it, "the project hour".

Budget:
Mirror-free!
wood putty- already owned
sand paper- already owned
angled brush- already owned
roller & cover- already owned
painter's tape- already owned
paint- already owned
hanging kit- $7.69ish? I say "ish" because I'm not sure, not because I'm saying "approximately [this] exact amount"...that annoys me.
Total: LESS THAN 8 BUCKS!!!!! Woohoo! A mirror this size would cost me mucho dollars if I had bought it new, or even from many antique/second-hand stores! Hooray! 

Truthfully, I was so excited this happened because I just needed to stop "collecting" this stuff and actually DO something with it. This year's to-dos are often going to be inspired by John & Sherry's "Dude, Get On That Already" series.

So, my list of "to-dos" now looks like this:

-finish painting frame and hang (FREE!) mirror...and blog about it
-finish bottom floating shelf with wine glass holders...and blog about it (later this week?)
-finish floor transitions (install upstairs & return crappy downstairs ones and buy the correct ones)...and blog about it (this may take awhile, it's becoming a headache)
-vacuum the rug (before I blog about anything in the living room with pictures)
-put away all of the Christmas gifts and clean up!
-blog about the "new" living room (I think we've finally settled on an arrangement-this could be coming soon!)

I'm already making new goals for when these are accomplished. Thanks for those of you still checking in! What are some house projects you're getting accomplished? Anyone thrilled that a quick project was actually...quick? Taking on bigger projects? Leave a comment and tell me all about it! :)

Want more fun (and often, cheap) projects? I linked up today at:

 A Bowl Full of Lemons and Not Just A Housewife