DIY Sunburst Mirror

Wow.

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since my last posting. Shame on me! I've done a terrible job keeping up with everything, but I've been awfully busy job searching and living and so and so forth. But! Stay tuned for more updates (I may even update the blog again with another post this afternoon with housekeeping-y info).

So! Remember my shortlist of apartment related to-dos here? Well, I've checked another off the list!

The space above our television has been sad and barren since May; the walls in our last apartment were broken up considerably more by the big floor-to-ceiling french doors, so large wall art wasn't really necessary. Now, less doors = more wall space to fill in. So the challenge was to create or purchase something that was imposing enough to fill the space without overwhelming it....or our bank account.

I snooped around on the internet and found this:

(Image and tutorial courtesy of this post from Twenty-Six to Life.)

It was perfect. And cheap. So I thought I'd share my quick-and-dirty sunburst mirror tutorial here. I essentially followed my instinct in combination with some reassurance from the 262L tutorial - it's not much more complicated than stacking some stuff on some stuff with a crap-ton of glue in between. Like a glue sandwich. Mmm.

Materials:

Michael's

18 and 12" floral rings* (in the FLORAL department, not the Everywhere But department)

Craft mirror (depends on the size of the finished product - which is based on the size of the shims - I chose a 10")

*I didn't wind up using the 6" floral ring that the 262L blogger did. I didn't read her tutorial thoroughly and kind of went in headfirst, but since I used a stronger glue I don't think I sacrificed any structural strength.

Home Depot

2 bundles* cedar shims (any size will do - I believe mine were 12". They come in bundles near the building materials section of Home Depot)

Strong glue (in the interest of durability, I bought some Gorilla brand superglue since we didn't have any as well as Gorilla brand wood glue)

*You REALLY only need 2 bundles. I bought three and used 1 and a couple of shims from the other bundle. Totally went overboard with the shims and now I have a bunch of homeless shims. Sad little shims.

Process:

Step One: Assemble your materials. I put down a drop cloth to catch any glue drips and set up a box fan to help the glue dry a little faster.

In hindsight, the drop cloth was really stupid and kind of ineffective. There was a couple of small spots where the glue came through the cloth and onto my nice rug (ok, decent rug...but's it's the only rug of any value that I own!). I would recommend doing this over a scrap of cardboard or something instead. Duh.

Also, peppermint tea is a necessary DIY material. As is Joanna Newsom.

Step Two: Arrange a few shims so that they are roughly symmetrical. (My method essentially arranged the shims symmetrically and then filled in the gaps with the second "layer" of shims.)

Step Three: Keep gluing and filling in the gaps. I was generous but not sloppy when I applied the glue.

This is a great opportunity to show off your Heavy Book Collection, which may or may not expand into your Heavy Anything Collection, as it did for me. I simply kept applying shims and then weighing them down with whatever heavy-ish objects I found lying around. I'd wait a few minutes for the glue to set a bit better and then move on to the next segment in the circle.

Step Four: Enlist assistance from the cat.

The benefits are obvious.

Said cat will run around, overturning your gluey shims and then looking perturbed as he sticks to everything, get cat hair all up in yo' business, and just be a general nuisance and attention whore.

But he will refuse to pose for photos.

Step Five: Once the outer layer is glued on, simply stagger the second layer on top of the first, a few inches more towards the center. It doesn't have to be exact, as the end result will be imperfect because of the materials (the cedar shims proved to be rather irregular, with fun knots, holes, and chips). Just don't go TOO crazy, or it will look wonky.

(Also, I didn't get photos of this part. Whoops. Too busy trying to make Buster ignore me by trying to take his photo.)

When the wood glue is set for both layers of your sunburst, apply glue to the back of your mirror, flip the whole thing over, and set it on top (centered as best as possible). Let that dry until set, and then hang with a brad.

I didn't need to add any hanging hardware because of the way that I assembled the mirror; there were spaces in between the shims on the 18" floral rings that worked perfectly.

I think the mirror is pretty sweet in our place. The thing is massive - 49" across! and came in under $20 (once I return the few things that I didn't use, and if you don't count the Gorilla glue that I purchased to use for other things as well). All in all, cheap, awesome project that just about anyone can do.

I approve.

To-Do Lists and Job Hunting

Well, I can safely say that this post will be a lot more mundane and a lot less insightful than the last one. I'll add more later, but I want adequate time to process and organize my thoughts.

So! The whole job-hunt thing seems to be turning into a literal endeavor. I feel like Bryan and I have been fixated, waiting by the phone like a couple of addicts, wishing that it would just ring, RING FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE WHY WON'T IT RING?! I've put in applications to about twenty different jobs (both "career" jobs and part-time stuff), and now we're in the very-painful waiting-for-callbacks phase. In the meantime, I've been frantically applying to every serving job and customer service gig I can think of, hoping that I just might get a call back today? or tomorrow? or maybe an email *refresh gmail in anticipation*?

As to the apartment, I made up a to-do list for all the things that needed doing/are done:

• Assemble shelving unit for the kitchen.
• Add extra shelves to the undershelved kitchen shelf unit.
• Assemble and level kitchen island.
• Save moneys and purchase a bed and frame (still trying to decide what to do...I may build this headboard from Ana White...a knockoff of a West Elm version that I love. But! We want something that we can use for a while instead of investing in a new one every year. Like last years' Ikea tragedy...)
• Make or DIY some sort of large-and-in-charge wall art to go over the TV (there is a large, sad, white space there currently, which I'm itching to fill with something awesome like this, but I'm still undecided).
• Make some sort of hook rail to hang hats and purses on (right now they are littering the bedroom floor, but they have nowhere to go!)
• Build a couple of side tables for the patio like these for plants/beverages to sit on.
• Eventually, replace the moronically undersized LACK side table (read: tiny square of table space) that our gargantuan TV sits on. Also possibly building it? Leaving it unfinished would match the bookcase that my dad helped me build for Bryan last V-Day.

Whew! Lots of stuff still to go. Although the apartment is entirely livable and organized, it doesn't feel finished yet. Since taking a couple of doors off (a hideous bi-fold door to the pantry that wouldn't close all the way and the door to our closet, which we couldn't open due to how close the bed is) and replacing them with curtains, the place has warmed up considerably.

I also whipped up some curtain tie-backs with some leftover fabric that I had from this project. (On a related note, my sewing machine will only do HALF of a buttonhole. I have a buttonhole presser foot attachment and have used it before successfully, but for some reason it starts with the bottom bar tack, zig-zags up the left side, and then gets caught in a weird endless loop at the top. What gives, fiendish machine? What gives?)

Mom and Melissa came up this past weekend to visit, which was nice. Unfortunately, the weather was relentless and it stormed, rained, and was chilly the entire time, which didn't give us very many options. Also, it seems that this week is when things are going to start picking up in terms of street festivals and free outdoor activities (YAY), but I'm sad that they didn't get to participate (boo, hiss). I hope trolling Milwaukee thrift stores was good enough. :)

There are lots of things going on this weekend, though. There's a reading at New Wave on Friday that we're planning on going to (as well as screenings of classic horror/sci-fi movies via Shock Theater...maybe we can make it to both?), then the Printers Row Lit Fest on Saturday and Sunday downtown, and then, finally, the much-anticipated Logan Square Farmers Market on Sunday. Yay for having a social life!...it's about time.