Adding Mirror to Cabinet Doors

Joanna needed a storage piece for her bedroom near the closet area. We thought about doing a closet system like PAX or the Elfa, but I really wanted a piece of furniture since it would be open to the rest of the room. I totally lucked out I found this HUGE armoire (with dimensions within an inch of the max!) at the Antiques Garage for not a lot of money. It was a great deal, but I didn't love the metal grid inset in the doors.

I took the doors off the frame and pried off the grid with a screw driver.

We dropped the doors off at a glass shop in Brooklyn called Bernies. For about $25 each, they installed mirror into the doors and caulked everything in place.

I love the sparkle the mirror brings to the room!

PS I touched up the paint a little on this piece, but we liked the white and green, so I mostly just brightened the colors. We didn't want it to look new either, so I white washed the cream parts and used some watered down green paint to deepen the green trim. Also we painted the inside bright blue and did chalkboard paint on the mirror backs for Joanna and Alex's love notes. :)

PPS Thank you so much for your recommendations yesterday on the Jersey Shore antiquing! The day was a bit of a bust, but I did get a pair of chairs for a client and a pair of really cool dressers for my bedroom redo (coming soon!). Mostly, I just enjoyed getting out of the city for the day and shopping. I can't wait to go again and check out all the places we missed yesterday.

Happy weekend!! xoxo

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Jersey Shore, Baby!

First of all, I am so happy to be included in this fab group of hot-in-2012-designers featured on Elledecor.com (and a little mention in this month's issue too!). What an honor!

Second of all, today I'm thrilled to be reliving the glory days of suburban living! I've rented a mini van and my friend and I will hit the road for some antiquing down the Jersey Shore (a mecca of midcentury furniture shopping). Technically I'm on the clock and working, but I hope to snag some pieces for myself while we're out hunting. I've been going hard for a while now and I think some shopping therapy is just what the doctor ordered!

Here are some of the pieces I'm planning to scope out today.

PS One of my personal rules of decorating: Have at least one piece of mid century furniture in each room, but no more than 50% of the total pieces can be midcentury unless you really (and I mean REALLY) know what your doing. (e.g. Jonathan Adler) To get a good mix, everything else in the room should be either super old and trad or relatively new and either trad or quirky. As much as I love midcentury stuff, if you break the 50% rule, it gets all I Dream of Jeannie/Dick Van Dyke/Bewitched really fast. You know what I mean?

Have you been antiquing on the Jersey Shore? I'd love some can't-miss recommendations!

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Reader DIY: Animal Bookends and Brass Figurines

Ooh! I love this Reader DIY from the adorable and talented Cassie at Hi Sugarplum!

Cassie figured out a really inexpensive way to make cute book ends and brass-looking table top accessories (HERE and HERE).

She picked up random little toys and figurines from thrift stores, hobby shops and the dollar bin at Target and spray painted them!

She super glued the painted figurines to flat rocks and made really cool, unique bookends.

Cassie did a similar project using (my go-to) Rustoleum in Brass from their metallics line.

PS Their gold color has way too much pink in it, but the brass is a lovely bright yellow. It really looks like brass, right? I'm thinking a trip to the Homegoods clearance section is in order!!

Cassie spent less than $5 on each of these. Little projects like this that cost almost nothing are so great. It's a nice way to get a fun look that you don't have to commit to. If she wants to change these out for something else later, there's no reason to feel bad. I love it.

Thanks for sharing, Cassie!

If you have a DIY project you'd like to submit, please email jenny (at) jennykomenda (dot) com.

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Boxed Acrylic Framing

So, speaking of framing big pieces of art, I'm just about finished with the framing of those panels of hand-painted chinese wallpaper I talked about here. But I thought I'd share with you some pretty pictures from reader Eliza's house. She has really great taste. She's promised me a house tour sometime soon and I'm waiting for her email with bated breath. The photos I've seen so far are beautiful!

When I posted about acrylic framing last, Eliza emailed with these images. She mounted some Barbara Barry wallpaper with spray adhesive to thin particle board from Home Depot, which she had cut to size.

Eliza's framer, Nicole, from Rose City Framakers in Madison, NJ, was able to frame these panels of wallpaper in acrylic for a little over $100 each. That is a great price considering the size of these panels!

Nicole made a little frame inset on the back to help prevent bowing in the particle board and the acrylic.

Isn't this a pretty look? Makes me want to get my rear in gear and finish that wallpaper project! :) Can't wait to share.

An Inexpensive Way to Hang Big Art

I love oversized art, but it's a challenge to find an affordable way to hang/frame the art. I really wanted to do a large photo of the ocean or the sky over Joanna's bed, sort of like this one:

artist's site here

We felt SO lucky when Max Wanger snapped this beautiful photo for us while he was on vacation at Martha's Vineyard. I love the pretty colors and it has a really chill, soothing vibe about it.

Max was kind enough to print the photo for us, but if you are looking for an online print shop, I've used Wizard Prints and U Printing before with great luck.

We considered getting the photo professionally framed but in the end we opted to save the $400 and go for a really inexpensive option.

I got a smooth sheet of plywood cut down to size at Home Depot. I especially loved the striped edges.

I used a poly/stain combo to finish just the edges and then a screwed two D-rings to the back of the board.

Then I used acid-free scrapbook tape to mount the photo right to the plywood. We used removable tape (it comes in permanent too), so Joanna still has the option to have the photo professionally framed down the road.

We spent about $20 for this project. It worked really well for this space since we didn't really need protection for the photo. It would work similarly well for hanging above a big piece of furniture like a console or credenza. You just want something in front of the art to prevent bumping into it.

Do you have any tricks for framing large art on the cheap?

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Oil Slick Lamp

I have a thing for old, quirky lamps. Great-looking new lamps are so expensive and vintage lamps are usually crazy cheap and way cooler, so I opt for the latter in my life. Sometimes they need a $10 rewiring job and 99% of the time I'll want/need to replace the shade, but I still think vintage is the way to go.

I found this lamp with the rainbow glaze at Junk in Williamsburg. I actually saw it there a couple times and passed it up. But the more times I saw it, the more I needed it. I think it was $20? The funny thing was as soon as I carried that lamp out of the store, a dozen people asked me where I got it. #winning. Even the hipster guy at the shade store asked me if I would sell it to him. But, it was just too perfect for Joanna's room.

The cool shade guy helped me choose this black semi-transparent organza shade. Feels so edgy, right? We used a clear Edison bulb in there since you can see through the shade.

PS I kept thinking the lamp reminded me of something and the other day I realized it was the art in the Ruffalo's bedroom from Domino back in the day. Such a great room:

PS How to line the inside of drum shades with metallic paper.

PPS I just started a Facebook page for LGN. Still working out the kinks, but I'll love you forever if you Like me? xx

Campaign Style Rast Hack

I never get sick of seeing all these different ways to hack the IKEA Rast dresser! Molly from Molly Madfis Designs emailed me her latest project and I think it turned out really great.

Molly said she searched and searched for a campaign piece to put in her dining room, but coldn't find the right one in the right size. She was inspired by all the Rast hacks floating around the internet and thought she could make her own campaign dresser.

Molly patched up the old knobs holes, painted the dresser and drilled on these flat corner plaques. Then she measured and drilled new holes in the center of each drawer for these brass campaign style pulls from Ansaldi and Sons.

I actually prefer the proportions of Molly's hardware to traditional campaign pieces. The smaller corner plaques look perfect here. And wouldn't a pair of these would look so great as night stands?

Thanks for sharing, Molly!