13 February 2011

Pottery Barn Knock-Off. (That tooks me ages to finish)

So...do any of y'all read the blog Sew Dang Cute? If you don't, you really should check it out.  Tam hosts a contest called Crafting with the Stars and it is so cool to see all the projects that these awesome bloggers make. Then they debut them and we all vote! It's fabulous.

So...I saw a PB knock-off made my Mandi from Tidbits from the Tremaynes and FELL IN LOVE.  Seriously, it was the best thing I'd ever feasted my eyes on besides sliced bread.  Okay, I might be exaggerating a tiny bit. But still, it's awesome.

Here is Pottery Barn's mirror for just $699.  NO, not six dollars and 99.  SIX HUNDRED and 99.  PSSSHHH...Pottery Barn, kiss my...lips.  Because I LOVE you Pottery Barn, but you see, I WILL NEVER pay that much for a mirror unless I win the lottery. (Which I do not play...)



Isn't this beautiful!!??  I knew I had to have one (although I didn't have a place to put it just yet) but I made my way to the Dollar Tree to pick up the mirrors anyway. I then headed to The Home Depot to get the trim and found the frame for the outside of the mirror at Goodwill for five bucks!

I used the tutorial Mandi posted on her site (you can find it here!) 
Here is my version:

 I found the frame from Goodwill for 5 bucks!  It JUST SO HAPPENED to be the right size for my mirrors. Is that not awesome or what?!  Pottery Barn's version of this mirror is brown, but I decided on white because it matched my decor better.

 The frame was brown to begin with, and I was going to add more coats but decided I liked the brown coming through a little.  It looks somewhat funky in the photo, but looks a lot better in person. 
 See that bench?  That was our "wedding guestbook".  Instead of having an actual book, we had our friends and family sign this bench and now we can have it displayed in our home forever! :) I love it.


Although I love the way this mirror turned out, it took me SO long to make and I wanted to pull my hair out.  Here is why:

When I  got the trim from The Home Depot, it was like 12 feet tall to begin with. 

I asked the worker man if he could cut it up for me in certain measurements and he said "Yes sure, but after the first two cuts, it'll cost you $1/cut." 

WHAT?!?!?! There was no way I was going to pay him 1 dollar for each cut. 

So I kindly thanked him, took my 12' trim and went on my way.  
Not to self: You can cut the trim in the store to however much you need. You don't have to buy all 12' of it.  But I didn't know that..and bought all of it.  Next time I'll know.

Anyway...


All I have at home is a hand saw.  

You know, like this one:


{I bet you can guess what I will say next.}

Yep.  I cut the trim, with that dinky hand saw...and it took me forever.  FOREVER.  I had to cut like 20 small pieces..that doesn't sound like a whole lot, but with a hand saw (and an impatient girl like me) it was
NOT
FUN.

But i did it! :)  Yay me.

I am asking for a big girl saw for Christmas.  One like this:

If I had that baby, I would have been done in .5 seconds.  But instead it took me HOURS.

Okay, I promise I'm done complaining now. I love the way it turned out even if I did whine a little throughout the process.

If you want to make one of these beauties, go see Mandi's tutorial here. She is awesome and has so many great projects.

Thanks Pottery Barn, for having so many wonderful ideas that we can make ourselves! 


-Kait

I am sharing this project Show me what ya gotMaking the world cuter ,These creative juices and Get your craft on ,Tute yourself Tuesday  and Crazy Cute Thursday and House of Hepworths.

15 comments:

  1. MIRROR TURNED OUT BEAUTIFUL AND I LOVE THE BENCH WITH THE SIGNATURES....

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  2. OMGsh Kaitlin yours is so beautiful! I cannot believe the frame was the perfect size! I definitely like yours better than mine. Heck, I think I like yours better than PB! So pretty!

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  3. That looks awesome. I had no idea Home Depot charged that much to make cuts--what a shame! The end result turned out fabulous though :)

    BTW, I love your wedding bench idea--what a great way to remember your wedding and who was there!

    Happy Valentine's Day!

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  4. This turned out beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

    I'm a new follower :)

    www.youngnester.blogspot.com

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  5. That is fantastic! Love the finished look. I agree 699 is way to much to pay for a mirror. Geesh... you can get a nice couch for that.
    ~Kimberlee
    www.TheSpunkyDiva.com
    PS - I love your wedding bench.

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  6. It looks great! And I love the bench too. Following you from These Creative Juices Blog link party. Please stop by my blog when you can. http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/

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  7. Mirror, mirror on the wall, Kait's is the fairest of them all! Just as good as Pottery Barn and without the outrageous price! Thanks for sharing this.

    Cheers,
    Tracy http://allthumbscrafts.blogspot.com

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  8. Your mirror project looks so nice...especially with your decor. Pottery Barn is outrageous. I'm just glad they post lots of photos for us to copy:)

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  9. Just beautiful! My husband just told me about the free cuts/cost per cut policy at Home Depot; I was so disappointed. I love the bench of signatures too. Those salad forks are just awesome! Your mirror knockoff is wonderful!

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  10. Love, love love that mirror! I am a big fan of taking advantage of free cutting services instead of spending money on items to do the same work. It means less to store, and your work is already partially done by the time you get home!

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  11. that's gorgeous! And I love the idea of the bench!

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  12. I'm planning on making that mirror in the near future. Yours turned out great! I also love the idea of the wedding bench!

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  13. This turned out beautiful. Pottery Barn loves their merchandise, and I am a sucker for it as well. My wallet runs from it though, so I am always looking for ways to get the look for less. Your mirror is perfect!

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