Think outside the big reflective box

This house building stuff can get expensive, it drains your pockets along with your energy (tiny violin) and there is always something cooler / would fit in that space perfectly / looks just like that one you saw on San Francisco Girl by bay's blog / waaaay out of your price range. Alas it is all just a part of life and sometimes you can buy a cheap knockoff which is what happens when life feels like giving you the big thumbs up (sorry design guru's out there who despise knockoffs, I'm just a tall girl with a small wallet, building a big house)

 

So, I have seen so many HUGE mirrors on Pinterest. Those really cool big ones that are just casually leaning up against the wall like "who me, I'm just chilling....the lady that owns this house bought me for a gazillion bucks so I'm set for life and I'm sending my tiny mirror babies to college".... You know the ones I'm talking about. Smug and gigantic.

Well I wanted one (of course I did) to go in our wardrobe and I do not have a gazillion bucks to spend! Not even close, in fact, not even 100. So I started thinking about how I could copy them without the price tag and then I thought about the big mirrors that are part of those sliding wardrobe doors in a lot of newish houses these days AND THEN I thought about how many newish houses were pulled to pieces after those heinous earthquakes of ours. I did a search on trademe and sure enough there were loads but I found a really big one for $50 and I hit the buy now so hard my index finger felt a little sore for about 5 minutes.

 

It was ugly.... And I didn't care. It was big and in this case. Size totally mattered.

 

I bought some black etching primer spray paint.... It sticks to anything, dries super quick and goes a great matte colour. I taped the mirror up, then went outside with a head torch and started spraying.

 

It looks awesome, sure... if you get real close you may notice it's 'wardrobe door' like frame but I don't mind. Most people when they're looking at a mirror are checking that their teeth are clean and their bums look not too small/not too big so I'm thinking no one else will notice and everyone will just assume it's the kind of mirror with trust fund babies. Result.

 

I'm also finding that whenever I finish a space I want to spoil it with gifts of cool stuff that I've been collecting (aka buying and hiding from Guy) and in my wardrobes case it got well and truly spoilt. I can't say these things will stay there forever because when I have an actual living area to deck out I may want to steal them back but for now..... They're all yours wardrobe.

 

 

 

 

The wardrobe got my favourite pouf ever that I found at LETLIV.... You can't really go past a tan moroccan pouf, all they're going to do is wear in and keep looking more and more awesome, which in turn will make you (pouf owner) look awesome. It's science.

The madras rug from freedom

My Clare Elsaesser prints, these may stay.....and I may just have to buy more. Oh darn.

A little vintage macrame and toolbox find + all of my hats

 

 

 

 

 

This wardrobe without all the cool poufs and prints was actually cheap as chips. A couple of pieces of driftwood and twine, the bottom piece a little shorter in length so there's room to hang the long dresses I never wear and a $50 giant mirror.

 

Next on the list are some cheap DIY plywood shelves..... We have a dresser with drawers in the bedroom for all the folded stuff so we don't need to worry about that and when we have more time and money we may change the driftwood to matte black metal piping but for now it's as good as gold.