Mirror Mirror on the Wall

         Welcome to the newest version of our blog! I am so excited to be sharing another fun project with all of you. This project was actually an outgrowth from the buffet remodel I shared a couple weeks ago. Once I was done with the buffet, I needed something to hang above it! I l-o-v-e sunburst mirrors BUT they are incredibly expensive sooo I started thinking of different ways to do it myself!

I also looove Hobby Lobby, so I headed there to see what I could find (with two little boys in tow). We ultimately decided on 3/16” X 36” hardwood dowels which can be found in the unfinished wood section. They were only $0.29 a piece (which is good because I needed about 50 of them)! Score! And I was cutting them in half so they were really only about $0.14 per piece. The mirror was also an inexpensive Hobby Lobby find; an 8” round decorative mirror plate. I used a 40% off coupon and got it for about $3.  Total cost of mirror project=about $20. Yes!

(P.S. If you download the Hobby Lobby app for your phone you can use a 40% off one item coupon)

Materials List:

50- 3/8” X 36” hardwood dowels

1-round decorative mirror plate

Hot glue gun

Lots of hot glue gun sticks

Picture frame hook to hang it

Step one: I cut the dowels at all different lengths ranging from 15”-20”. I used a small hand saw that I borrowed from my Dad. It’s called a 10-in Handi-Hacksaw by Kobalt. It’s about $7-$8 at Lowes. Inexpensive and works great!

Step two: I placed some blue painters tape on the back of the mirror to show where I should start gluing my dowels.

Step three: I started gluing my dowels on the blue tape (I used A LOT of hot glue). I started with one or two dowels on each piece of tape going around the whole mirror as seen here:

Step four: I kept gluing the dowels in varying lengths all around the mirror until all the spaces were filled in.

Step five: I attached the picture frame hook at this point so I could just hang it when I was done. Don’t be afraid to use a ridiculous amount of hot glue (I did)!!

Step six: Ready to spray paint! I used Valspar spray paint in “La Fonda Mirage,” (its a very light teal). It took two cans of paint for this baby!! I cut a circle out of printer paper then taped the edges with blue painters tape to keep paint from getting on the mirror. I put the mirror face down and did two coats then flipped it and did two more! Make sure to get all the little nooks and crannies on the dowels. Unfortunately this spray can was a flat paint. Boo. So I had to seal and gloss up the paint with a separate Valspar clear satin sealer. Just one coat of this and I was done! 

And the finished product…. I think it turned out great and filled the space above the buffet perfectly!

         This mirror was only one of many many types of sunburst mirrors you can make. Change the size of the mirror plate, shorten the dowels, use paint stir sticks for the sunbeams, adjust the color to fit your decor, the possibilities are endless! I hope this was helpful for all you DIYers. A beautiful mirror for $20! Thanks for letting me share! Have a wonderful rest of the week!

                xoxo,

                         Katie

A new beginning for the blog!

As promised, I am sharing the exciting changes happening with the blog! Popular with the Poplins is now very popular with the Ramseiers as well! My cousin, Katie, and I are teaming up, combining strengths, joining forces and hoping two heads are better than one. We have both gone from Meier girls to married girls, I am now a Poplin and she is a Ramseier, and even though we no longer share the same last name we still have a lot in common!

I asked Katie to write a little something introducing herself, so here she is…

 

A new door has opened for my project obsessed, paint covered fingers! Thanks to my cousin Rachele, who has invited me to join her, I will be blogging! I am beyond thrilled to be a part of this journey with her and all of our friends and family. I am Katie Ramseier, wife of 8 years to my amazing and hard-working husband, and mother of two incredibly sweet (and rowdy) little boys. My boys are 4 and 5 years old and at the moment we are knee deep in kindergarten and T-ball!

I am a lover of projects and all things paint and building oriented! My reason for blogging is simple; I LOVE home décor, and making things myself brings a whole new feeling of satisfaction! Having small children pulls me in so many directions, and these projects bring a sense of completion around the house (since laundry and chores are never done)! I am so thankful for this opportunity and am excited to embrace this new chapter of time with Rachele!

 

          xoxo,

                   Katie

 

Thank you to everyone for supporting us. We have plans to up the ante on the blog and have some great projects lined up to share. We are big believers in DIY and have a passion for projects big and small. We are learning as we go and hope that our experiences will help others along the way. We love being creative, we love crafting, planning, building, experimenting with new tools and ideas, we love making things uniquely our own and we love showcasing fellow DIYer’s creations. This blog has been my outlet over the last nine months and has helped me keep my sanity through our move out of state and away from family and friends. My projects are like my therapy- there’s nothing like turning on your favorite music and diving into something you’ve been looking forward to working on.

I am excited to move forward with the blog and bring my cousin along with me. This blog will now be all things popular with us, projects, products, people and power tools.

 

          xoxo,

                   Rachele

 

PS- You may notice we have a few new sponsors and advertisers on the page! Feel free to check them out and click on any that interest you!

 

Change is BEAUTIFUL

Happy Friday to all!! I wanted to write a quick post and let everyone in on a little secret… change is coming, and it is beautiful! There are some new and exciting things happening with the blog and I can’t wait to share! Stay tuned and watch for a post next week announcing it all. Have an awesome weekend, my friends!

     xoxo,

              Rachele

                  

Shabby to Chic

Well, I have bragged about my cousin, Katie, many times, and this post is yet another way to show off her work. Katie turned an old shabby buffet into a modern and chic piece of furniture. I am l-o-v-i-n-g the transformation. Below is a post written by her, to give all of you DIYers the ‘how to’ and hopefully inspire your own projects!

              xoxo, 
                             Rachele

This buffet piece has truly been a joy to re-create! The feeling of up-cycling something to fit your current style is amazing. If you asked me two years ago to make-over this horrible looking piece of furniture, I would have refused! Now, through the inspiration of other DIYers (shout out to my cousin Rachele), I have found my calling. I LOVE to DIY and focus on my home and décor.

I inherited the buffet from my grandparents because no one else wanted it and I am embarrassed to say that it sat in my house for YEARS in its horrid original state. I had no idea what to do with it or where to start. My first step was to cruise the internet for inspiration. I wound up finding a site, Orphans with Make up, and more specifically, her 'Farmhouse Look Store Counter', check it out HERE, it is awesome. I LOVED the look, so I decided to DIY it on my own buffet!

I started by sanding the top and the feet all the way down to their original wood. I had to sand passed the old stain- ick! It took awhile. I spent an entire afternoon sanding, wiping it down, and then applying Rustoleum's Dark Walnut Stain MULTIPLE times. I kept applying stain, over and over, (and wiping it off after 5-10 min in-between coats) until I was satisfied with how dark it was.

My next step was priming and painting the drawers and middle section of the buffet. I taped off my stained edges so I had nice clean paint lines. Detail is important to me- I think it can make or break the piece. Then I started applying the water based primer. This is where my first problem arose…the stain was seeping through and turning the primer pink! At that point I was not a skilled enough painter and had no idea why it was happening. Panic set in, so I called the nearest paint store. I was told I needed an oil based primer to block the old reddish stain from seeping through the water based primer. And what do you know? It worked like a charm! From then on it was smooth sailing. Two coats of a white water based latex paint in a satin finish and I was good to go! I wanted to seal the stain and paint really well (to tolerate the wear and tear of my boy’s sticky little fingers), so I did a good coat of semi-gloss polyurethane over the paint and three good coats on the stained top. Now the stain looks beautiful and the pretty white paint has extra protection!

Lastly, I added the amazing new hardware, which I think REALLY makes the project POP! I could not be happier with the way it turned out! I hope my story helped all of you DIYers, have a wonderful week!!

Katie

Love is in the air

It’s LOVE month!! What better way to celebrate love than with a brand new baby girl!? Our teeny little niece, Audrey Joy, is here and she is as sweet as can be! I’ve been waiting to show off a few pictures of her and I figured a Valentines post was the perfect time!

Speaking of love and Valentine's Day I have two DIY crafts to show off from two of my favorite girls, Heather and Channing.

My Cousin, Heather, is super woman, I am always amazed at what she can accomplish in a day. On top of her busy schedule she took the time to make us the cutest Valentine's wreath for our front door. It is an argyle wreath made from yarn and felt hearts. Thank you, Heather, I love it! Heather also has a blog where she posts everything from recipes and crafts to parties and school projects. The name of her blog is Teaspoons & Twine and you can check it out and follow her by clicking HERE.

A while ago I made a trip to California and stayed a few nights with one of my girlfriends, Channing, who wanted to make a project that she had seen on Pinterest. So, we headed to Hobby Lobby for the supplies and went to work making decorative vases. We used left over wine bottles, jute twine, yarn, chevron burlap, buttons and a lot of hot glue. In the end we had four wrapped wine bottle vases that spelled out the word ‘love’. I think they came out really great and I love the color scheme she chose to make them in.

That is all for my Valentine's post. A lot has been going on here and I can’t wait to share the projects that are under way. Our house is slowly getting the face lift I have been daydreaming about. We still have work to do, but within the next month I’ll be able to post pics and give a sneak peak at what we are working on this week. Happy Valentine's Day to all, don't forget to show some extra love this month!

     xoxo,

              Rachele