AW: Pushing through DIY's and milk glass SCORE!!

princess74

I can't believe I FINALLY found some milk glass!! Some of you may remember that I thought I was cursed.. well the curse ends here!

I got up early to go to an 'estate sale' (it wasn't really, more like garage sale) that Brian saw on Craigslist. And lo and behold, a whole cabinet full of milk glass, for no more than $1-$3 each! I am ELATED!! My favorite piece is the milk glass lamp, which will go on top a distressed dresser that will hold all our photobooth props. (will post pics of this later). The rest will be part of our centerpieces.

I also bought this old mirror, thinking it would look great for the getting ready pics. But, the mirror is not in great condition - it looks tarnished. I'll try to replace it or glue a new one on top if I can find the right size. And the back is not perfect, either. The lady already cleaned it up with Tarnex (sp?) but I was wondering if I should put a fresh coat of silver paint on it. But, I don't want to RUIN it, you know? It's such a pretty piece.. do you think it'll look okay as is? It was only $2 but thinking about the history and what it has seen or been through, I feel weird doing anything to it. Crazy, huh?

Oh, and I painted a bunch of old jars blue using that Bridal Buzz tutorial. Bit of a learning curve but they turned out okay! For color comparison, here's an old Ball jar next to it:

And, I made a fabric flower "chandelier" to hang as the focal point above the dance floor. Um, this wasn't my best idea because it took FOREVER haha. But I love it! You guys don't think it looks tacky or too homemade?

And, I painted wooden signs to point people in the right direction.. Brian's working on how to make the stands.

Whew, sorry for the looonng post.

3 weeks to go and I'm freaking out trying to get everything done!! My advice would be, even if you're a year out, work on as much DIY as you can! I thought I had a lot of time (has a 14 month engagement) but I should have and could have knocked a bunch more stuff out early on..

Okay, back to assembling programs and sewing my table runners!

Lisa50

Whew!  I'm tired just looking at all you've accomplished.  Although I'm quite creative and crafty, both FI and I have decided there will be no DIY projects for the wedding.

You're a rock star in my book!  Congratulations on many jobs well done. Brava!!

graysquirrel

LOVE the mirror! If I were you I'd just get a little polish for silverware and leave it at that. Painting antiques is never a good idea. The patina actually makes it look better, I think. It will be absolutely gorgeous in your photos!

dizzinea

awesome finds, I'd maybe have the glass replaced on the mirror but if the tarnex could not get it any cleaner then I'd leave it, the tarnashing makes it gorgeous! silver paint would be a sin!

princess74

Thanks, everyone!!

Hopefully I could figure out how to replace the mirror part. 

Before I started planning our wedding, I was totally unaware of what vintage was. Thanks to you ladies and SMP/Ruffled, I definitely have a great appreciation of 'old things' now!

princess74

Thanks, Kim!! I love how your DIY's shone through in your wedding pictures, so I'm hoping mine will too! Too bad 99% of our guests don't know what milk glass is.. I guess they'll just think it's a pretty white vase haha.

Amber - I wanted to do stencils but they weren't big enough or the ones that were, I didn't like the 'font'. I used a typewriter font, made it the exact size I wanted, then printed it out. Cut out the individual letters (could only fit 2 or 3 per page) into rough squares, then shaded the back of each letter with pencil. Laid out how I wanted the letters on the wood, then traced the outline of the letter with a pen or pencil, doesn't matter. So what it should do is transfer the outline straight onto the wood. Then I just filled it in with cheapo white acrylic paint. 1 coat makes it look a little white-washed/rustic, so we didn't bother doing 2 coats (thank goodness!). If you're using darker wood like mine, you might even want to try shading the back of the letters with white color pencil instead bec. the reg pencil was a bit hard to see at times. 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

portialoveschris

Wow.  All of that is so pretty!  I got a vintage art deco hand mirror and a brush at a rummage sale last Friday!  It's silver too and a little weathered.

I LOVE your floral chandelier.  You should come to Milwaukee--all I SEE is milk glass!

You go girl!