A Few Projects Outta The Way

The Menards in town is moving to a larger location so they're having clearance on lots of items. I went in for salt, but came out with two combo smoke/CO2 detectors instead. They were marked down almost $10 each so I couldn't pass them up. I'd been looking at them since I moved into the Homestead, but at $30-40 a pop I kept holding off. The smoke detectors from the previous owner weren't working right (even after I replaced the batteries) so I ended up disconnecting them, have been without pretty much since I moved in. I installed the new detectors and now I feel safe again. :)

These are pretty neat. There are four lights that alert for different things. On one side is a fire/smoke alarm light that blinks while the alarm goes off. On the other side is the CO2 alarm light that blinks and sounds off to a different alarm noise. Light #3 tells if the battery needs replacing, #4 tells if the detector is malfunctioning for some reason. I'm sure the latter make different sounds, too, but at this point I don't know what they are. (Little things make me happy... LOL)



Call me crazy, but when I saw this mirror I thought it was very "cool" and unique. I've never seen one like it anywhere. The mirror opens to the medicine cabinet. I love the lights on each side, although I'm thinking there were sconces at one time. From a distance, it looks great, right?



Up close and personal (like when you're brushing your teeth), it's not so pretty:



I wanted to refinish it with an antique bronze, but alas I couldn't find a "kit" in that color. American Accents by Rustoleum makes a "kit" in Antique Gold that I hoped would look just as good with the dark base cabinet. While at Menards last month, I grabbed a can of primer and a kit. Today, I finally had time to do it:

Everything except the primer and tape were included in the kit. A pair of gloves was also with the kit, but I didn't include them in the photo.

I couldn't take the cabinet out of the wall without unhooking the electrical wires, so I shut off the breaker and did the prep work of taping off everything that wasn't to be painted. What in the world are those things sticking out of the light sockets? Good thing I shut off the electricity! LOL, I didn't want to get paint inside the sockets, so I cut in half one of my niece's socks (funny how I only have ONE). Rolled them up and stuck one in each socket. Worked perfectly!

Primered and Ready to Go!

Gold Paint - Looking better already.

Antiqued Details

Finished Project, complete with "green" CFL bulbs - Woo Hoo!