Happy ORC Week 3! If you are new here, the ORC is a 6 week challenge where 20 featured designers and hundreds of guest participants support each other in renovating/remodeling ONE entire room! There are so many inspiring spaces, and you can go see ALL the other rooms over at the ORC Blog Page! What’s even more exciting is that Better Homes and Gardens is the media sponsor for this ORC! So rad!
If you missed previous weeks, you can check them out here:
**Please note, this post may contain affiliate links – please read my full Disclosure policy.**
Here was this weeks To Do List:
Week 2-3:
Refinish thrifted mirrorsPaint/sealfaux brick- Replace both light fixtures
- Install window trim
As you can see – I’m a wee bit behind! But, I can say from past experience, IT WILL ALL GET DONE! I’ve only got one coat of sealer left (which takes about an hour), and hubby is in charge of the light fixtures, which should get done this next week! And the window trim is a pretty quick job, so I’m not too worried!
But let’s not spend time on what didn’t get done, and let’s focus on what DID – the BRICKS! And the mirrors, too!
If you remember last week, I had just finished forming the bricks. So this week, I had to prime, paint, German schmear, white wash, and then seal them – PHEW!
Once all the bricks were done, I took a small brush and some Annie Sloan Old White chalk paint and touched up all the grout lines, just to give it a bit of a cleaner look.
Next, I used more joint compound and a tape knife, and German schmeared the whole space. There is no exact science to this, you just schmear the compound on wherever you think it looks good. Once that was done and allowed to dry for about 3 hours, I watered down some Sherwin Williams Alabaster, and white washed everything with a basic sponge.
Finally, I am sealing everything with a water based (and HOPEFULLY non-yellowing) Spar Urethane. If you watch my Stories over on Instagram, you’ll know I intended to only use this product in the shower area. But when my Dad (a contractor) told me it was probably better to seal the ENTIRE bathroom with this for better water protection, I figured I’d better listen! (He also told me that even though it says Exterior only, with the exception of window trim, that it would likely be just fine inside – BUT, this is MY Dad, not yours, so for the love of all that is DIY, PLEASE DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH on this! I ain’t about to be blamed for your kidney stones or vertigo when you decide this exterior only urethane is to blame because you used it inside just because “some girl on the internet did it”!) 😛 Truly though, all kidding aside, while I recommend products that work for us, please do your own research to make sure they are something you want to use and that will work for your project. We do what works for us, but you gotta do you too, and it’s hard to do that if you don’t research!
Finally, I tackled refinishing the mirrors this week. I didn’t want to spend the time stripping them, and the wood seemed to be in pretty rough shape anyway, so I decided to go with a faux wood finish. I accomplished this first by painting with white chalk paint, then with a taupe color (similar to Annie Sloan French Linen), and finally slathered on some Valspar Antiquing wax with a wax brush! I’m loving how they turned out and can’t wait to get them hung!
First coat – white chalk paint 
Second coat – taupe 
Final coat – Valspar antiquing wax
And that’s it for Week 3! We are halfway there! This week I’ll be working on painting the cabinets with Giani, Inc’s Nuvo Cabinet Paint! And if you want to see the process in real time, I’ll be taking over Giani’s Instagram Page on Saturday 4/20 to document everything step by step in stories for you! See ya there, and see ya in Week 4!
Leave a Comment