Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Mirror Overhaul

Can you believe that the thing hanging over that chair used to be a mirror?:o) I can barely believe it myself! I am in LOVE with this "picture." You might remember that the mirror was in the background of the last post. I bought it at a yard sale for $1. That's right...$1.  This thing weighs a ton! But I got it home with no idea what I was going to do with it. I knew I wanted it to go in the living room, but I already have 2 other large mirrors in there, and people might start thinking we were a little vain with all these mirrors:o) Then the idea hit me that I could paint over the mirror.
The tools I used:
-A very cheap mirror(in it's past life, it was a dresser mirror)
-Black paint
-Ivory Krylon Spray Paint
-Valspar Glaze
-Vintage White acrylic Craft paint
-Tracer(a little contraption that is similar to an overhead projector)
-Pencil
-Roller Brush
-Paint brushes
-Sand Paper
I don't have a step-by-step picture tutorial, but I can kind of tell you how I got the finished product. I taped off the mirror, just around the edges of the frame, and laid paper towels around the rest of the mirror to control some of the over spray from the spray paint. I sprayed two coats on the frame. After it dried, for a few hours, I sanded down the edges to make sure that some of the orange layer that was painted on by the previous owner, and some of the actual wood was showing thru. I wiped it all down with a damp paper towel, and applied the glaze. I was a little nervous with this step b/c I had never attempted it, but I think it turned out just fine.
This is a closeup of the finish on the frame. After I got done with the frame, I rolled out a few coats of black paint on the mirror, using a sponge roller brush. This part was a little tricky, and if I could have removed the mirror I would have. It was stapled in, and it required more effort than I was willing to exert:o) I printed out the little phrase, of which I love b/c it is soooo my humor:o) Used my tracer to blow it up onto the mirror, traced the letters and filled in with the acrylic paint. It was still missing a little something so I added the swirlies and the painted flowers. The hubs was awful proud and he loves it just as much as me:o)





6 comments:

Unknown said... Best Blogger Tips

Love it!! (both the finished product and saying!) We know you are vain -even if you didn't put up another mirror. HA! :)

Priscilla said... Best Blogger Tips

That is awesome!! You are soooo talented!! I'm glad to see someone loves garage sales as much as I do!!

la maison LaFortune said... Best Blogger Tips

I love that saying-so funny! I just did something similar with an oval frame-haven't posted it yet, but I used spray paint chalkboard paint. Sooo easy. My new favorite thing!

Catherine @ van Breugel Design said... Best Blogger Tips

This project turned out so beautiful! I love it!

shannon said... Best Blogger Tips

I have a similar mirror sitting in my garage right now. I am so going to do this!

Miss Mustard Seed said... Best Blogger Tips

First of all, the quote is a riot. You think it's going to be profound and then it makes you laugh. Great quote. I love the way this picture looks as well. The frame has a great shape and it looks so good in that corner. nice work!