Vintage Ornate Mirror Makeover: Plus An Oops!
Don’t pass up any mirrors or furniture that you come across out in the wild just because it’s faded or you don’t like the color! Use the one supply solution that you’ll find in this article.
Nothing too complicated about it, but I took one misstep along the way (boo). I’m very pleased with the final results of this ornate mirror makeover. Let me tell you all about it.
Lately I’ve been admiring mantels I’ve seen on various blogs that have used French-inspired, gold gilt mirrors.
I discovered this lovely-shaped mirror at a garage sale with a $20.00 price tag on it. I loved the its ornateness, but was not so thrilled with the paint condition–kind of muddy gold with white highlights.
The bow seemed to have some brighter gold highlights, but it didn’t help much. I’m not quite sure what the white highlights are all about. I offered $15.00 for it and happily, the seller agreed.
I wanted the frame to be gold, but not super shiny, so I thought I’d try acrylic craft paint rather than spray paint, which tends to result in that shiny look I wanted to avoid.
Thinking I was being very clever, and hoping I’d only need to apply one coat of paint, I decided to whip up some of my homemade chalk paint. I mixed up a batch and applied it to the frame.
The Oops: While it gave great coverage, it unfortunately resulted in a severely toned-down color–a dark taupe that was not in the least bit attractive. (Sorry, no photo.) The chalky grout had the effect of draining all the gold-ness out of the paint. Not so clever now, right?
Luckily, I had enough gold paint left over to apply another coat, and I was very pleased with the result.
If I had skipped the make-your-own-chalk-paint step, this makeover would truly have been “fabulously simple.” I guess there’s always a next time, right?
Here you see the mirror sitting on my mantel. Eventually, I do intend to hang it and style it a bit more.
I’m happy that my Staffordshire dogs (a gift from a friend when we lived in England) compliment my “new” mirror so nicely.
I’m going for a simple, but elegant look, and I think the mirror is a good start. What do you think?
Other articles you may enjoy:
Thanks for stopping by–
If you enjoyed this post, subscribe today
and get a FREE copy of my eBook:
Bye for now,
Would you pin me to you fave Pinterest Board? Thanks!
Turned out great in the end.
Love the makeover! I have the same gold paint that I have used on various progects.. Remember when gold was out of style and everyone was painting everything white…now gold is back in. I never painted my gold frames….
Hugs,
Deb
Love the look! And the mirror definitely looks at home with your Staffordshire dogs (they are sweet!). I like the sort of muted gold look that you got. It isn’t glaring or gaudy, it’s a nice balance! Would you have gotten that muted gold without that first mis-step? ~ Rheta
Nice job! Sometimes simple is truly better, but we have to take the long way to get there. 😉
Misstep or not your mirror turned out beautifully.
Love this Diana. Yep coming from the girl that paints everything white I love this gold lol! Brings back the vintage beauty to this piece. Have a great new week ahead.
Kris
I definitely think your mantel looks very elegant. I love the simplicity of the styling.
I like this a lot! Simple elegance. So glad the color turned out. It takes experimenting sometimes, doesn’t it?
That is one GORGEOUS mirror–love it!
Beautiful mirror for only $15! I love it. Looks awesome on your mantel too. Didn’t know you lived in England either! That’s a fun fact to know about you. Will you do a blog post about that sometime, or maybe direct me to one you’ve already done?
I LOVE this! I’m a huge fan of mirrors, and gold ones in particular. I’m looking at 3 gold mirrors as I write this (collect much?) It looks fabulous on your mantel, quite elegant! xoKathleen
I had a Ziggy comic for years that said something like,”there’s no use making mistakes if you don’t learn from them.” Do you know HOW MANY of won’t make THAT particular mistake. Thank you! Thank you! Love the way it came out; I have dry brushed Grandma Nora’s gold mirror once for highlights and painted a vintage oval one over the years. I love the effect of dry brushing to hit highlights. Especially going from dark to lighter colors. I have tried (rather unsuccessfully) to limit my love for mirror to dollhouse size. But this is a shady house and I figure any light I can reflect is a good thing!