Mirror from drab to fab

What do you do when you KNOW that you need a mirror in your very dark hallway BUT it’s not really in the budget? My solution was good old faithful Goodwill, because even antique shops were out of the budget. (Side note: have you gone antiquing lately? Prices can be so extremely high, especially if you live in a big city) I usually go to Goodwill to find awesome clothing pieces as I have a love for vintage and thrifting but I remembered that they also have furniture. I figured no harm in looking. Lo and behold, I found not one but THREE mirrors that combined cost less than $25!!! I don’t even think I could have found that at home goods or any other place known to be inexpensive.

The original mirror

I liked the lines and the crackled background but disliked the colors and the flower motif for this project. This mirror could have worked in another home as is but for this place I’m sticking to many shades of white, black/gray, wood and greenery… It’s a small apartment so I don’t want to over crowd it and make it feel even smaller with a million colors and patterns…

Sometimes you’re lucky to find mirrors where you can remove the actual mirror by unscrewing the frames. For the sake of this post, I decided to tape it all around for those unlucky ones that find a gorgeous mirror but it’s not easily removable.

I used frog tape and a trash bag to cover the areas I didn’t want to spray black. I decided to do the small parts first, like the outer frame and then paint the large parts later. This way I can cover any bleed from the black frame with my white paint. Since I’m using highly contrasting colors, any bleed will show.

I picked Rust-Oleum because they offer paint+ primer options. I didn’t want to strip the paint because I like the crackle effect so I chose to spray paint over it instead. I thought it would add some interest to the otherwise plain white surface that I was going to spray later. Make sure you have a very well ventilated room (or preferable do it outdoors) and wear a MASK. I even used kitchen gloves last minute because I didn’t want paint my hands. Spray paints always drip on to your hands…

Learning a lesson in patience from my many manicures that I have managed to ruin in the past, I decided to give this mirror a couple of days to dry before continuing so I wouldn’t have the same results here.

Finally I taped it again but this time the frame that I just painted a few days ago. I sprayed a couple of layers because I didn’t want to see the previous flower motif come through. Once all covered in white spray paint, I set it flat on the floor to dry for a few days again before removing the tape. Make sure you lay it flat otherwise you might get drip patterns.

Now all that remains is to put it up on the wall!

The result!!!

VOILÀ! The end result! The tiny hallway needed a little entry table for keys (and masks nowadays) but since nothing fits in that small corner, I found this amazing tall black leather cylinder bag in an antique store. I paired it with a doctor’s bag (my client was a doctor so I thought it was a nice touch). I found a nice patina copper bowl for his keys and masks. He really wanted to put his own touch on the place so he decided to stick the cattail in the doctor’s bag. I love it when clients want to make a space their own.

This little vignette cost less than $100!! Now it’s your turn to go treasure hunting!