Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Before & After: Asian Mirror


before

I found this mirror shortly after moving from Los Angeles to Pennsylvania (these photos were taken in the backyard of our previous apartment).  It was sitting among other sad old mirrors at The Salvation Army... and I bought it for $9.99!   As you can see, the shape is great but the finish is, well, horrible.  It has a gritty silvery painted finish (like it had been spray painted with some sort of rough paint?  so weird).




It reminded me of this beauty, available on 1st Dibs.




Obviously, the mirror had good potential.  So, all this thing needed was a coat of paint.  I lightly sanded it down, to clear the rough spots.  Then, I took a paint brush and painted the frame with a semigloss black paint.  Easy enough!  While the newly painted black frame was a HUGE improvement, it didn't seem like enough.  So, I added a skinny stripe of metallic paint (the same color I used to paint the sunburst mirror in the guest room).

I love the way it turned out!

before:




after:


...

11 comments:

  1. Amazing! LOVE that mirror and only for $9.99 - awesome!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gorgeous! Amazing what a little paint will do!

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh my gosh what a transformation! i love paint.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's really amazing how different it looks. And the metallic detail really adds the perfect finishing touch. xoTrina

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's a gorgeous transformation!

    ReplyDelete
  6. looks gorgeous! Paint is such my best friend:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. love he paint job. I actually have the same one but painted it pink to go in my girls room. That old paint job that it had was a killer to paint over. Did you have any trouble?

    ReplyDelete
  8. LOVE THIS!!!! You did such a good job--and what a deal for $9!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow! That looks gorgeous! I love that you added the extra metallic strip- it really makes it elegant.

    ReplyDelete