Now back to the mirror makeover. Back when I was shopping for a dresser for Avery's nursery I came across an old 70's mirror at a local thrift store. Once I saw the mirror, I knew I had to have it. A while back I missed out on a fab mirror, because Hasani couldn't see its makeover potential. This time I listened to my gut and loaded the huge mirror into my shopping cart. I paid $ 25 bucks for the mirror, but considering its size and weight, it appears to be really wood cut all one piece, its actually a good deal.
When I came home with my prize, sure enough Hasani thought I bought home a lemon you know an ugly car that you paid to much for and can't take back. Then I reminded him of the mirror that got away, and shared with him my inspiration from Little Green Notebook. Jenny took an aged mirror and transformed it from icky to wow. She painted the mirror a moody grey.
I decided the best spot for this mirror would be at the end of our hallway. The one and only hallway hasn't seen much decor action in our house, just paint and an updated light fixture we installed months ago. I thought by installing the mirror at the very end of our hallway it would accomplish to things. 1. Bounce more natural light around during the daylight hours. 2. Make our hallway look larger, since mirrors always have that great affect. Next I took color inspiration from the pillows in our living room. I love the new floral pillows, great colors: greens, navy, golden yellow, turquoise.
I thought the painting the mirror a shade of green would look really good. I went to Lowes and bought a small sample paint size of 'Crushed Oregano. Before applying the paint, I cleaned the mirror with soapy water and then applied a coat of primer. After applying the first a few brush strokes of paint, I HATED how it was looking it was just awful. So I went back and thought what about a darker green, nope another FAIL.
So instead of jumping into another color fiasco, I do what I always do when I hit a design wall. I take a few days off from the project and come back to it with fresh eyes. See the to oops colors in the back ground, yeah not my cup of tea of this mirror. Anyways this time I decided to go dark deep navy. I bought 2 cans of Krylon Fusion paint in glossy. It says its for plastic, but also works on wood metal. Plus I liked the fast dry time.
I was very impressed after spraying on one coat of paint. Everything was looking smooth and shiny. Crazy glossy shiny and I HATE spray painting, but this spray paint and I for along. I was a little concerned the navy blue I was going for wasn't getting dark enough, but by coat # 2 I could already see a darker shade emerging. After spraying on the final coat I wait 12 hours before bringing the mirror inside, plenty of time for the 'spray paint smell' to blow away.
This once dated mirror used to be attached to a dresser, so I needed to install new hanging hardware. I decided to go with U brackets, they promise to hold 50 pounds. We estimated the dresser was likely around 15 pounds. I my ruler to pick the placement for the brackets and help create a strait line. The Hasani nailed in the hanging hooks. The mirror hangs just outside of our bedroom and Avery's in the future we'll look into a new method of hanging the mirror as Avery gets older and mobile and starts to pull himself up on objects. I can see us drilling directly into the mirror into a stud. We'll share what we end up doing.
Here's a the after, a nice long shot of how the mirror looks in our hallway. In this picture its hard to tell what color the mirror is, but in real life you can easily tell its a deep navy. I LOVE how the mirror looks its glossy and pretty and does exactly what I wanted, bounces more light around and creates the illusion of a larger hall.
Look at the shine!
Although it took longer to get to the after on this mirror with the two color hiccups along the way! I'm really glad I stuck with it, I love find old pieces and giving them a second chance and an updated modern look.
** Update, I forgeot to mention, I spray painted right over the green paint and did not prime and had great results! It's usally recommended that you prime first **
Have you transformed any old mirrors lately? Have you had in color hiccups with a project before, what was the end result?
PS: Also check out this post here about Organized Spaces on ReNest, from Apartment Therapy Chic Little House was mentioned! :) Super cool to be included in such a great group :)
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