Remember the
VINTAGE MIRROR
I got & showed you from the last Elkhorn flea market of the season?
It has a deep beveled mirror and a great frame! BUT–it’s not in pristine condition, awww. —I would usually call that character, but in this case—hmmm?
This is why.
The missing silvering near the bottom has created a LARGE HOLE. Ordinarily, not tragic, but someone filled the hole with glittery gold nail polish—Seriously! How cREAtive—Not!
This is probably one of the craziest –fixes– I’ve EVER seen.
On the plus side, it popped off fairly easy!
But dang it, it took a little more silver with it too.
After removing the mirror from the frame (which needed a little repair too), I used a natural gel stripper to remove the silver’s painted-protection.
It took a while to cut through the painted back–you have to be patient, and it often takes a couple of times with a gel stripper to get it off (a regular stripper is too aggressive and will eat through the silver).
The picture below shows the results from the 1st try. *And how cool to uncover the manufacturer’s job# !
Once the backing was all cleaned off, I washed and dried the back of the mirror, then finally began REspraying the the problem areas with Krylon’s LOOKING GLASS.
~Sorry—got pretty busy at this point and forgot all about taking any pictures.
In the past, I’ve played with varying aging techniques. But this mirror already had NATURAL AGE, so I just wanted good coverage. Here’s the outcome for my aging mirror! And–you can see some of the change to the frame here too.
I only laid the mirror on top of the frame, just to see how it was looking!
I just need to paint a protective layer over the newly [RE] silvered mirror, but, getting back to the frame—
Sometimes all you need to do is “dirty” something up! I used a gel stain for this job—my favorites are Early American and Golden Pecan. I brushed and smudged it on and around in 1 and 2ft sections, then wiped it off.
I also used some liquid gold leafing to dress up the fillet of the frame, I’m guessing that was probably its original accenting finish- the whole frame, in fact. But it’s hard to say from how DULL the gold was as I bought it.
~After all the repairs and finishes~
Someone who really loves old mirrors will understand and appreciate the “worn” condition! I would love to keep it, but, “You can’t keep EVerything!”
–click on the picture to see the finishes closer up, it came out really fAb!–
Catherine
I’m sharing my mirror with these gREAt linky parties!
You are a magician! This looks amazing. I didn’t even know you could do this to a mirror, but of course! Love the Gold Nail polish treatment. That is funny! The mirror looks perfectly antique now, without having that “fake” antique look.
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aahhhh gorgeous!!! You are so clever. Never knew that could be done.
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PS come link it up at the party!!!
http://projectqueen.org/welcome-to-link-party-40-turning-the-daunting-into-the-do-able
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Your mirror is gorgeous! I would have never thought to use the looking glass paint to repair a mirror, silly me. Are you selling it? What are the dimensions?
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25w x 47h ma’am!
I feel bad to let it go ’cause it came out so nice, but, I HAVE SO MUCH STUFF!
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Phooey, too big for my powder room. 😦
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Awww—I could have delivered!
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Looks great, Catherine. I’ve seen a lot of crazy fixes in my day too. Nice save.
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This turned out really beautiful! How fortunate to find an oval beveled mirror. Nice job 🙂
Deborah
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It turned out great–love it!
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Love the frame….great job!
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i am impressed with how much work you put in to this project and how this mirror has recovered it’s beauty and use, well done!
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SO LUCKY that you found that mirror! I’ve been dying to find a reasonably priced decorative mirror like that! You made it look fantastic! Great job!
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Hi Catherine, hope you had a fabulous weekend. I’ll be highlighting your beautiful flea market mirror tomorrow night at the highlight party! Thanks so much for linking it up.
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tres jolie réalisation
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Such a pretty mirror – awesome job on the transformation!
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[…] from Freddy and Petunia showed off her amazing flea market find and how she magically fixed the damaged […]
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it’s lovely! love how you made it your own! xoox
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Love the finish on this mirror. Wish you did not have no reply comment on your comments. I wanted those alibaster lamps, but they were $169 each. I am on the hunt still.
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it looks gorgeous and very parisian flea market chic now!
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What color did you paint the frame? I only saw info about gel stains? An I missing something? Its gorgeous!!!
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I just used good ole white!
But I guess I should describe the techniques and steps I used to get it to its finish–!
I guess that’s another post. ; D
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Just gorgeous! i saw the Ford headboard and globe lights on another blog this am. Those were awesome!! Thank you for joining Home Sweet Home!
Sherry
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LOVE what you did with this!!!!!!!!! I posted Halloween Chalk Board to the party. Following you now. Follow me too at http://www.sewsweetvintage.com and share a facebook like to my box there if you have a minute:) Thanks
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Ohhhhhhh, but I would sure keep that one! ;0) FABULOUS!
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the mirror looks fantastic, great job!
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It is amazingly beautiful! Thanx for sharing at THT!
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So stunning…check out my blog and see what I did with an antique mirror and crystal sconce! I think you will love it.
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A beautiful mirror! Love what you did with it.
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That mirror is fabulous. what an amazing job you did with it.
rita
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Really beautiful job! You can hardly tell it is the same piece. Love it!!!
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Just gorgeous! Thanx for joining us at THT!
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Love Love Love this mirror. Excellent repair job. So beautiful.
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Such a pretty mirror and you made it gorgeous! Putting it in the Spotlight this weekend at the Power of Paint Party!
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Does the Looking Glass come out like a clear mirror? Looking at other project online that use it- the objects or mirrors look hazy.
I have a 50 year old mirror that i am going to re- silver and would like to know the mirroe quality or image quality on the mirror after using Looking Glass.
Thanks!!
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What kind of gel stripper did you use? Did all the silver from the mirror come off? I just baught a mirror the owner found in a chicken coop! Frame is in need of oober repair. The mirror itself is aged. I would like to bring back the life it once had. If you could tip me in the right direction. That would be much appreciated.
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*** I updated the post with some additional info to (hopefully) answer some of these questions!
The next mirror I work on, I should probably get more in depth on, huh? ; D
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