Distressed Mirror

Will and I made a quick trip to Lowes today to get a few things.  Is it weird that trips to Lowes seem to be as frequent as trips to the grocery store?  I've also found that I find myself creating a Christmas Wish List in my head while I'm wandering the aisles at Lowes.  I used to make my Christmas Wish List at the Buckle or while browsing the toy section of the JC Penny catalogue.  Of course, back then I never would have dreamed I would be able to furnish practically my entire house with hand built furniture.

Hmmm.

Anyways, I happened to find this little gem on the clearance shelf at Lowes.  After our friends had left around 7:30, we started on our little project. So far, it's taken a total of fifteen minutes.

Looks like a perfectly fine mirror, right?  See that price tag of $24.99?  It was on clearance for 50% off the clearance price.  That's right - $12.50 for that big ol' mirror.

Here's why.

The wood veneer, or whatever you wanna call it, was bubbling all along the frame.

I stabbed a bubble with my fingernail at the store to see what was underneath.  Some kind of cardboard or particle board frame.  I think I can work with that?

Will helped me peel off all the veneer that was bubbling or loose, then I sanded everything to even up the borders of the peeled off areas, and to roughen up the edges of the frame.

Will blew the sanding dust off with our air compressor.  If you don't have an air compressor, you should go get one.  Now.

We taped off the mirror to prepare for painting.  I think you can pretty easily peel paint off a mirror with a razor blade, but who needs the extra work?

I happened to come across a few paint samples from Restoration Hardware I had purchased two years ago.  I love Restoration Hardware.  I wish Restoration Hardware loved my budget a little better.

We decided on the light blueish color for our base layer- Silver Sage.  If you've ever been in a Restoration Hardware store, Silver Sage is usually the color painted on all the walls.  Beautiful.

I applied two quick coats on the entire frame.  William practiced his picture taking skillz.

Notice the look on my face - specifically my mouth.  

 If you've never seen my mom concentrate, that look won't be familiar.  However, if you've ever watched my mom concentrate on something - whether it's painting, wall-papering, drawing, calligraphy, rolling out pizza dough, or anything else of that nature - you've seen that look on her face; almost a frown, but not really.  I've seen it a million times. In the past few years, I've noticed myself doing it when I'm working on something.  Crazy, huh?

Will was getting creative with his picture taking.

 Now the frame dries overnight, then tomorrow I'll finish up with some dry brushing in the light tan color (pictures above).

 I swear, it's not white.  It's not gray.  It's Silver Sage.

I'll show you tomorrow :)