I found this mirror in our apartment rental dumpster..

Lui
by Lui
  11 answers
  • Rose Broadway Rose Broadway on Sep 12, 2017

    Oh you could have a blast with this! Glue on shells, tiny mermaid dolls, glitter, fish, and you will think of many other ideas! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1v1dYr2xps

  • Ah, Miami! Will be a lot of dumpster diving going on - hope recovery efforts are going well for you! If you do not care for the color, repaint. Can always be embellished - only limited by your imagination.

  • FL FL on Sep 13, 2017

    I LOVE the color you used and I LOVE how the plastic frame has interesting details and looks like wood! You need to decide if you want to find mermaids and shells and such and paint them the same color as the frame to make it look carved! Or get loud and act like the mirror is celebrating itself with colors, shiny things and lovely mermaids all in a row! Have fun!

  • Rose Rose on Sep 13, 2017

    you can decoupage with wrapping paper or fancier art store papers, just use thin layer so details will still show. Also, make sure the wrapping paper ink won't run when coated with Mod Podge.

  • Hillela G. Hillela G. on Sep 13, 2017

    You could give it a faux wood look, I love this technique https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwm6_ueTCYM

  • Susan Bechamp Susan Bechamp on Sep 13, 2017

    If you don't like the existing frame you could make (or buy) a brand new one. If making your own, you can layer up as many moldings as you want for a richly detailed mirror frame. Paint or stain in multiple colors to bring out the details you like best. If buying, look in frame shops, craft stores have many to choose from. Thrift stores and second hand stores often have many framed items (just not something you can order in the size you need).

    How will you use it? Hung on the wall, mounted on a dresser, inserted in a cabinet as the backwall? These different uses will affect your choice of frame. If you want to use it as an insert into a serving tray but the mirror is to large, it can be cut to fit with a glass cutting tool. (You could have a window repair shop do it for you if you are not up to this yourself).

    The glass can also be etched to add more interest. The etching can be stained in different colors. There are a lot of ways to "change it up".

  • B. Enne B. Enne on Sep 13, 2017

    Score! I don't understand people throwing out good items. I always have a donation bag on the go.

  • Carey Carey on Sep 14, 2017

    Or if you like ornate: get some silicone molds and paper clay (or even Bread dough clay-which dries like ceramic) and go to work creating the ornate decor that you want then paint with Black or Dark Brown paint for a base coat then using some gold, or other metallic craft paint as desired, use a soft rag to color the raised areas leaving the darker color in the lower crevasses so it gives depth to your design. With the curved surface that you have on your mirror, carefully place and glue your molded designs before they are no longer pliable so that they can form to your curved frame.

    Bread dough clay Recipe: Loaf of White bread (I bought old bread for 10 cents a loaf) take off the crust, break into small chunks to make the amount of dough that you need. Add enough Elmer's glue and knead to create a soft dough. Divide into different amounts so that you can create different colors if you desire. Color with food coloring. You can use the dough in molds or form into designs or as I did, I created leaves and little roses and then glued them to my project, after allowing to completely dry. That took a few days, but was certainly worth the effort and time.

  • Melinda Melinda on Sep 26, 2017

    What do you intend for it to be as/for?

    IF YOU DON'T WANT TO USE IT AS A MIRROR---

    May I suggest an art piece? Years ago my sister left the main land for Hawaii to live in a commune. Weird, that's ok now. One day a member found a real nice round huge mirror. You can use any shape. Or size for this but when they finished it up it was a HUGE beautiful art piece! They cleaned the mirror and removed the frame. Everyday as people went their own way and about their own business, any time somebody found a broken piece of mirror they'd take it home and using clear drying glue, they'd glue it to the mirror. Anywhere. They had no pre-planned pattern. They glued up and over and eventually covered the whole mirror. None of the pieces of mirror ever was the same thickness. They started a new level of broken glass pieces. They put several new hangers on it because it tends to get heavier with each layer. They made mountains, cliffs, (pretend) rock caves and formations. It didn't take long and I don't know who ended up with it either.

    This would make a great family project that even the little one's can do. I heard they made a second art work out of another huge mirror only they were to use clear see thru colored glass or clear glass and that this time the theme would be the ocean and anything they thought would be on the ocean floor living.

    I thought for a lot of wasted peeps this was one of the most beautiful pieces of imagination and art ever. So clever.

  • Tricia Tricia on Oct 19, 2017

    Buy diamonte strip from a fabric store 2 inc thick & stick on . Amazing


  • MaryDy MaryDy on Oct 01, 2020

    Really, it looks very stylish, I like the colors and its furnishing. To tell the truth, I also have a thing in my house that I took near the dumpster. It is an old armchair in the Scandinavian style. I colored the structure and changed the covering so it looks really cool. Everyone who enters our house tract attention to it. To tell the truth, when we moved to a new house we also rented a dumpster from https://dumpsterrentaloaklandca.org/ and these guys told us many interesting stories about the thing that they find in discarded garbage. Indeed, sometimes you can see there something really unusual and good.