Mirror, Mirror OFF The Wall- Chalky Paint Upcycle

by Caroline

$10.00

8 Hours

Medium

I have had this mirror for about 20 years. It used to go with a dresser that is now long gone! For some reason I just couldn't get rid of this thing- even though it is pretty ugly!
I can't stand that rail on the front but I loved the shape of it, the fact that it had drawers, the wooden embellishments and a beveled mirror.
Now before you paint-haters get started let me explain that there at least 4 different kinds of wood used in this mirror, therefore none of the wood is the same color.
That is another thing that has always driven me batty about this piece.

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So I decided to use a chalky paint on it. I used the country white, pre-mixed paint from Walmart and Poppies Famous Repurposing Powder to make it into chalk paint.

That turned in to an interesting, shall we say, process! You can read all about that fiasco on the blog!!

Above is the top embellishment with 2 coats of paint on.

Another one of the reasons I wanted to use a chalky paint on this piece was I wanted to use a dark wax on it to bring out all the details.

Below shows dark wax on the left side and clear wax on the right:

Oops- forgot tot tell you that I spray painted the embellishments blue and then used a wet sanding technique, as well as sand paper to distress the piece before starting with the wax.

I then coated the entire piece with clear wax before beginning the dark wax. This keeps the dark wax from getting into all the paint. You really just want the dark wax to highlight certain areas.

Obviously, the dark was is waaaaaayyyy to much. No problem! You just apply more clear wax and rub off as much of the dark wax as you want.

After adding some new cobalt blue knobs, she is like a brand new lady!

Right now she is sitting on a dresser with no feet and no top because it used to be a marble top that got broken in our last move!

And you paint-haters are gonna love me for this- I had planned to paint it too, but once I got it cleaned up I couldn't bring myself to cover up the wonderful burl wood pattern on the drawer fronts.