makeover: white rustic mirror

thought i'd share a tutorial...i had a spontaneous moment a couple of weekends ago which involved a bright teal tin of paint and a spray can of white satin paint....which resulted in this.....

so pleased with the results! and it was super super easy to do.

started off with a chunky wooden mirror (and check out nosey esau's really dirty paws, they are meant to be bright white where had he been?!)...i liked the cutout detail of the mirror but wasn't too keen on the burnt wood effect and in a small bathroom it was just too dark. now, as far of doing a proper job of painting the mirror i maaaaay have missed a few steps (like the bits where i have to sand it down before painting and between layes.....) but i'm pleased with the finish and so far the paint has happily stayed in place. even when wiping it down with a wet cloth when i've been cleaning the bathroom so i think we should be all fine.

for some reason the mirror wouldn't remove from the frame (assume the wood probably warped a little from it being in the bathroom and getting damp) so i marked off the mirror using brown paper and masking tape. i would recommend making an effort to get the paper and tape as close to the edge of the mirror as possible, in my spontaneous excitement i neglected to check this properly and had a little bit of white paint seep on the mirror.

next step is to get merry with the paint can. i'd sprayed the wood edge in light layers, so that after the first layer you could still see the brown wood coming through. but by using lots of thin layers rather than one heavy layer you get a much more even coverage. in total i probably used 3-4 layers, and spraying the mirror from different angles to get inside all the cutouts. however, it was pretty tricky to get the chunky paintcan at all the different angles and i could have been there forever making sure it was perfect...and besides, i quite liked the inside of the cutouts not being quite perfect....it added to the rustic feel of the mirror.

so, following a mad dash indoors as the raindrops started to fall on my still wait paint (grr), peeling back the paper and tape and scrapping off with a knife the little bits of paint that had trickled on the mirror (better taping would have prevented this) i had my new white mirror. and it worked so well against my freshly painted teal wall - woo!

so, super cheap and easy makeover: i already had the mirror (though you can pick up similar ones from ebay and flea markets for less than £15), tin of hardware store's own brand white satin spray paint - £5, and about 30 mins of my time.

anyone else been getting handy with white paint? you can be sure there will be a lot more spray painted furniture to come!