The Most Amazing Mirror

First I want to start out with the fact that my sister-in-law just recently had a birthday and she is super cute and amazing. I love her (along with my other sister-in-law), but Kristi tends to have home decor styles that mesh with mine. She is the sweetest most tender hearted woman i've probably ever met and i'm so blessed to be a part of her life. She is such a joy and i love her dearly.

More than that she's pretty crafty herself and so I always like making her something special for her birthday. Last year it was a vintage mirror that i refinished, destroyed, and then etched the glass. It has a beautiful home on her living room wall :-)

Not long ago i came across a couple ideas on Pinterest, the website sweeping the female nation. See, aren't they pretty?

So i decided to attempt it. But i did it different.  It's hard when you KNOW you're giving it as a gift, because you know the things that would get you by in your home my not work in theirs. Maybe they have rowdy kids that knock things over, maybe they move things around alot, maybe they don't like certain types of woods, maybe they only like white, or hot pink... so when making it i knew i wanted it to be bold but neutral. Strong by not a million dollars.  Heavy but not overwhelming. Big but not overrtaking to a room, and to look expensive but not be... lots of details to keep in mind. 

So here we go... step by easy step...

So first, we went to lowes and found the backing wood. Because plywood is too yucky and tends to soak up paint i didn't want that... but regular sheets of wood are really pricey... particleboard is too bendy... so we went with a weird particle/wood. $18.00 and it was 4 x 8 .  Enough for 2 of these bad boys, or sexy lady.. whichever your pleasure. Best part?? LOWES CUTS FOR FREE!!  So just take your peice over to them and tell them you want two 2ft by 6ft. You'll be left with a scrap.

Then you need some moulding. Any that you want. I wanted a little "embelishments" if you will and did some mantle peices for the top corners and bottom corners ($10.00 for the trim, $5.00 for the corners, the trim will also do 2 mirrors). 

In the mantle section there are gorgeous wood embelishments.. i did a single one along the top of the mirror ($6.00)...

Of course your paint (I buy Valspar samples, $2.98). And a cheap mirror from Walmart ($4.50)

And if you will, some glaze ($10 that will last you a lifetime haha). 

Looks about like this when you gather it all up.

(Far left is the board, center is the trim, and far left is my cheap mirror)

So you start with your measurements... cut everything down and then glue it on. Super technical right?

 

Normally i would have just filled that gap right there, but since it was a gift i just recut a peice of trim. 

Once i glued it all down i left it to dry [note my super techy "holding tape" haha] Once its all dry you can paint. The sample i got was GORGEOUS! It was called Magnet Dapple from Valspar. The sample i bought was MORE than enough, i could likely do two!  It turned out much more blue than grey.. but it worked perfect for my Sis in Law since she's a "blue" girl right now.

This little embellishment was the hardest thing in the world to paint!

Once it was painted i went ahead and tried out a glaze. It was my first time... a glaze virgin if you will. And let me tell you, she is my going to be my new love affair. So easy.. wipe on, wipe off, to your taste of course.

(click for an enlarged photo)

 

 

So here she is in all her glory.  Isn't she gorgeous??  Feel free to try your own and let me know what you did differently or what ways you found to make it unique to your home! 

 

As always a special thanks to my amazing husband who not only helps but contributs significantly in the idea and structure category.