Mirror, Mirror

Mirror, mirror in the hand, how much ugly can you stand?  This mirror was looking pretty ugly itself!

Waaaay back when I was in highschool, you know...when the dinosaurs roamed the earth...I worked in an upscale furniture store. I was allowed to purchase anything I wanted at cost + 10%. Oh my gosh, what I would give for that job now!!!

I did purchase quite a bit of furniture, including our bedroom set, a dining table and chairs. The table is now with my daughter at college. You can read about that here. I also bought a Conover loveseat, which has been recovered once and needs it again, but is still as solid as a rock.

I bought lots of little things too, including this wooden hand mirror. I cannot believe it has not broken. We have used it day in and day out for...well, for LOTS of years! But it was pretty shabby looking, and not in a shabby chic sort of way. It needed some love.

So I peeled the old paper off and took the backing off.  Those staples were really, really strong.  After removing the mirror, I used Citri Strip.  I didn't get a picture of that, mainly because I had rubber gloves on with orange goo all over them, and I wasn't about to touch the camera!  After cleaning off the goo, it looked like this:  

Next I took a sander to it to clean up the rest of the paper and smooth it down.  Already it is looking so much better!

Then I sprayed it with one coat of white primer, followed by a couple coats of Heirloom White.  After that dried, I took my palm sander to it and shabbied it back up again...go figure.

I worked on this little project here and there, when I could steal a few minutes, and did not realize until I began to put this post together that I photographed this mirror on 5 different surfaces!  That's continuity for you...not.

Before I replaced the mirror and backing, I applied two coats of polyacrylic.  I cut an oval out of scrapbook paper, using the wood backing piece as a template, cutting about 3/8" beyond the edge of my pencil line. 

Yes I did retrim that paper.  I know it is crooked in this picture.

As you can see, the paper just blended into the color of the mirror.  Good match, but it needed some definition.  So I inked the edges with "Close to Cocoa" Stampin Up ink. 

Then I mod podged the paper to the mirror and finished up with a couple coats of mod podge on top.  I may put a another coat of polyacrylic over that tomorrow.  Here she is pretty much finished.  I'm thinking she needs something else...any suggestions?

I've linked to these parties.  Go pay them a visit.  You know you want to!

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