Mirror Frame

I recently refinished a mirror frame for a friend. She had found a mirror with a great frame around it. The problem was it didn't match the set of furniture in her daughter's room. I of course forgot to take a picture before I sanded the mirror, but you'll get the idea:

Usually when I spray paint I don't worry too much about sanding. This frame had a pretty heavy varnish on it, so I did give it a quick go-over with a stripping sponge. I spray painted the base coat of ivory, then touched on some gold accents:

(Ignore my feet in that one!) :)

Finally, to age the frame a bit to match the bedroom set, I went over the whole thing with a light stain on a rag. (Wipe on, wipe off!) This is a good way to get an antique glaze-like effect on your piece for cheap (stain is way less expensive than those fancy glaze finishes and does pretty much the same thing.) If the piece is something that gets a lot of use (like a chair) then you probably want to seal it as well. A mirror that hangs on the wall doesn't require any sealing. Here's the whole finished mirror:

The mirror turned out pretty great. It matches the bedroom set perfectly (Whew! *wipes nervous sweat from brow*). I probably wouldn't have chosen the gold accents on my own, but I have to say, they look pretty nice on the frame.

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!