How to Paint a Shabby Chic Mirror...

Have you ever run across a mirror that had so much potential in your home, but it was just the wrong color?

Do you have a passion for something a little "Shabby" sometimes?

Me too... 

I couldn't help myself when I ran across an old, vintage mirror. I had to buy it. It had to come home with me. I fell in love, but the color was just all wrong~!

It was kind of a greenish hue, but the style of it was so pretty that I could see all the potential it would have with a bit of paint and some love...

First, I had to cover all of the little beveled mirrors, so I tore up some file folders (some thick cardstock) and carefully shoved it between the mirror and the frame and then, I taped the card stock pieces in place with little pieces of frog tape.

I also taped some painters paper up around the mirror because it is crazy heavy and it was on the wall already and I didn't want to remove it to paint it...

I primed the mirror with 2 coats of Zinsser Primer.

(Please, please, please properly prepare a piece before you paint it, so the paint will stick!)

For the first coat and to completely cover that greenish color, I mixed 1 C. of  flat, white, latex paint with 2 Tbsp. of hot water and 2 Tbsp. of  My Savvy Sister Chalk Paint Dust and painted my first 'cover up' coat.

~Actually, you mix the 2 Tbsp. of chalk dust with 2 Tbsp. boiling hot water - then you mix in the 1 C. of flat latex paint~

(Horrible picture, I know... What's up with that?)

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I let the first coat dry over night...

(Because I was tired, it took 3 hours to tape off the mirrors~~~)

Then, I used a Behr color called "Decorator White" for my 2nd coat. 

I used 1 C. of  Flat Latex paint and I mixed it with 2 Tbsp. of hot water and 2 Tbsp. of My Savvy Sister Chalk Paint Dust

The mirror only took 2 C. of chalk paint to cover really well, with 2 really thick coats. 

Once the whole mirror was completely dry, I used some Fiddes & Sons antiquing wax in the color 'Ruger Brown,' to bring out all of the carvings and to change the piece to an antique white color.

Ok, some people wax a piece with clear wax, then they use the dark antiquing wax. 

I don't...

Wax is expensive and really time consuming. 

I put the antiquing wax straight onto the chalk paint. Then, the secret is to use clear wax to subtract the excess dark wax off of the piece. 

I'm sure not everybody does it this way, but I do when I'm trying to create an antique white color.

I knew this piece was going to take a lot of clear wax, so I used a can of  Minwax Paste Finishing Wax that I picked up at Home Depot.

The Minwax done the job, but the smell was awful~!

(I usually use Fiddes & Sons waxes, but I was out of their clear wax...)

~~~Ugh~~~ 

Open a window, or 3, if you use Minwax paste wax...

"Wax on.... 

Wax off... 

The Waxer~!"

(That always rolls through my head when I'm waxing something - like the 'clapper' commercial. 

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When your clear wax has dried, buff the piece with a soft cloth. and it's finished~!

It takes a ton of elbow grease to antique something with waxes, but the end result is fantastic...

And, there is no right, or wrong way to do it. Just use whatever technique gets you the end result you seek.

And my living room needed a little "Shabby" piece behind the sofa, to add some life to all my Russian pine.

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