Garage Sale Makeover. . . Tutorial Style ♥

It's all about the frame. . .


I went to an estate sale this weekend
[an estate sale is like a garage sale on steroids. . .
the mother load, if you will]

I was looking specifically for something with a fun frame, and I found it!

This old mirror . . .


I love the detailing of the frame. . .
But, it was hard to see past the badly done gold paint job.

I'm not sure when painting frames gold was cool,
but the last owner of this mirror had definitely jumped on that. . .
and based on how badly the paint was peeling, it was a few decades ago.

So I sanded the frame:


I didn't sand it thoroughly, I just made sure that it was smooth.
[No more chipping paint.]


Then, I painted it robin's egg blue -
which, of course, made my heart happy!

I just used cheap craft paint
[Ceramcoat "Blue Heaven" for anyone who wants to know].


I wanted it to still have an old, faux antique look,
so I distressed it.

I reapplied the sandpaper to just the places in the pattern of the frame that were raised, and I sanded them strategically:


To get this effect:


The finished product:


And what will I do with this distressed, robin's egg blue mirror?

[smiles]

My mantle desperately needed something bold that tied the room together.
Here's what it looked like before:


And the mirror
[which matches my drapes and china, by the way]
is the attention grabber of the mantle,
and helps to bring all of the decorating together.


But, after setting it there, I realized that it was just a little bit too "grabby,"
so I added these flowers [from the dollar store] to the underside:


And [I think. . . ] I'm happy with it now. :]

♥