How to Remove Scratches from a Mirror | $100 Room Challenge Week 2

For week 2 of the $100 Challenge, I am sharing how to remove scratches from a mirror using a simple household staple.

Hey friends! It’s week 2 of the $100 Room Challenge, and I am kicking it off by sharing the mirror we used to replace the super ornate ones we used to have hanging here. This is a mirror that was pretty badly scratched, and we happened to have it lying around after removing it from our second bathroom. I thought it might not be salvageable, but alas, I saved it, and today I am sharing a great tips for how to remove scratches from a mirror.

Let me start by thanking Erin over at Lemons, Lavender, and Laundry for being our lovely host. If you are new to the $100 Room Challenge you can read more about it here.  But the basic premise for the challenge is this: you get one month, and $100, to completely makeover one space in your home. I know what you may be thinking… $100 is not a lot of money.  Just wait. What you can do with $100 (and a little creativity) will absolutely blow your mind.  And if you don’t believe me, just follow along, and click through and see what the other participants are doing for this challenge, and you will see so many great things happening with just a $100 budget.

Please note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which allow me to make a small commission from your purchase, but your purchase price stays the same.

You can see the gaudy mirrors that were here when we moved in above, and then you can see the mirror we decided to replace them with below. We had removed it from another bathroom a couple of months ago, and it was just sitting around taking up space, so although it is a tad small for the space, I decided to paint it and make it work for this bathroom, at least until it is one day in the budget to replace it.

I knew I could paint this mirror and give it a more modern, updated look. and this might be an unpopular opinion, but I prefer one large mirror in my bathroom. I just feel like it allows for more visual space when I am standing in front of it getting ready. I also feel like the larger single mirror reflects more like from the window on the opposite wall, which is good because this room doesn’t have a ton of good lighting.

I purchased some metallic spray paint, and gave it a few coats, and this is how it turned out. Better, right?! I must admit, I am not happy with the color of spray paint I chose, but I hung it up anyway because I was dying to see it in the space. I plan to take it back down and paint it again with a different Gold metallic spray paint.

This is the best inspiration I could find to give you an idea of the color frame I am going for with this mirror.

Mirror

I picked up a can of Rustoleum spray paint in the color Pure Gold. I haven’t had a chance to repaint it yet, but I will be sure to share how it turns out in a future post.

How to Remove Scratches from a Mirror

As you can see in the photo below, this mirror unfortunately got some scratches on it. At first, I worried that it was ruined, but upon further investigation, I discovered that the scratches were to the glass front of the mirror, but the actual mirror part (which is on the back, really) was not damaged.

I decided to try to remove the scratches, using toothpaste, of all things! I did some preliminary research, and read that you could try using a plain white tooth paste and rub it on the scratches. I was skeptical, but it was worth a try, right?

You Will Need:

• plain white toothpaste
• clean lint free rag
• wet rag or sponge
• glass cleaner
• clean dry rag

I found a sample of the plain white toothpaste in my bathroom cabinet, and decided to go for it. Using a clean lint free rag, I got some of the paste on the rag, and proceeded to rub all over the scratches in a circular motion.

I worked in small sections at a time, and rinsed the paste off of the mirror with a clean wet rag frequently so that I could check my progress and see if the scratches were coming off. It is hard to see once there is toothpaste all over the mirror.

I repeated this over and over until all of the scratches were completely gone! I was literally amazed at how well the scratches came out. They are 100% gone! And I repaired this mirror for zero dollars! A mirror this large and with a nice frame like this would sell for hundreds of dollars in a store, and I almost thought I was going to have to throw this mirror away. So happy to be able to salvage it and use it in this bathroom makeover!

Please be sure to come back next week to see my week 3 progress. Next week I will be sharing the finished cabinets. I am currently working on painting them. They are all painted and dry, but now I need to seal them, add the new handles, and then re install the doors.

In case you missed my week one post, below is an inspiration photo that shows the color I painted my cabinets. This is the color Sea Salt by Benjamin Moore. I still haven’t chosen the handles, and am currently debating a matte black or the same color gold I plan to paint my mirror. Any opinions on what color handles I should use? Did you know how to remove scratches from a mirror before now?

Farmhouseish | Black Cabinet Pulls

If you like it, then you wanna put a pin on it!

For even more bathroom inspiration, check out my Bathroom Pinterest Board here.

Check out my previous $100 Room Challenge Reveals

Guest Bedroom Reveal | Modern Farmhouse Dining Room Reveal | Mudroom Makeover Reveal

 Modern Farmhouse Dining Room/Office Reveal

Make sure you check out what the other participates are doing using the link up below.

Do you have champagne taste and a tiny budget too? 
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