Trashtastic Tuesday- Thrifted Mirror Makeover

It has been a while since I have posted a new Trashtastic Tuesday project – November 25, to be exact. You see, this little series requires me to actually DO PROJECTS! And with the business of the holiday season, and trying to decorate for the holidays, and then take down said holiday decorations, Trashtastic Tuesday just wasn’t happening. But I am happy to be back with a fresh project to kick off Trashtastic Tuesday for 2015. I am excited to share my thrifted mirror makeover, that I made look brand new with a little Rub’ N Buff! Here are a couple of before shots of the mirror in its original state. Well, almost- I had already started my first coat on the one side before I remembered to take a picture (the side closest to the paint brush).

I have a friend who owns a consignment shop who was getting rid of several of these mirrors, and she gave me 4 of them for $5 a pop. Actually, she took it out of my consignment credit, so they really didn’t cost me anything (thanks Beth!). I painted and hung one of them in Miss 18 Year Old’s bathroom. I had taken down my holiday décor and was trying to decorate my mantle for the rest of winter, and I am just dying for a blingy, gorgeous mirror to hang over my mantle, but it just isn’t in the budget to buy one right now, so I thought of the three mirrors that are sitting down in my garage, and I decided to make one of them work temporarily over my mantle. I grabbed my Rub ‘N Buff and got to work (after cleaning the mirror first)!

A lot of people just use their finger when using Rub ‘N Buff, and I have done the same with other projects. But when I started working on this mirror, that did not seem to be working for me. So I grabbed this small craft brush that I had on hand and tried it. It seemed to be going on much more smoothly that way. So, I guess the moral of the story is that it depends on the material you are rubbing and buffing, and you just have to go with what is working for you on each thing you apply it to.

This took three light coats using the brush. And I found with this mirror that I had to be careful of overlap, because it looked really obvious. It dries very quickly, so I let each coat dry for a few minutes, and then buffed it with a soft cloth. And then for the 4th coat, I did use my finger to just touch up in places that I thought it was needed. Again, buffing that when dry. And that was all it took!

I didn’t tape off the mirror before hand, I just used a razor blade to scrape off any Rub ‘N Buff that I got on the mirror, then I cleaned the mirror with a vinegar and water solution that I use for cleaning all of my mirrors and glass.

What do you think of the finished product? I think it is totally trashtastic! This mirror is a great temporary solution for my mantle, and it looks great! It ill definitely tide me over until I can afford to purchase the blingy fancy mirror that I want. And I am sure when I do get my new mirror one day, that this mirror will find a new home in my house somewhere, because I really do love it! I even went to town on a few frames hanging in our hallway gallery wall while I was doing the mirror. I’ll show those to you sometime too.

I hope you enjoyed my first Trashtastic Tuesday project of 2015! And what do you think of the sneak peeks of my winter mantle? I will show you the whole thing later on this week. But for today, it’s all about that mirror, ‘bout that mirror, no mantle (channel me singing that along to the tune of it’s all about that base)!

Have a great week!