this DIY project by mindy
One of my favorite things to do is to take an old piece of furniture or an accessory and completely change the look of it to match my changing sense of design. I purchased this mirror almost 10 years ago when I first moved to California. I cannot seem to find any “before” photos, but I will keep looking. It was very shabby chic before, a sage green with hand painted flowers and leaves. Sweet, and I loved it for years, but it doesn’t fit in our more modern looking hom, so I decided to switch it up a bit.
any mirror is makeover worthy, but if you want to add a paper edging as shown here, you’ll want a mirror with a smooth flat edge.
» paper & paint
I used one piece of scrapbooking paper in black and white, but any paper that’s not too absorbant will work well. I used latex interior paint, but you can experiment with other types of paints and finishes.
» glue
Mod Podge works great for a project like this, as would PVA
» tools used
scissors
ruler
pencil
This particular mirror had a really smooth finish to start, but you will want to sand down any irregularities before painting. I used our wall paint since not only do I have a lot of it on hand, but I wanted the mirror to blend in with the wall when seen from the front view. I taped off the mirror surface and gave it a few coats of the white paint, letting it dry in between coats and overnight before the next step.
I cut strips of a scrapbooking paper to match the depth of the mirror. The paper was twelve inches square and was more than enough to cover the entire edge.
glue
I used the mod podge to coat the back of the paper strip and then pressed it down onto the wooden edge of the mirror. I overlapped the next strip a bit, but if you have a more subtle pattern where the overlapping would be noticeable, you might want to align the ends of the paper more carefully. I continued around the mirror until I covered the entire edge with the paper. I didn’t add any glue over the paper when I was done because I wanted the natural paper texture to stay as is.
