Vintage Romance Mirror

Last summer, the word spread that I'm into refinishing old furniture, so my hubby's aunt's neighbor were moving out of the country and they had a very large, very gold and very tacky vintage mirror.  Initially, they were going to sell it to me because they thought I was going to resell it.  But when they found out that I was actually going to keep it, they decided to give it to me for FREE.  That's my favorite four letter word.


Here is what it looked like.  Again this is a camera phone pic and the people in the picture are the people who gave it to me along with my hubby's aunt.

It has nice decorative features, but I wasn't too sure about the kissing couples.  Here is a close up of them.

I don't have any pics of all the work behind the transformation, but it took me 3 days to prime it and spray paint it a Pistachio color and I then glazed it with Valspar Bronze patina glaze.  What took the most amount of time was hand-painting each single flower and scroll detail with an antique gold paint.  Lastly I highlighted the entire mirror with a champagne paint with a fan brush. 

Update: I found some pictures of the transformation, yay!

These are a closer look at some of the details.

After priming I finished with the Rustoleum in Pistachio.

And this is what it looks like now. 

Not so tacky, right?

I may remove the kissing couples and insert mirrors at some future point or even some pretty wallpaper.

What do you think, I hope you like it.

God Bless, until next time,

Patricia

Linking to: Miss Mustard Seed 

Where to start?

Well hello there!  If you're reading this, it's my very 1st blog entry!!!  Hooray! I did it! (can you hear the Dora the Explorer song in the background?)  Yes, you've probably guessed that I have small children, 2 of them in fact. 

OK, at this point I'm second guessing myself as to what would be a perfect startup topic to write.  I currently don't have any followers, no one is really caring as to what I have to say, there's no overwhelming interest in my thoughts and ideas.  But perhaps that's all about to change....

If you're still reading, and I'm really glad you are, let's start with what one of things I love which is furniture.

One of the things you'll get to learn about me is that I'm a Craigslistaholic.  I'm constantly on there window shopping  and dreaming of furniture that I can paint or refinish.  And every now and then I'll find a really worth candidate that is in dire need of some refinish lovin'. 

Such was the case of a really nice antique dresser.  It was beautiful, in good condition and the owner was kind enough to make mention in his ad that he originally posted it for $60, but someone let him know that it’s a really nice piece of furniture and he should sell it for more.  Which he did.
 
Unfortunately, I can’t show a picture of it, most likely it’s been sold, but if you could picture it.  It was an early 20th century handmade dresser with glass knobs.  Something so nice, that it could actually be refinished to its former glory.  But I didn't have disposable income to buy this dresser, but it never left my mind and I swooned over it for a couple of days.  Needless to say, I forgot it about, but one day on the way to the dentist, there was a curb alert alarm going off when I spotted some furniture on the side of the road. 

 I couldn't help myself, so I immediately pulled over franticly thinking that there were droves of people running to snatch up this trash treasure from me. 

What I found were 2 naked dressers with their drawers in a pile off to the side of them.  I checked out the first dresser and noticed it was broken, however the other dresser I noticed was an older piece AND it had original glass pulls on the drawers. Unfortunately I could only find 3 drawers.  So to my dismay, of not finding the other 2 drawers, I walked back to my car disappointed. 

While at the dentist, I still had that lonely dresser in my head and talked myself into to picking up the drawers just for their glass knobs alone.  I thought if anything, I could use them for a future project. 

Once at home with the drawers nice and safe in my trunk, I kept thinking about the lonely dresser sitting at the curb in the cold.  That piece of early Americana needed some junkin’ lovin’ and I promised myself to pick it up the next day, that’s if it was still there.


I woke up pre-dawn and it looked like this. (Yes I’m up at this hour to go to work).

And there she was in the cold, waiting for me to be picked up.  Probably glad to see me.  This is a bad shot, since it was taken with my iphone. She is the one all naked facing the road.  Yes I like to think of my furniture as people with stories to tell, especially the older ones.

Let me introduce to you Gertrude, Ms. Americana of 1915.

I’m sure you noticed by now that there are pieces of tape on the drawers.  They are there to describe the contents of what was in the drawers such as shorts, socks and jeans.  They will be coming off once the weather warms up.  They are temporarily super-glued onto the drawer face.

Aren’t those crystal knobs pretty?  Grimey, but pretty.

Here is Gertrude they way she probably looked in her former glory.

 What shall I do about that are where the 2 missing drawers used to go?  Shall I turn it into a cubby? Stay tuned…