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A while ago I headed over to Goodwill to find some small mirrors that I could repurpose for the Master Bedroom.  I was pretty excited to find exactly what I was looking for, but their original design left something to be desired.  I wanted beach themed mirrors and I was just not feeling the red color or the design on them.

I sat on the mirrors for a long time because I had no idea what I wanted to do with them.  It wasn’t until Chris and I decided on a color scheme for the bedroom that the vision for how I wanted the mirrors to look came to me.

I wanted a weathered look to them because I always think of cracked paint when I think of a beach house and I want our bedroom to have that feel.  I had already done a similar technique on a Weathered Picture Frame so I knew that was the direction I wanted to go for the mirrors.

I used

• Rustoleum Spray Paint Primer, White
• 200 grit sandpaper
• Martha Stewart Crackle (weathered and fine)
• Martha Stewart multi-surface Satin acrylic craft paint, White
• Martha Stewart multi-surface High Gloss acrylic paint, Grey Wolf
• Martha Stewart Gloss
• All Natural Cotton Rope

First, I sanded the mirrors to get rid of that awful red paint.  I did this a few times because I’ve never spray painted before and wanted to make sure I got enough of the red off the frames so it wouldn’t bleed through the spray paint.

I did three coats of primer (waiting 10 minutes in between each coat) to cover the red.  I was a little worried at first because little bits of red paint bleed through and I didn’t know if that was normal.  But, once the last coat of primer was dry I sanded down the rough spots and the last of the red disappeared (much to my relief!).

Here’s where things changed a bit.

I decided I wanted to try two different techniques on the mirrors.  On the first mirror, I painted the base coat white and waited 24 hours to let it dry.  Once it was dry I applied the fine crackle (very liberally) all over the frame and let it sit for about half an hour.  Once I was sure that was dry I mixed the Grey Wolf acrylic paint and the Gloss (about half and half) and used a sponge to apply it to the frame.  By mixing the same amount of gloss and acrylic paint, it gave the top coat a very transparent look.  Since I followed the directions on the back of the gloss bottle, I wiped the gloss/acrylic paint combo off the frame pretty quickly instead of letting it sit.  The final result of this mirror looks like the frame is a bit dirty.

On the second mirror, I painted the base coat with the Grey Wolf acrylic paint (this is the same technique I used for my picture frame).  After 24 hours, I applied a good mix of the fine and weathered crackle all over the frame.  I was hoping this would give it a unique crackle affect once everything was said and done.  After the crackle layer dried I mixed together about three tablespoons of white acrylic paint to one teaspoon of the gloss.  By doing this, I had more of a solid white color going on as the top coat instead of a transparent one.  This time, I left the top coat on and just let it dry to see how it came out.  I finally had my crackle! But, I wasn’t entirely happy with the effect so I added another layer of crackle and another layer of the top coat.  I did this twice.  However, each time I added another white top coat I added less white paint and more gloss to get a more transparent look.  I didn’t want the white top coat to overwhelm the frame.  This is a close-up of how it came out.

Doesn’t it look like an old piece of furniture you’d find on the beach?  I think so!

To give it more of a nautical look, I decided to add rope around the inside of the frame.  And once that was done I hung them in our bedroom.

I love that they reflect light which makes our bedroom much brighter during the day.  And I love the look of them next to our windows.  I definitely think I like the second technique better and may eventually re-do the first mirror.  But for now, they look good!  My master bedroom is starting to come together, and I couldn’t be more excited about it!