I have been looking for a mirror to go over my dresser, so this was the perfect find! While I loved the look of the mirror, I didn't quite like the light stain of the wood, so my husband and I decided to try our hand at staining.
We went to our local Ace Hardware to gather some supplies. We bought a small can of Minwax wood stain, for about $3.00, in Red Mahogany we had a variety of sizes of paint brushes at home. We started by sanding the wood frame of the mirror, in order to get a nice, smooth surface for the stain to adhere to.
Rick, sanding away!
Next, we taped the edge of the glass, to make clean-up easier. The stain does come off the glass, if wiped off right away, but if you let if dry, there will be some scraping involved to get if off.
We used painters tape to tape the glass.
We laid out a piece of card board on the grass in our backyard and started staining! In hindsight, we should have worn gloves, but we didn't know that when we started, so we ended up with red hands! If you're going to try staining, I would suggest you invest in some latex gloves so you don't get caught red-handed (Get it??)!
A little closer. You can see my cat, Oliver, photo-bombing in the mirror.
It's not perfect, but I think for a first attempt, it is pretty darn good. We didn't sand it enough initially, so the stain didn't adhere to the wood as evenly as we would have likes, but it does give it some character! We learned a lot and for a grand total of about $11.00, I have a beautiful new mirror that I am super proud of!
Gorgeous! Amazing find. I haven't been there yet, but want to look for some light fixtures. Thanks for showcasing another great used store!
ReplyDeleteIt looks really good!
ReplyDelete