Mirror, Mirror, on the Sharpie Marker Wall

Here are the details for the mirror in my Powder Bathroom.

I knew I wanted a tall mirror and because the space between the two sconces is small - I figured I would pretty much be looking for a small wardrobe or leaner mirror.  Those can be pretty expensive so I decided to use a cheap version and just dress it up!

I found this great mirror from Walmart for just $45.   The dimensions (27" x 62") were perfect.

Next I looked into what I could do to dress it up (by the way this mirror is beautiful "as is" - the black frame was just a little too heavy for the room).  

I found this tutorial on Design Sponge for Silver Leafing a frame and decided to give it a shot.

Step 1:  I used my leftover grey chalk paint and painted the frame 

I only did one coat of paint- 

it wasn't completely covering all the black but I knew that it would be good enough!

Step 2: Once the paint was dry I covered the entire frame with silver leaf.  I bought a package (I think it was regularly priced at $9) that came with 25 sheets from Hobby Lobby and ended up using the whole thing and had to buy one more package to finish the job (I only used about 10 sheets of the second package).  I also used the Spray adhesive rather than the brush on adhesive - it was very quick and easy to work with.  Any areas of the mirror that got over-sprayed with adhesive I cleaned with rubbing alcohol and it came right off.  I didn't use any special tools - just my hands.  I didn't have to be too carful since I knew I would be sanding over the whole thing anyway.  I did find out the hard way that you want to make sure your silver leaf sheets overlap a little so that you don't have gaps every few inches between your sheets.  Overall it was a lot easier than I expected and went very quickly.

Step 3:  Sand over the entire surface, with a little *extra sanding in some spots to get all the way down to the grey paint and even to the black below that.  I am still amazed by the change from the above picture to the one below.  Pretty cool!

Step 4:  Using a damp paper towel dipped in stain or glaze, wipe over the entire frame to "age" the silver a bit (this also seals the silver leafing).

Done!

I must say I wasn't all that pleased with the mirror when it was finished and felt like it "matched" the room too much!  But the pop of green in the wreath unexpectedly hung at the top of the mirror fixed all that- and I was in love!