My Love Affair with Mirrors...The Story Continues

I shared in my last post Mirror, Mirror on the Table...how I transformed my old, worn and battered coffee table into a mirrored wonder. Here she is in all her glory:

When I made the decision to go reflective in my family room, I knew that it wouldn't stop with the table. I already had plans to replace my huge, rustic pine armoire with a sleeker, fancier version. My search lead me to this:

It's beautiful, right? It's by Bassett Furniture. And it's $2,630. Oh, they offer free shipping if that helps. Doesn't help? I didn't think so either, so I decided to make my own like I always do!

I started by jumping on Craigslist and searched for an armoire that had a similar shape with four panel doors. I found this one and negotiated the price down to $70. Hubby rented a truck from Home Depot for $30 and brought my new armoire home to me for the transformation. He's such a team player!

So here's how it went down...

1. Grabbed the handy Zinsser All-in-One primer and primed every inch. As I've said in previous posts, Zinsser primer means no sanding, and no sanding means no sweating, and no sweating means I'm a happy girl. As much as I enjoy the effort of building furniture and stuff I can't stand breaking a sweat. Weird, I know.

The armoire looked like this after she was primed...

After the priming, I did a coat of the same grey paint I've used on a bench, a console table, and coffee table (that can of paint definitely got more than it's money's worth; especially since I bought it from the sample rack). Once the paint dried, I followed up with my silver glaze. I was so excited with the way it was turning out that I forgot to take pictures of that step. With all the painting done, it was time to put her all together. I did a row of little mirrors on top like this:



The mirror cutting shop that cut the free bathroom mirror for the coffee table also cut and glued on some thinner mirrors for the armoire for $6 each. I could have left the doors with just the mirrors, but I noticed in the Bassett version that there were some X embellishments, so of course I had to add that. I found some kind of twisted silver wire from Lowe's and glass marbles from Michael's and went to town adding the fancy to the mirrors...

I used Glue Dots, but they didn't hold once the doors were vertical, so I'm going to try Crazy Glue. I was hoping the Glue Dots would work since they're not permanent. But, I guess I have to commit.

The doors were ready to be hung back on after the embellishing:

And now, the finished masterpiece...

Love her!

And here's a view with the mirrored armoire and matching mirrored coffee table:

I think I still may add mirrors to the sides to completely "mirror" the Bassett version, but I'm already so happy with it just the way it is! Up next, mirrored lamp shades, and then I promise my obsession with mirrors will be done. I think.

~Nikki

Total cost: $143.00. I saved $2,487 (that's my record best so far)!

Mirror, Mirror on the Table.. the Armoire... the Lamp...

Let me just start by saying, I am not vain. However, I am currently in L.O.V.E with mirrors! Specifically mirrors on furniture. Apparently mirrored furniture is the bomb diggity right now (or has been for some time now...I've been buried under tire ottomans <insert plug to www.homeattire.net> for the past year, so I may be a little behind). Anywho...as it usually happens, I came across this mirrored table:

It's from Horchow, it's all kinds of wonderful, and it's...$979. Wonk-wonk! You already know, it's not happening.  But I've been looking at my old, maple wood coffee table with the deep scratch from the time my stepson, Jordan, ran his Tonka truck across it, for about 15 years now. There were also some black permanent marker stains on there from an art project, but I was really good with strategic placement of decorative vases and such, so guests were none the wiser. But, I knew, and that alone is enough for an overhaul. Here she was in her later days all dolled up:

See, you don't even notice all her imperfections. You'll notice her cousin, the rustic armoire, over to the left...she was sent to pasture and replaced by a more mirror-friendly counterpart. More on that later.

So, the work began. I used my trusty Zinnser All-in-One Primer that frees me up from having to sand before painting.

This is what she looked like with her legs primed, painted and glazed:

And here she is all painted and glazed:

Then came the part that would take my new table from fabulous to full on glam...the mirror! I found a free bathroom mirror on Craigslist and took it to a glass cutting company that was actually not very far away from my house. They cut it to size, smoothed out the edges, sized and cut some lighter weight mirrors for the sides and even offered to glue it all on for me! I had every intention of getting some Mastic mirror glue from Lowe's and gluing the mirrors myself, but they offered to do it for free, so you know I took them up on the offer. Without further adieu, here she is all mirrored up:

And if you think that's something, here she is in full glam! I can't stop staring at her (really, I'm staring at the table and not my reflection in the mirror)...ok, here she is:

And her close up...

I am so loving this table! And on top of loving her aesthetic beauty, the financial savings just make her the symbol of perfection. Total money spent was only $30! That was the cost of having five mirrors cut to size. Everything else I already had or it was free. So $979 for the Horchow table vs. $30 for my handmade table...I think mine is the winner!

Now wait until you see what I did with this:

She deserves a post all her own! Stay tuned!

~Nikki