Windowpane Mirror from a $7 Thriftstore Find

If you caught my post from last week on our fixer upper progress, you know that I’ve been super busy painting the entire house the last couple of weeks.  But over the weekend I took a break from it and created something for the upstairs hallway that I’m so excited to share with you all for this month’s challenge!

And that I did! I found this huge mirror for just 7 bucks.

It looks like someone had previously painted it because it had thick brush strokes and a little bit of paint around the edge of the mirror.  However I knew that those brush strokes would actually work to my advantage as you soon will see!

Supplies Used: (Affiliate links may be provided for convenience.  For more info, see my full disclosure here.) 

• White Latex Paint
• Plaster of Paris
• Valspar Dark Sealing Wax
• Medium Grit Sandpaper
• Frogtape
• Small Lattice
• Spackle
• Mitre Box with Saw
• Hot Glue Gun

The first thing that I did was give it a light sanding to clean some of the gunk off and to scuff it up a little so that my new paint would stick better. I then turned it around and used a staple gun to secure the backing that was starting to peel off on the corners.

I whipped up some of my DIY chalk paint (1 cup of white latex pain and 2 teaspoons Plaster of Paris)
and gave the frame two coats.  I used Frogtape to tape off the edges of the mirror, even though it totally wasn’t necessary since I ended up deciding to cover them later on.

Once the paint was dry I brushed on a small amount of dark wax and rubbed it in with a rag.

Remember those brush strokes I mentioned earlier?  The wax highlights them perfectly and makes it start to look like wood grain.  Pretty cool, huh?

I debated leaving it like this, but I have a serious obsession with window pane mirrors. As in I probably didn’t need another one.  I figure as long as they are in different spaces it’s completely acceptable, right?!

So I headed to Lowes and purchased 3 pieces of small lattice molding.  Once I got home I gave them the same treatment (chalk paint followed by the wax) and let them dry for about 30 minutes.

To make my cuts on the lattice I busted out my miter box and saw since I was too lazy to set up the compound one and the molding is so thin and easy to cut.

I first measured the edges of the mirror and framed it out with the molding.  Not only did it keep me from having to clean up the messy paint job from it’s previous owner, I think it also makes it feel more complete and window-like.

I didn’t stress over imperfect miter cuts.  My mitered cuts are never perfect and this time was no exception.  I simply went over them with a little bit of spackle later on and it disguised them perfectly.

Next, I marked where the center of the mirror was and cut a piece of molding to fit.  I used hot glue to attach it to the mirror.  I then measured the center of that piece to the edges of the mirror and attached two more.

The hot glue seems to stick pretty well but if it ever falls off they make a special mirror adhesive that I can replace it with later on.

I cut four more pieces of molding for the cross pieces and glued them on at the center point.

As the finishing step I grabbed a chip brush and some white paint and dry brushed the whole piece to make it look more like weathered wood.

This hallway is extremely narrow and the sunlight it receives makes it super challenging to photograph, so please excuse the wonky angles and lighting haha.

It lets so much light in and makes this sort of cramped hallway feel much bigger and airier than it really is.