Author: Quandie

I find mirrors so challenging to photograph.  I re-do my share of mirrors, but I rarely share them here on the blog simply because I can’t seem to figure out how to take a good picture of one.

But I thought I’d give it a go today.  Please don’t judge my photos too harshly, starting with this ‘before’ picture.

Of course this is simply a mirror that I removed from a dresser.  As you probably know by now, I like to do that.  Dressers just seem to sell more quickly without their mirrors, in my opinion.

But I don’t just trash the mirrors, I generally revamp them.  Sometimes I remove the mirror and switch it out for a chalkboard (like these).  Sometimes I paint the frames and add hangers to the back so that they can be hung on the wall instead of mounted on a dresser (like these).

In the case of this particular mirror, neither of those two options seemed like exactly the right choice.  The silvering was not in great shape so leaving it a mirror wasn’t going to be the best choice.  The frame wasn’t terribly interesting, so turning it into a chalkboard wasn’t going to be a great option either.

This was the best I could do trying to capture the look of that silvering on film.  All of those black spots and markings are in the silvering behind the glass of the mirror.  In other words, they could not be cleaned off.

So ultimately I decided to let those flaws add to my piece rather than detracting from it by adding a transfer over the front of the mirror.

But first I painted out the wood frame in Miss Mustard Seed milk paint in Typewriter (a.k.a. black).

Here’s a quick q tip for you; I never tape off mirrors or windows when painting them.  I find that it’s quite easy to remove excess paint from the glass using a razor blade.  Just be sure to use a sharp blade.  No need to waste your tape!

It’s interesting how milk paint reverts back to powder when you do this, while chalk paint comes off in curls or strips.  I wonder if you could sort of reconstitute that milk paint powder by adding water to turn it back into paint again.  Hmmmm.  That would be an interesting experiment.  Maybe one for another day.

I was hoping to get some good chipping on the frame, so the only prep work I did was to clean it with some TSP substitute.  I didn’t do any sanding.  Sure enough, I got some amazing chippy-ness.

Next up was applying the transfer.

I must warn you that applying a transfer to glass or mirror can be a little tricky.  The transfer will be attracted to your glass surface like a magnet.  Seriously.  Get too close and it will reach out and grab that glass and not let go.

So when working with glass, my advice is to dry fit your transfer with the backing paper still in place.  When you have it exactly where you want it to go, tape it down along one side.

Next, carefully, keeping that taped edge down, fold the transfer towards you along that taped edge and then remove the backing paper.

Then very carefully flip it back over and apply as usual.

Goodness.  Trying to get my camera to focus on that was an exercise in futility.

By the way, that is a section from the Parisian Letter transfer from re.design with prima.

For my photos I’ve hung the mirror over a desk.  It would work really well in any spot where you want to reflect some light, or maybe get a quick glimpse of your hair before you head out of the house.  It certainly won’t let you examine yourself in any kind of detail though.  At my age, that seems like a bonus rather than a flaw.

I probably would have had better luck with my photos if I’d waited for an overcast day.  Instead it was bright and sunny and we had lots of snow to reflect the light as well, so my piano room was flooded with bright light.

But hopefully my photos do some justice to the end result.  I think it looks pretty fabulous and if I had a spot for it, I’d keep it.  But I don’t, so this mirror will be for sale.  If you’re local and you need a mirror to bounce some light around be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

Last summer my friend Sue picked up a couple of old wooden boxes for me.  I painted one of them last summer and I ended up selling it before I even had a chance to take photos of it.

I tucked the 2nd one away to save for a winter project.  I like to have some smaller things to work on when I’m stuck doing all of my painting in the house.

Here’s the outside of the box …

Yep, it was pretty grungy.  And the inside was even worse, making it the perfect candidate for some paint.

Once again, this is a story of an original idea that was modified a few times before I got to the end.

First I thought I’d paint it in Dixie Belle Drop Cloth inside and a dark blue outside.  I have a really gorgeous re.design with prima decoupage tissue that I wanted to use to line the bottom that I thought would work beautifully with that color scheme.

So after cleaning the box, I painted the inside with a coat of Drop Cloth.  As it dried I could see that some of those gross stains on the inside were bleeding thru my paint.  Ewwww!

I could have stopped and added a coat of Dixie Belle’s BOSS at this point, but as I was contemplating the situation I decided that I didn’t want to paint the inside white after all.  Instead I wanted to paint the outside white and add a pop of color inside, and switch up my choice of decoupage tissue.  So I pulled out all of my tissue and chose another option that had a lot of pink in it.

That’s when I realized that this would be the perfect opportunity to try some of the new Silk paint from Dixie Belle for a few reasons.

First of all, the Silk paint has a built in top coat that is washable once cured.  That makes it perfect for the insides of things (cupboards, hutches, boxes).  Two coats of paint and you’re done, no need to add a durable top coat as well.  Once cured, the inside of the box will be washable.

Second of all, and this is key, the Silk paint also has a built in stain blocker.  Holy cow, that could be a game changer.  Why purchase three products; a stain blocking primer (like BOSS), the paint, and a top coat, when one will do?

Third, Dixie Belle had sent me a color that I thought would be perfect for the inside of the box, a pale-ish pink called Conch.

So, I painted a coat of Conch on the inside of the box.  It went on beautifully, and it blocked the stain completely in just one coat.  See …

Now, just a heads up on that.  Although the Silk blocked my stain in one coat, some more stubborn bleeders might require more coats.  Dixie Belle recommends three coats of paint with 4 hours of drying time between each coat for the really stubborn bleeders.

I was really impressed with the stain blocking quality of the paint on my box.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t terribly fond of this color.  I would describe it as a cool, muddy sort of pink with a lavender-ish undertone.  Personally, I like my pinks to be warm rather than cool.  It’s just a preference thing, and this particular color wasn’t working for me.

So I went back to the drawing board again.  I chose yet another decoupage tissue paper, and this time decided to pair it with Dixie Belle’s Gravel Road.

The inside of the box got two coats of Gravel Road, the outside got two coats of Drop Cloth.

Once dry, I lined the box with re.design with prima’s decoupage tissue paper in Celeste.  I used Dixie Belle’s Gator Hide as a decoupage medium (you can read more about that technique here).  I also added a top coat of Gator Hide over the Gravel Road so that the inside would be durable and water repellant.

Then I stenciled two sides of the box on the outside using a stencil from Maison de Stencils and some Gravel Road paint.  I used one of Dixie Belle’s new brushes, the Best Dang Brush, for the stenciling.

I think this brush is meant to be a wax brush, and it would work fantastically for that I’m sure, but I’m loving it for stenciling.  Since it’s quite large with a 2.5″ diameter you can cover a lot of area quickly, which is great when doing these larger stenciling jobs.

Once the stenciled design was dry, I sanded the outside of the box heavily to distress it and then gave it a coat of clear wax.

I popped it up on top of my giant pine cupboard and it would work beautifully there for storing additional items that I don’t need to get to frequently, but I am not going to keep this one.

To be entirely honest, and I probably shouldn’t admit to this, but I never would have dressed up the inside of this box to keep for myself.  I only do that to make it special for someone else.

It adds a nice touch, don’t you think?

As always, thanks to Dixie Belle for providing all of their products that were used on this box.  You can find Dixie Belle products here.

I found this lidded stave bucket at a garage sale last fall.

It’s obviously old, and seems genuine rather than a reproduction sort of piece (although I’m definitely no expert on antique buckets and it could just be one of those 80’s look-a-likes).  It is constructed of wooden staves that are held in place by the metal band that goes around them.

I suspect there will be some of you who think I should have just spruced it up and left it unpainted.  Sort of like I did with the recipe box a few weeks back.

But I really wanted to paint it.  I love the look of an old, worn paint finish on these wooden buckets.  So I headed to pinterest for some pinspiration and I found this …

Isn’t that a gorgeous shade of blue?  There were actually quite a few examples of wooden buckets and/or firkins in similar shades of bright blue.

So I was pondering how to recreate that look, or at least something similar, when I remembered the gorgeous color of Soldier Blue milk paint by Homestead House.

I used this paint on a small chair in January 2020 and I absolutely loved the color.

As I was digging it out of my stash of milk paint, I realized that it has been quite some time since I’ve used milk paint.  I did attempt to use it on a large cupboard last summer, but ended up painting over it with Dixie Belle chalk paint.  In fact, I think the last time I used milk paint was when I painted that chair last January.

I have to confess that I have been seduced by the ease of using Dixie Belle paint.  No mixing required, no clumps of undissolved pigments, no variations in color from one drawer to the next, no worries about whether or not the paint will stick.

All of that aside, I went ahead and mixed up some Soldier Blue.  And you know what?  It mixed up beautifully despite having been stored for over a year.  I always leave my mixed milk paint to sit for 10 minutes or so before using it to make sure that all of the pigments have had a chance to dissolve.  For more tips on using milk paint, check out my milk paint basics post:

While letting the paint rest for 10 minutes, I prepped the bucket for painting.

The metal ring that holds the staves in place slipped off quite easily, and then I taped off the metal base of the bucket.  I wanted to make sure I didn’t drip any paint onto it.

Next I added a bit of the Homestead House Salad Bowl Finish around the edges to encourage chipping and/or distressing.

I’ve shared this technique before, so if you want more details check out this post.  The Salad Bowl Finish is a beeswax finish that is food safe (so you could use it on cutting boards or wooden salad bowls, hence the name).  It’s very similar to the Miss Mustard Seed 100% beeswax (which is also food safe).

Once that was done, I gave my paint another good stir to make sure it was mixed well and then painted the bucket with two coats.

Once dry, I added one of my favorite stencils from Maison de Stencils to the lid.

That’s not white paint by the way, it is Dixie Belle’s French Linen which is a greige sort of color.  I rarely use white (or black) to stencil.  Using a shade of grey gives you a more subtle look.

Once that was fully dry, I sanded the lid and bucket with 120 grit sandpaper.  I wanted a worn look around those edges where I had applied the beeswax, and that is exactly what I got.  I think it looks quite authentic, don’t you?

Ahhh, hello old friend.  I have missed you, milk paint.  You just can’t beat milk paint for creating a worn over time finish that looks authentic.

It was easy to sand the edges of each of the staves before putting the metal ring back in place to hold them together tightly.

I topcoated the milk paint with clear wax.  I had also pulled out my antiquing wax thinking that I’d need some of that to give it a more aged look, but in the end I thought it looked perfectly aged even without it.

The Soldier Blue brings out the pretty blue color in my bluebird china.

Milk paint was the perfect choice to recreate the look from the inspiration piece from pinterest.

Now, I know some of you may still think I should have left this stave bucket unpainted, but I beg to differ.

I think it needed this brilliant pop of Soldier Blue to fully bring out its character.

If you’re looking for Homestead House Milk Paint, you can find it here.