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Re-Finished Old Mirror

refinished mirror

Re-Make of Old Mirror Completed
We had a mirror which followed us where ever we moved for years. It was my wife's mothers' originally and was handed down to us. For a few years (many years ago) we had it hung and in use. I was never real fond of it, but as a family item, I tolerated it. Over time it decayed - some of the edge pieces had fallen out and others broke. The edge pieces were mirror with fake "marbeling" on them. Again, not real nice in my opinion, but ok. With the decay of the mirror it was stored in the garage for years.

Not long ago a light bulb went off in my head. I'll refinish this mirror! I thought about it a while and came up with an idea.

First, I had to finish breaking it - I broke off the rest of the edge mirror pieces and then removed the glue which had adhered them. Next, I cut narrow strips off 2 x 4's. They were then cut to length at proper angels and sanded. I wanted the edges of these strips to be soft, slightly rounded. A router bit makes that easy but it would have been too rounded, this job called for hand sanded edges. I patiently sanded all the edges to the extent I wanted. Then, a light colored stain was applied, followed by a satin poly hand wiped finish coat (4 coats actually).

End result: I now love the mirror (I am a bit partial). But ... others comment about it favorably also so it could actually be nice now and not just my biased opinion.

Refinished Mirror Photos:

old mirror

Mirror Before Refinishing		 wood trim mirror

A Few New Pieces

wood trim pieces

Mirror Trim Being Finished		 mirror trim detail

Mirror Trim Detail