Hey y’all!
This past weekend was the Abita Yard Sale. Apparently it’s an annual thing where the whole town (and it’s businesses) get involved in a mega sized garage sale. I had never been before, but being that I am a yard sale junkie, I couldn’t resist. Of course, I woke up early, ate a good breakfast, hit the ATM up for cash, and was ready to hunt. Like any other yard sale or thrift store, there is always a lot of digging. You might find one good piece for every 50 you look at. This epic yard sale was no different. I did, however, find this mirror. It was a bit off the beaten path, and in my opinion, overpriced. No biggie! Never pass up an overpriced goodie! My mother taught me well. . . “Put some color on. Suck your stomach in. When in doubt, overdress. Never show up empty handed. And NEVER PAY FULL PRICE!”
When I stumbled upon this mirror if was priced at $70. Not bad for such a large mirror, but still more than I was willing to pay for “previously owned.” A quick bat of the eye and we were down to $50. SOLD (to the chick way too overdressed for this crowd)! He loaded me up and I was out of there.
I certainly was not crazy about the color of the mirror, but I knew for such a large, solid piece, it was well worth it. Time for a makeover!
Let’s begin!
Pick your color. I LOVE Annie Sloan! I have read her books and attended the classes. I am an unofficial Annie Sloan supporter. For this project I picked Duck Egg to use as my base color, and French Linen as my accent color.
Give your piece a good wipe down. One of the many Annie Sloan pros: no sanding necessary!
To make things even easier, I decided to paint everything that was initially gold, in my accent color (French Linen).
Don’t get too fancy with it. Nothing has to be perfect.
After the painting is complete, I opted to give the frame a light sanding. Using a sanding cube, I simply buffed up around the edges and corners. Easy peasy!
We’ve cleaned, painted, and sanded. Now we wax. This will act as a sealer to the paint. If you want your piece to look more aged and weathered, apply a coat of clear wax, and then apply a dark wax on top. I stuck with just the clear wax for this project.
Don’t get carried away. A little goes a long way! Apply the wax in an X pattern…again this is not supposed to be perfect.
Working in small sections at a time, apply one coat of clear wax and then wipe off. (I like to use those blue shop towels.)
Wipe away wax until it feels smooth to the touch. And we are DONE!
DONE for FUN!
Happy yard-sale hunting!
