How to DIY a Gold Gilded Mirror on a Budget

Published on 4 December 2024 at 12:07

God made me crafty, but in a good way, I promise! As the maiden voyage of the blog series “Gilding God’s Country” I’d like to show you my latest endeavor at home design. But first, have you prayed yet today? I have to remember that as soon as I wake up or I get wonky pretty quickly. After taking a deep breath and thanking God for another day on the planet, let’s dive in!

The original mirror ** (photo of original mirror) came from a second-hand store. It was under $20, but the reason I chose it is that I wanted the final product to be near to the same width as my loveseat. It worked out well.

Before I continue, I’d like to give thanks to Joanna Gains for being a designer worth mimicking. In her book, Home Body she displays a gold gilded mirror in a photo of an entryway.  Her home design skills floor me (and wall me and counter me …) at every turn and this particular piece was the inspiration for the mirror I’m currently writing to you about.

First off, be prepared to take your time with this project. I spent 12-16 hours (not including drying time) painting and assembling this piece. It was important to me to used reclaimed materials in my project as this is the focus of most of my woodworking projects and also serves to keep costs down. It’s not a quick project so save it for when you have some time. The holidays are perfect for this as the pace of normal everyday life tends to slow during this time.

Back to the mirror: I prepped the piece by removing any awkward nails sticking out of the frame itself as the previous owner looked like they had a hand in the DIY world themselves. I make my own wood filler using sawdust and wood glue and filled in any holes left from the removal of the errant nails.

Then I waited (the first of many waits) for the glue to dry and took a fine sanding block and knocked down any bumps to make the whole frame one level, continuing to sand until the shiny surface of the frame was gone. You don’t have to remove the paint or stain, you just have to rough up the surface enough for the paint to stick. Then use the masking tape to tape off the entire inside edge of the mirror so the paint doesn’t stick to it.

After wiping the frame down with a damp (not wet!) cloth to remove any dust particles so the paint would stick, I opened my can of Rustoleum Matte Black Paint. Remember paint finishes? Matte has an ever-so-faint sheen to it, but Flat black would work as well. This gives a backdrop for the gold to radiate as a deep-gold, instead of looking to surface-bound and thin. Allow this to dry. For the ornate wood pieces on the frame itself:

I ordered most of my products online. It’s easier to do this way but if you have access to someone who can 3-D print wood, go for it. The only Supplier I know of is Jesus, lol. Because He made the trees, y’know?

As all of my home design products have a shout-out to Jesus, whether the shout out is subtle or strong in them--so does this mirror. I found cross-shaped wood-like decals as the local dollar store, but everything else was bought or can be found online.

 

LIST OF PRODUCTS USED:

Masking Tape

Sanding Block

Second-hand mirror at least 20” in height and 40” in length (mine is 25 ½ by 40 inches)

Rustoleum Flat Black Paint

Polyurethane One-Coat

Rub n Buff in Gold Leaf

Craft paint in Antique Gold

Ornate wood decorations  (20 for the perimeter)

One ornate top piece

Bottom center piece 

Epoxy with Bright Gold Mica Powder (optional)

Titebond II Wood Glue

Brass Brads (1” long; at least 50)

Epoxy (for pouring)

A 1/16th” drill or driver bit

 

My favorite part of the project was that I could take my time and watch TV or listen to music while I painted each individual wood piece. Each piece was painted with a base coat of the Matte black paint, just like the mirror, and allowed to dry.

I then sponged on a thin layer **(see photo) of Craft paint in Antique Gold so I wouldn’t need to use as much Rub n Buff (even though this product goes a long way, the tube is rather tiny and I had a lot to cover so I played it safe). After this layer of paint dried, I got a stiff short bristle brush and worked in the Rub n Buff into each piece, building up a few layers until I felt I couldn’t get it any more gold. They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but I love anything shiny.

Sidenote: while it’s great that you can get pretty much anything online these days, a lot of sellers use laser-engravers/cutters to turn out the final decorative wood pieces, so the wood was rather grainy, instead of smooth. It was a bit hard to get a shiny surface as a result, hence the multiple layers of product (stay tuned).

 

 

When the Rub n Buff had dried I noticed it needed something extra, so I whipped out my “One-Coat” Polyurethane and added a coat (or two—I might have lost count). This made the grainy appearance of the wood more pronounced so after this dried I added another coat of Rub n Buff.

I decided I wanted it uber-shiny so I got out my epoxy. Make sure you purchase and use the kind that is used for creating objects, not the kind used for adhering objects together—the latter won’t work for this project. I used 5ml of each of the base and hardener, and then I added a large scoop of bright gold mica powder, stirred it together and then used an old paint brush to hit the higher points of the top wood décor piece and any of the circles in the smaller wood pieces. I also sandwiched 3 cross-shaped decals together and used the same epoxy/mica powder mix to cover the entire front of the now-3D cross. This is the piece that goes at the bottom of the mirror.

So, to recap, the layers of paint go like this:

  1. Black flat paint
  2. Antique gold craft paint, applied with sponge
  3. 2-4 coats of Rub n Buff **
  4. 1-2 coats of polyurethane
  5. 1-2 coats of Rub n Buff
  6. Epoxy on the high points of pieces**

Whew! That’s a lot now that I’m looking at it. But I promise it’s so much fun to watch the individual pieces come to life.

I then added a couple of coats of Rub n Buff to the frame of the mirror, as the pieces didn’t entirely cover the frame itself.

After all the pieces and the frame were dry….here comes the fun part. It’s like a DIY jigsaw puzzle. I ordered the number of pieces I did after whipping out my calculator and adding together their measurements to make sure the overall measurement wouldn’t be longer than any one side of the mirror.

I played around with flipping the pieces right side up or upside down and in different configurations. ** The top and bottom pieces go where they go, so use your imagination to find a different arrangement that suits your tastes. Then I took my time and worked from the middle of the top and bottom outward to the corners as a drilled 2 holes per small piece (the cross didn’t need holes drilled as holes were already inherent in the design). Make certain you don’t hit the mirror with the drill bit! I found that moving slowly was the way to go for me. Once each piece had been drilled while being held on the frame, I inserted a brass brad in each of the holes to hold that piece while I moved on to the next piece.

I worked my way all around the frame until all pieces had holes and brads in them. Then I started from the first piece I drilled, pulling that piece (only one piece at a time) up off the frame, and used a paintbrush to apply wood glue to the frame, then reinserted the brads with the wood piece attached back into the holes in the frame.

There was some glue left around the edges of each wood piece so I moistened a cotton swab and rubbed the remaining glue toward the edge of each wood piece. Allow the whole frame to dry for at least 12 hours.

I added sawtooth hangers (2) on the back of my frame, and hung it up on the wall. I love it! It’s so bougie-on-a-budget I just can’t! I thank God every day for my ability to be crafty and hope you enjoy this post!

I’d love to hear about your adventures in life, both big and small, God cares about them (and you!) all, so drop me a line or comment below. Thanks for tuning in! God bless your day!

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