Mirror, Mirror...

It has smelled like paint a lot in my apartment lately, a sure sign that I'm on a binge of furniture painting. With so many interesting goodies from my grandmother's house to play with I can't resist giving them the updates that I spent my childhood dreaming up.

(click to enlarge)

This heavy wooden mirror used to sit on my grandmother's dresser. The gold paint finish was always boring and lackluster, so I decided to put a top coat of glossy turquoise paint (one I'd already used on a chair and table in my bedroom). After allowing the turquoise top coat to dry for about an hour (one episode of House to be exact), I went back in with a piece of steel wool exposing the gold paint below. I think that the elaborate winding leaves carved into the frame showed off the technique especially beautifully:

(click to enlarge)