Stenciled Vintage Mirror

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About a year and a half ago, Mr. Redoux and I went to a flea market (remember flea markets??) and I was so disappointed.

There just wasn’t anything there that spoke to me.

Nothing chippy

Nothing vintage

I remember saying to him, ‘I’m just not feelin’ it, let’s go.’

And as I walked down the last row toward the exit…

There they were…

Gleaming in the sun (actually blasting the sun directly into my face and blinding me)

Taped together and sitting on a 1990’s bar stool

Two vintage mirrors

Five dollars each.

I could see Mr. Redoux coming up behind me

So just for his benefit I asked the vendor ‘would you take $7 for both?’ (I would have paid the $10)

And I walked away from that flea market flop with 2 vintage mirrors for $7!

So when I was looking for something to put on a blank wall in the guest bath — I thought one of these vintage mirrors would be perfect.

But I didn’t want to use it just like it was.

It needed a little embellishment.

A little more character…

So I stenciled it!

It was so fun and easy to do!

All you need is a stencil and some acrylic paints.

First, clean your vintage mirror well with 1 part distilled water and 1 part rubbing alcohol and a microfiber cloth.

Then center your stencil on the vintage mirror.

I used Classic French Gray, Silver Marlin and Cottage White acrylic paint.

I mixed the white with the blue (Silver Marlin) to lighten it up.

Then I used a foam stencil brush and dipped it into the paint and then off-loaded it onto a paper towel so the brush was pretty dry.

Then you just pounce the paint onto the stencil. It works best to do multiple thin, dry layers. You want to make sure the paint doesn’t seep under the stencil. You can see here I didn’t get enough paint off-loaded from the sponge but it still turned out beautiful.

If you make a mistake, don’t worry — you can just clean it off with a little soap and water and start over.

I did the fleurettes in the Silver Marlin and all the lettering in the French Gray. I lightened both colors by mixing them with the Cottage White.

I love the way it turned out!

And you know you don’t have to have a vintage mirror to do this, right? You can use any mirror!

If you haven’t seen our Guest Bath renovation, you can read about it HERE and HERE

See how to DIY bath accessories HERE, HERE and HERE

So I hope I’ve inspired you to rummage through your attic (or your mom’s attic!) and scour yard sales and flea markets for an interesting mirror you can turn into a work of art!

Check out THIS post for some great DIY Christmas gift ideas

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