This nautically themed DIY project was a fun way to create the message in the mirror to be an encouraging message that is more than skin deep.
What’s the message you hear when you look in the mirror?
When we think of the fairytale of an insecure queen, she utters the famous words, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”
We know she’s waiting for the message in her mirror to be she’s the fairest.
Sadly, as the reader soon finds out, the desperate queen is emotionally caught up in a downward spiral of a self-possessed beauty competition that one can never truly win at.
The message for this mirror would be a very different message…
Here’s how the project unfolded…
I found the mirror on the side of the road as we were driving back to the cottage from a visit at Nubble Light.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I kind of love lighthouses, so any excuse to share a picture of one with you, I’ll jump on!
So…
Here is Nubble Light. It’s a lighthouse that sits on a tiny island just off the coast of York, Maine.
Before it was automated, a lightkeeper and family lived on the island. The children would go across that narrow but treacherous water to catch the school bus by riding in a cart hanging over the water with a cable strung between the island and mainland. It moved back and forth using pulleys.
Back to our project…
The found mirror was in good condition, but was a dark mahogany wood color, great piece for a makeover.
This mirror would hang in the kid’s room at the cottage in Maine, so a nautical theme was perfect for it. Though I wasn’t exactly sure how I would paint it yet, I visualized a message going around the frame of the mirror.
I chose a Bible verse for that message, reminding us that we are created by God, just the way He intended us to be, (brown eyes, blue eyes, tall, short, whatever… we are God’s handiwork!). Unlike the queen in the fairytale, we are not created to be all focused on if we’re prettier than someone else. And for sure not to emotionally pick apart the elements on our face or body… but we are created for a beautiful reason… “for good works”!
Like I so frequently do, I failed to take a before picture of this freebie. You’ll need to use your imagination… Try to see it with a dark mahogany stain covered with a shiny lacquer finish, and fruit decals on the corners! Not a high-end piece… but still good condition.
After lightly sanding the wooden frame, to dull the shiny lacquer and smooth the painted decals, I painted a couple coats of light blue paint on it.
As I was working on the mirror, I was working hard on trying to visualize how I wanted the finished product to be. This project was different though, instead of seeing ahead of time, I just kept adding one element to the design after another, until I finally liked the end result. (no worries… I figured if something didn’t look right, I could always re-coat and start over… no stress)
Once the light blue base color was finished and dried, I decided it was too pale, so next I watered down, (about 50/50 paint and water) some navy blue paint and lightly coated that on, being careful to mind the brush strokes creating a washed out grain look on the frame.
I liked that watery look. (I repeated this same effect on one of the directional arrows sign I made too… the one for the beach)
Stripes are so wonderfully nautical, so I started by adding some yellow ones to the outside trim on top and bottom of the mirror frame.
This is definitely a cheapo mirror… nothing antique or precious about it. It’s just a cheap imitation of a traditional broken pediment style mirror, so I didn’t feel bad about covering it with paint as I created a fun zany styled frame for our grandchildren to enjoy in their room when they stayed there.
Once the yellow stripes were done, I realized it needed more…
So, next I added some orange and green on some of the details of the mirror frame.
hmmm…
that needed something…
Deciding it was the shade of green that wasn’t pleasing to my eye, I tweaked it a bit by washing over the green with a watered down blueish green paint. As I did that, it left some of the base green peeking through.
Yes!
This changed the feel of the color to more of a teal shade and created a watery effect, which echoed the washed effect on the main part of the frame… Okay, I liked that part.
I decided the yellow stripes needed a bit more definition, so I outlined them with my black paint marker, like THIS ONE.
Wow, what a difference that made! I really like it now.
Leaving the paint to dry, I worked on the verse for the message on the mirror using my computer.
Even though it’s a simple verse to write out, I find it so helpful to play with the placement of the words and prevent spelling errors by working on the computer, or scrap paper instead on the actual piece. Otherwise, it’s so easy to focus on the lettering and spacing, and totally mess us the spelling, or skip words.
Here’s the powerpoint pattern I made.
Next, following the pattern I created on the computer, I penciled the Bible verse on the mirror frame, then made it permanent by going over the pencil with a paint marker.
Then, just for a fun sparkle, I highlighted over the black lettering with a silver paint marker, (kind of impossible to see that in the photo)
Doesn’t the paint treatment look kind of cute with the colorful lamp on the dresser?!
My hope is when my precious grandchildren look in their mirror, they will not only see the message in the mirror, but they will hear it in their hearts! They are loved and truly special, and like Snow White from the fairy tale knew all along, being kind and loving is the best thing to focus on.
I hope this post has inspired you to be creative and have fun painting a piece of furniture or accessory piece. If you don’t like part of it, just tweak it until you do. No stress… just enjoy it and have fun!
Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate you reading along.
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