“My name is Jimmy, I’ll take what you gimme.” This was one of my Grandmother’s favorite sayings. I guess the expression was born in the depression era because some of my friend’s said their parents and grandparents said the same thing! I had not heard it until recently when my Mother repeated it. I think we all like something for free, right?
Recently a neighbor gave me a huge heavy mirror that measures 29″ x 41″. They were moving and no longer wanted it. It must have belonged to a dresser at one point. It still had the metal mounting hardware on the back. I love old mirrors too, so I was happy to take it off of her hands. It was brown, maybe a dark oak color(pictured above). I decided it would look perfect white. I removed the mounting brackets from the back and tightened up the screws. I taped it off and painted it with two coats of white chalk paint. Then, I saw a picture of a similarly shaped mirror in Pottery Barn in black, so I decided to change course and paint it black. Luckily, it was still taped off. (Below: Painted white, inspiration, painted black.)
I painted two coats of black chalk paint and then rubbed on some dark wax to seal it and give it some depth. Better than the white I think. (My Mother jokes that if something is white, I paint it black and vice versa.) After I finished rubbing on the wax I tried to take off the tape. Unfortunately some of the tape was stuck underneath the mirror and some of the white paint bled underneath. I could see the white reflected underneath the mirror. So, I did what I should have done in the beginning and took the back off of the frame and removed the mirror. I had to scrape off the white paint on the lip of the frame and touch up with black paint on the edges. (disassembled below) I scraped the mirror with a razor blade to remove the paint then reassembled the mirror. Whew! It looked great now!
I flipped the mirror back on its face to attach D-rings for hanging. The first hook went on perfectly. The second one wouldn’t grab so I pushed harder. And I cracked the mirror!!!! I could have cried. I felt like tossing it in the trash, but since it was free, I decided to get it fixed. I took it to a local glass company. They are going to cut a new piece of mirror (thinner this time so it won’t be as heavy) and it will be ready in about a week. So typical of me.
I don’t know yet where this mirror will wind up. I often give these treasures to one of my sons if I don’t have a spot for it. They have their own apartments and are still collecting furniture and accessories for their places. And thankfully they still enjoy getting “free” stuff too! The Pottery Barn version is taller and slimmer (30″ x 60″) and $499. This version was free plus the cost of four coats of paint, a new mirror, gas to the store and hanging hardware. 🙂
