How to Customize Mirrors

Border painted on mirror

A decorative border can be painted onto a plain wall mirror, making it appear that it has been framed. To add still more pizzazz, create an inner border that emulates picture matting. This crafty tip uses black and gold paint on a large mirror suitable for hanging over a fireplace mantel to give it an antique-looking finish. You can use a mirror of any size and color combination to fit your décor with customized mirrors.

Things You'll Need

• Painter's tape
• Ruler
• Paint for glass, black and gold
• Brushes: stencil and foam

Instructions

1. Clean the mirror and allow to dry completely.

2. 

   Mark off the area that you do not want to paint by using painter's tape. Random measurements will be made to set pieces of tape as a guide for a long strip of tape. Starting on one side of the mirror, measure with a ruler the width that you want for your border. Mark the end of the upcoming paint run with a piece of tape about an inch long. That is, if you are measuring from the left side of the mirror, the right side of tape will mark the width that you want the border.

3. Repeat the measurement about every 10 inches. Then, a continuous strip of tape will be applied in the area of the mirror that you will not paint. Place the end of the tape on the mirror and using the short strips as a guide, unroll and adhere the long strip of tape. In this case, the long strip of tape will be lined up with the right edge of the short marker pieces.

4. 

   Remove the short strips of tape. The objective is to end up with a taped area an equal distance from all sides of the mirror.

5. 

   Paint a black basecast using acrylic craft paint for glass and a sponge brush. Allow two hours to dry and then apply a second coat if needed.

6. 

   Stipple on gold paint when the black paint has dried. To do that, pour some paint onto a saucer or disposal lid (a coffee can's, for instance). Dip the end of the stencil brush into the paint, then dab the brush randomly into the black border of the mirror. Some areas will have heavier paint than other. Continue refilling the stencil brush and dabbing it onto the black border, overlapping the previous dabbed areas while leaving some areas still showing the black.

7. 

   Hang the mirror. Giving this once-plain mirror a vintage appearance took me only a few hours, including two hours waiting for paint to dry.

Tips & Warnings

• Wash the brushes in warm soapy water. If some of the base paint or the stippled paint gets onto the part of the mirror you do not want to paint, scrape it off with your fingernail or a plastic scraper. Be careful in using a razor blade since it could scratch the surface of the mirror, particularly an older one.

Resources

• Painting on glass