Even the Craigslist master herself, Emily A. Clark is loving her some campaign accessories:
If you haven't spotted the accessory I am hearting by now, forget about having Go-Go-Gadget eyes - you should probably go see an optometrist. Pronto.
How wonderful are those octagonal, double-framed, bamboo mirrors, y'all?! I was lucky enough to have a visually-gifted aunt who spotted those lovely mirrors only moments after I posted about my campaign obsession. Not only did she call me up to chat about our brass-laden loves, but she also let me know that she had a PAIR of bamboo mirrors that she didn't need anymore! Como te what?! You better believe that I practically CARRIED Mr. Spouse to the car to go snatch those puppies up immediately.
After sprucing up our campaign china hutch, I just knew that our newly acquired bamboo mirrors would be the perfect frame for our new piece:
I absolutely loved the shape and texture that the mirrors brought to the space, but after living with it for a couple of weeks, something was a little off. I felt like the dark gold coloring of the mirrors was making the light, airy room seem a bit dull - the mirrors weren't popping off the walls like I wanted.
Also, the mirror frames had some black splatters that I felt weren't allowing the twins to be as bright and fabulous as they possibly could be.
I decided that I definitely wanted to paint the frames to brighten them up a bit, but I couldn't decide on a color. I considered painting the frames white to coordinate with the white dishes I displayed in the hutch, but then I thought that if I really wanted the mirrors to pop, why not really make them POP. So off to Home Depot I went, where I quickly snatched up some of Martha Stewart's Metallic Paint in Golden Pearl.
I loved the idea of having something metallic in our dining room! I also felt like the light shade of this gold would bring out the brass finishes on our campaign hutch.
I placed the mirrors on top of some boxes so that I would be able to paint to the very edge of the frames, and placed a drop cloth underneath everything.
I used a 1-inch brush, and got to painting!
Since the surface of the frames was very smooth and slick, I put the first coat of paint on very lightly so that the other layers of paint would have something to grab.
You might have noticed that I didn't tape off my frames, and as you can see, I shamelessly and carelessly painted that metallic goodness onto the frame (and mirror):
If you haven't painted a mirror before, you might find yourself wanting to become a professional mirror-frame-painter (yes, that's the technical term) because they are the easiest things to paint! Forget about taping to prevent paint perils, once you have finished your painting, all you have to do is wipe and scrape off your "oopsies" from the mirror (more on that later)! Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
After one coat of paint, the frames were looking smashing, but the dark gold was still visible, along with the black splatters.
I applied two more coats of metallic paint (making three coats total) and was absolutely floored by the results! I loved how you could still see some texture beneath the paint:
I also loved how Golden Pearl color really brightened up the mirrors. I feel like the brighter color makes the bamboo features really stand out as well:
But after three coats of paint, the mirrors needed a little bit of sprucing up.
If you only apply one coat of latex paint to a mirror, the excess paint that gets on the frame can be easily removed by simply wiping the paint with a wet sponge. However, since my frames needed three coats of paint, I felt like I could save myself a little elbow grease by using a razor blade to gently scrape off the excess paint rather than having to scrub off three layers of paint. Once the paint dried completely and being careful not to scratch the mirror, I simply scraped up all the paint that had gotten onto the mirror with a razor blade.
The paint came off of the mirror like butter and left a fabulously clean line between the frame and the mirror.
Once all of the paint had been removed from the mirror, I spritzed away my fingerprints with a bit of Windex...
...and re-hung the mirrors!
I love how the mirrors look so much brighter in the space and that the bamboo really pops to give the space more texture and interest:
The gold is shiny, without being blinding and helps the brass on the campaign piece stand out as well.
With these two additions to our dining room, I feel like the space is finally coming together! Mr. Spouse keeps saying he feels like our home actually looks like grown-ups live there. Victory? I think so.
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