The Liberace Mirror
Thank you Darien, for the title of this DIY post because it is SO spot-on! My friend Michelle is an expert goodwill-er & all around bargain finder. She sent me a picture one day of a resin mirror with a wood backing. We both knew it could be something special - very chateau-ey. I said “budget approved” & she brought it back for me. It sat on my mantle for a few months until I could really decide what it wanted from me. Enter faux-gilding. I saw a DIY episode on some show where they were using copper faux gilding on a bathtub. That was the ticket, but in silver.
The faux-leaf is very affordable (as in $7 for 100 small sheets), so I took the dive. Did I mention Michelle is an artist too? So I set up under her watchful eye & a project was born. First, I painted the whole frame in a flat pewter color. Since some of the leaf would rub off, we wanted a base that provided depth. Michelle is also the self-professed queen of adhesives. So by spraying small sections with a light glue & sort of jamming the leaf into all the crevices, we figured out a system. It took several sessions to get enough gilding to really provide coverage & frankly a lot of little bits of gilding run-off dusting on the floor. Very thankfully, at the same time, Michelle was working on a project with glitter, so the gold glitter & silver leaf pieces that littered the floor had quite the sparkle to them.
And, despite the “Liberace” appearance of the mirror, I think it will make a great addition to, say, a powder room with white walls. It definitely wants to the be the star of where ever it goes. So everything else will have to be tres simple (very simple!). For now, it is adorning my bedroom wall in a very prominent way!
