Vanity Restoration (Mirror)

Mirror found in a dumpster

This weekend I centered my energies on the mirror I pulled out of a dumpster. As with the vanity I started by roughing up the surface a bit with a 3-in-one and a hammer.

Fun.

You can't make too many marks or do this step incorrectly. Every mark you make gives the wood that much more texture which makes the finished result prettier. I documented the process as I worked on the mirror. If you are curious this is how I re purposed this old unwanted mirror. Not bad for a new vanity! Overall cost (minus all the elbow grease): $11 ($4 for the desk and $7 for the can of Xylene....I had everything else just lying around.)

Quality primer used over the old wood/paint

Light washes of blue/black paint spread
over the entire mirror and wiped off just a bit

Detail that comes out after
the wash is wiped off slightly

Dry brush white over washes

Laser print burnished on wood
using Xylene transfer

Another transfer on the mirror

Cause it needed just one more transfer....

Shot of the finished piece

Finished piece (close up)

"Game"
Graphite, Watercolor and Acrylic on archival Bristol

Dumpster Diving (Take II)

Finds from the dumpster

This year has been absolutely CHOICE for dumpster diving! Another neighbor rented a huge dumpster in order to rid her house of unwanted items and I stumbled upon the dumpster right after it was delivered. Chairs, tables, slabs of slate, and a mirror (which turned out to be the perfect addition for my vanity project from last weekend) were all being tossed out into the dumpster. She had everything on the side of her house just waiting to be tossed. She was most happy to let me rummage through everything and even though I'm fairly secure in diving head first into garbage I felt the need to show her previous projects I had taken photos of on my phone.

More finds...this is not everything, but the
pieces I am most excited to re purpose

Detail on the lamp base

Detail of worn out wood
on the table. Perfect!

More beautiful details
on the lamp

I can't wait to
bring this lamp back to life

Of course all that dumpster diving (and carting/carrying everything back to my house a block away) deserved a good meal and my cravings for Lo Mien were much too great to be ignored. Not to mention the fact that I was fresh out of fortunes. I'm nicely stocked now after my dinner out. I have received a few inquires about whether I'll be selling these little "mice fortunes" and the answer is, yes. I'll be preparing them for sale and offering them via my Etsy store shortly.

More fortunes gathered
during dinner out with my family.

"Beer"
Decoupage, Graphite, Watercolor, and
Acrylics on archival bristol

Transfer

Old sewing table
purchased at estate sale for $4.

In the last 24 hours I have become obsessed with image transfers. I stumbled upon some images and ideas on furniture and pillows online and the rest became history. I am now in full fledged "image transfer" mode.

Walls in my basement studio are not safe….they were hit and will probably become subject to more transfers. Ceramic tiles lying about the basement studio were not safe either, but did not play well with the laser transfer. I will get them to play nice. I promise. On going furniture projects…totally NOT safe from this adventure and my latest vanity table was hit with some French images. I'm not sure if I like what I've done as I feel the image might be too small, but despite that fact it is still very pretty and the transfer was easy and fairly painless. The only drawback to all this is the transfer of laser copy to surface is VERY smelly and Im afraid toxic. Here is how I did it:

1). Printed out image using my laser printer.
2) Wiped a small amount of Xylene (found at hardware store) along surface.
3) Pressed image onto surface using an old credit card. The harder you press the darker the image.

Of course my mind is going into overdrive now. How can I get my little mice and or critters on furniture/things? It's a lovely spring adventure I'm on, that's for sure!


Roughed up the wood with a hammer
and a chisel

Painted the vanity and distressed it
using paint I had lying around.

Planning the image and where I will place it.
(The flower arrangement was made compliments of my friend Cindy who makes the most beautiful and thoughtful arrangements)

The image once applied
looks old and worn but beautiful

Supplies for project consisted of:
Xylene, an old credit card and the laser printed image

Typography applied to the front piece

Another view of the main image

Finished vanity desk


Image transfers look even better
on plain wood!