Garage Find Mirrors and a Second Shop

There are a lot of great things about being in this business.  For us, one of the fun parts is finding a diamond in the rough-  the Cinderella item.  Because of this, we love going to the attics, basements and garages of estate sales to hopefully find an overlooked and under loved treasure.  I love getting to the cash station and hearing “where did you find this?!”

One of these recent finds were two identical mirrors found buried in the back of a garage.  Sorry about the quality of this picture.

Both mirrors have this wonderful, ornate wood scroll piece at the top.  Besides being somewhat dull looking, there was evidence of some little creatures making it part of their lunch.  What a shame, but I guess this would be expected for being stored in a garage.

The picture below shows the repair work on one.  You can make out the lighter color of the wood fill.

Another section of damage was the trim along the bottom of the mirrors.  When we found the mirrors they were standing up right, resting against the bottom trim.  As a result, years of weight and moisture had curved and separated the wood layers.

Unfortunately, there was no way to save this so I had my handy man help cut it off.

Here is a picture of the bottom trim piece removed.  Even without it, the mirror is still wonderful.

Because of all this repair work, I knew the mirrors would benefit from some paint. The main part of the mirror was painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) in Paris Gray, slightly sanded to expose the wood underneath, and then sealed with clear wax.

As you can see in these pictures the scroll work, looks even more drab against the newly painted mirror frame.  So, to brighten the scroll work and cover the repairs, I dried brushed it using ASCP in Country Grey.  Dry brushing is where you use very little paint on a dry brush and apply very lightly leaving some of the wood exposed.

Then to enhance the scroll work and make it pop, I used Gedeo Gilding Wax in Empire Gold.

It is very easy to use and makes a huge difference in the appearance. The mirror on the right has been gilded while the one on the left has not.  I also used a little of the gilding wax along the top curves of the mirror frame.

The mirrors have been redone to match so they can be used together.  They measure 40h x 29w.   If you are interested they are for sale locally for $170 each.

We have some exciting news to mention.  Because we are having so much fun, we have decided to open a second shop.  Our new location will be in Newburg, MD off of Route 301, across the the Nice Memorial Bridge from Fredricksburg, VA.

The new owners are doing an amazing job with the renovation and are hoping to be up and running mid March.  We will keep you informed.