Mirror Redo with Spray Paint

If you are looking for the blog "Busy at Home," you are not in the wrong place. Busy at Home is now Busy Home Adventures! You can read about this change here. Welcome back!

On Saturday, my dear, sweet, amazing husband took both of our ~~noisy,~~ ~~needy,~~ darling children out to breakfast with some other similarly amazing dads from our church. I took the opportunity to do some Bible reading, to rest, and then to catch up on a hobby of mine: thrifting! It was so lovely to go to the thrift store--All. By. Myself. Ahhh. It's amazing how motherhood changes one's definition of luxury.

Along with other treasures, I came home with this mirror for a mere $4.94. I've been wanting a large-ish mirror for the play-guest-room redo and I thought this might be just the thing!

Not so attractive as is, but I know a good spray paint project when I see one! There was a little damage to some of the detail work, but overall all he needed was some paint. When my husband came home with the kids and saw the mirror he remarked that it looks a little bit like an octopus. He said this in an entirely supportive way, knowing that the playroom is planned to be a bit "nautical." What do you think, is it an octopus, or just a curvy sunburst?

I used some Goo Gone to get the grease marker tag off. (No, they don't pay me to say that, or sponsor me in any way; I just really love the stuff. But, interestingly enough their PR *did* contact me about a promotion after the last time I mentioned them on this blog...there may be a giveaway in our future! Isn't that exciting?)

Then I cut out a circle of strong paper and used painter's tape to seal around the edges. My fingernails came in handy here.

I couldn't resist putting a face on him. Now he's an octopus for sure!

I used several light coats of white primer. Here is what it looked like after the first coat. Already much improved!

When I had finished about 3 coats of primer, I flipped him over and did the back, which helped fill in all of the little nooks and crannies on the sides as well.

For the topcoat, I grabbed a can of the famous Rustoleaum "Heirloom White" and used one very light coat.

Looking great now!

It looked like rain so I bought it back into the playroom to dry under the brand new fan.

But, when I got it inside, I realized that even one light coat of heirloom white was just a little too yellowish. I really had more of a crisp white in mind. It's kind of hard to tell in this picutre, but if you look closely, you may be able to see what I mean.