How To: DIY Antique Mirror (For Less than $15)

I bought this old gold leaf frame at an antique shop 4 months ago with the intention of turning it into an antique mirror. It has all the makings of an authentic distressed mirror…minus the actual mirror! 🙂

I researched to find the best method for making my own antique mirror and there were two clear routes – Method #1) Buy a mirror, strip the paint off the back, spray on bleach, and repaint the back of the mirror. Method #2) Buy glass, spray on vinegar, spray mirror paint, and paint the back.

After my last encounter with paint strippers, I have little desire to work with that product again so I went with method #2! (And as fate would have it, I later stumbled upon a reel showing the exact method I was going to try!) It felt like the easier route with more opportunity to correct my mistakes…which there were plenty.

And here’s how it turned out!

If you’d like to watch me make this mirror, I shared a video tutorial here.

Otherwise, let’s get into the tutorial!

1 – Prep the Frame & Glass

My frame needed a little work done before I could start anything else. I took the artwork out and I removed the felt green border so I was left with just the beautiful gold leaf frame. Your frame may or may not need a little TLC first.

Now if you find a frame with glass already, you can just clean it and move onto step 2. If your frame doesn’t have glass like mine, you can either purchase glass at a hardware store in the size you need, have it cut to size, or cut it yourself with a glass cutting kit.

I opted to cut my own glass since I already had some leftover from a previous project. (I will say cutting your own glass can take some practice…I went through 4 sheets before cutting one without breaking it.)

2 – Spray on Vinegar

I grabbed an empty spray bottle (one with a finer mist is best) and sprayed on a mist of distilled white vinegar over the glass. I focussed on the outer edges since that’s typically where you see the most distressing on antique mirrors. And I added a few larger droplets scattered throughout. Feel free to dab up any droplets that are too large with a paper towel.

3 – Spray on Mirror Paint

Now you can spray on mirror paint directly over the vinegar. I found that doing several thin coats worked best and I did not do a completely opaque coat. (Note: this paint has a strong smell and I highly recommend wearing a mask!)

What I like about this mirror paint is that it has a foggy sheen making it even more realistic!

4 – Dab up the Vinegar

I didn’t get a picture of this process because I had to work pretty quickly. I gave the mirror paint a couple seconds to dry (it dries quickly!) and then I used a paper towel to lightly dab up the vinegar or any areas where I wanted to distress the mirror paint. This part took some practice. Dabbing immediately on wet paint removes the mirror effect completely and dabbing too late leaves you with a spotty finish…so go into this project with the expectation that you may need to try this a few times before you get a result you like. (Keep scrolling to see how I redid mine without getting a new piece of glass.)

5 – Flip Over the Glass & Paint The Back

Flip it over, mirror side down, and spray a coat of black paint on the back side. The black is going to show through all the semi-transparent spots giving it that aged look. Once it’s dry you can flip it back over and see the finished look!

NOTE: If you don’t like how it turned out, you can easily redo it on the same piece of glass. I redid mine 3 times! Spray a good amount of window cleaner on the glass (mirror side up) and with a clean razor, scrape the mirror paint off the glass. It comes off easily and now you can redo the vinegar/mirror paint steps.

Aside from cutting the glass, this DIY took me about 30 minutes. It takes some practice, but it’s one of the easier (and cheaper) projects I’ve done! And for how authentic the aging looks on the mirror, I couldn’t be happier!!