Trumeau Mirror

Do you remember this old door?

 Now it's this.

What do you think?

I LOVE IT!

It turned out exactly like I had it pictured in my head.

Right down to the color.

This is how I did it.

I found an old door at a thrift shop that was closing.  

(I don't even want to think about what that means in terms of the economy.)

So I only paid $2.50.

A steal, right?

I didn't know what I wanted to do with it right away, but when I got it home and turned it upside down, something clicked.

A trumeau mirror!

First, I stripped the old paint off the door.

 I used the citrusy smelling stuff, which I like. It took several applications. I started wondering why I was even stripping it after awhile. Oh, yeah. Lead paint.

So after I stripped and sanded it smooth, it was time to add the trim. I put a chunky block of wood on top to make the crown molding stand out more. I used gorilla glue for most of this, and the clamps I got from Rockler were invaluable.

 So was duct tape. 

There was no real rhyme or reason to where I put what pieces of trim. I just played around with it and put it where I thought it looked best.

 I used a lot of this stuff to fill in any gaps.

It's very lightweight, almost like foam.

It's really easy to work with and it dries fast. You can paint right over it, too.

After I had all the trim on, it was time to turn the glass part of the door into a mirror.

I used this.

It took four cans. 

This paint is becoming increasingly hard to find. I was told at one craft store that the government had decided it was unsafe for the consumer and that they weren't allowed to carry it anymore. I found some online at

Mr Arts.

Rudy at Home Depot told me he thought chrome spray paint would do the same thing. I decided not to take his word for it, but if you do, let me know how it works.  

After I was finished with the mirror, it was time to do the paint finish.

I wanted a soft gray color.

I really like that chalky look some older gray pieces have, and I wanted to recreate it.

After giving the whole frame a coat of gray

(it's a custom mix, sorry.)

I glazed the whole thing with this.

Titanium white by Decoart.

I used my old Purdy brush, too. There really is a difference in paint brushes.

I watered the paint down a little so it would sink into all the crevices. I just brushed it on, waited a minute, and wiped it off.

Then I dry brushed some non-watered down paint onto the frame.

I'm happy with how the color turned out.

It has some of that chalky look.

I want to attach this to the wall. It's heavy, and if it fell it could do some real damage.

I love the top.(so much that I'm showing it twice.) My dad gave me the applique. I bought the crown molding and the rosettes. The rest of the trim we already had.

 So that's it.

Thanks for reading!