When I first moved into my new studio I had the very cheapest, in-the-box, oak cabinets from Lowe’s installed for our “kitchen” (basically where we make coffee and occasionally microwave). The reasons for going el cheapo were twofold: lack of money (the main reason) and knowledge that I could also turn the ugly ducklings into a swans when time and desire came together. They finally did! I forgot to take a “before” shot, but just imagine plain, nondescript oak cabinets over which I stria’d 2 layers of Van Dyke Brown Stain and Seal .I wanted to do something more decorative on them with mirrors-my new favorite medium.

I had 1/4″ mirrors with beveled edges made to the exact size of the raised panels in the centers of the upper cabinets. The silvering on these was distressed using the Antique Mirror Patina Solution.

On the front, I decided to use Metallic Foils (another new fav!), and subtly applied 4 different colors, followed by a layer of antiquing stain.  I love how the design reflects off the back of the mirror, adding a lot more depth and dimension.

The mirrors were attached using a combo of double-sided foam tape and lots of mastic. So far it seems to be holding…..Notice how the blue Metallic Foil around the edge picks up the wall color!

Another view (these are HARD to photograph well). The handles were a Home Depot score at $1.06 each!

The lower cabinet doors were treated to the same Metallic Foil colors as the mirror finish and stained as well. I transferred the foil colors using a scrub brush with varying horizontal and vertical strokes to get the woven fabric look.

You can’t see the countertop from this view, but it is beautiful reverse gilded glass with a Moroccan zelij pattenr and I showed it in this post. If you are interested, there are lots more mirror posts here. For my next magic mirror trick I’ll be attempting to conjure up an amazing look for a 54″ round mirror table top on a rustic iron base. Keep your fingers crossed! I don’t NEED any bad luck.

I wrapped up my first ever Elegant Reflections class earlier this week. It may be illegal to have that much fun! Of course, not everyone gets their kicks by stripping the paint off the backs of mirrors and pouring stinky sulphury stuff over the them to create wild patination patterns…..but some of us do……

Like Julie Stonehouse…

and Georgia Morrow….

I’m SO sorry I didn’t get a picture of Regina Garay, who was here, and has posted about the class on her Fauxology blog. Regina! What bad bloggers we are to not even get a photo of us together!!! Next time….meantime, I think one of my favorite samples that came out of the class was this one above of Regina’s. But there are many more….

Julie’s 23K Gold Leaf Chrysanthemums and glass etching….

My Art Deco Palm Trees…

The dreaming girl with heavy patination…..

The woven linen look through the removed silver…..

Michelle’s heavy distressed and coppered pattern. Here, you are actually looking at the BACK of the mirror, which gets these crazy colors happening and can then be sealed and used as an art piece….

her WAY cool copper and silver number…

An allover pattern with paint, leaf and stain….

and my gilded delicate lattice over light patination. I’m STILL inspired and have some stinky samples “cooking” as I write.  Gotta go!!!

Psssst! Next Elegant Reflections class is February 9-10, 2009.

As I am getting prepared this week for my upcoming Elegant Reflections class in two weeks, I think this is the perfect time to post some work from one of our friends and customers, Anna Sadler of Surface Refinements in Scottsdale, Arizona. Anna came to the last mirror patination class that we held here with Tim Poe, the inventor of Antique Patina Mirror Solutions and patterned mirror finishes have become an important part of their portfolio.

How cool is this custom mirror shape?!?

I’m excited for the opportunity to play around again with this product and try out some new techniques. My head is beginning to hurt from all the ideas and options bouncing around in it! It’s time to set them free……

Our new studio has a little “kitchen” area with cabinets and a countertop. I had them install stock cabinets from Lowe’s and a simple black formica countertop. This was more of a budget than design decision (story of my life!) and of course provides the opportunity for yet another painting project. The cabinets will get some sort of eggplanty finish on them with patinated mirrors (cut to size) on the upper doors. For the countertop, I opted to do something simple. It’s all relative! *Simple* turns out to be getting a large piece of glass cut to size. Of course I didn’t take careful enough measurements and the builders didn’t take care to make anything plumb or square in the building so my nice square-cornered glass has a slight *fit* problem. What to do? Distract the eye like crazy!

I had a classic Moroccan zelij tile pattern cut and placed it on the back side of the 2′ x 7′ glass to do some reverse gilding with the new Celestial Leaf (colors: Dawn, Moonbeam and Twilight again). I used our Marquetry Weed technique to reveal different areas one at a time which receive a different color leaf.

When it’s all done and dry it receives multiple coats of black lacquer spray paint….

gets flipped over and viola! we now have a lovely surface that is easy to clean (and check out your hair in). This is a really quick and easy finish and can be applied to any piece of furniture that you can lay a piece of glass on!

I was thinking the other day that it might be helpful if I got my 2008 workshop schedule figured out before 2009 rolls around. No, actually I have been thinking about it a lot because Dawn keeps asking me because people keep asking HER if I ever plan to teach again! With the move, upcoming trips and ongoing major decorating projects at the new building it’s been a bit hard to focus and plan, but it’s done. I’ve created even more work for myself by adding three new classes this year, but I’m excited to create some new looks to share! Here are a couple of them-

Elegant Reflections. I am continually excited about the possibilities of pattern on glass and mirrors and have some really cool projects planned for our building including a reverse-gilded Moroccan tile -themed glass countertop (that’s a mouthful, huh?) and mirrored tile door.

Boho Modern Finishes. This is a term I picked up from this post by Holly at Decor8. My idea of Boho Modern is a little broader and more colorful (we can’t have all those plain white walls, now can we?) but I have some GREAT distressed wall finishes in my head that I will be developing over the coming weeks that I will share later! Also, check out Floor Focus, Modello Master Methods and SkimStone/Modello.

Hoping to see you in the studio….

The Antique Mirror class last week (see Mirror, Mirror) was a lot of fun and a great success. As it is always best to learn from you mistakes-this was another good learning experience and I think we have got the best approach to applying pattern with mirror patination DOWN. Just like everything else in decorative painting there are an infinite number of ways to interpret this artform and I’m looking forward to discovering all of them. What I haven’t quite figured out is a good way to PHOTOGRAPH mirrors, but here are some class pieces-

A round tabletop with a rusted iron architectural inlay,

a reverse gilded border,

some small class samples, and

my favorite! This is actually the “back” of the mirror on the front. The electroplated surface takes on these fabulous tones with the patination so we waxed it for protection and used a stria technique with shellac on the other side. We will be scheduling some more mirror classes once we get in our new building!

I am so excited about a class I just scheduled here in our studio with Tim Poe, the creator of the Antique Mirror Patina Solutions System. I began experimenting with this product and Modellos to create decorative effects that combine mirror patination with gilding, mica powders and metallic paints and there are some amazingly beautiful things that can be achieved. 

It’s not difficult, but there is definitely a process and a learning curve. Tim will be covering all the basics as well as how to approach multi-tile mirror installations, panels and applying mirror to furniture. I know that there will be a lot of interest in this, so check out this link to download a PDF flyer on the class and register soon if you are interested! I can’t wait!!

If you’d like to read about some more options, here is a link to a recent article I wrote for the Faux Finisher Magazine, Elegant Reflections.