Welcome back to the Treasuri blog! We’ve got 10 easy steps in this tutorial to antique a mirror and create a distressed mirror effect.

As a business, we buy and sell plenty of mirrors and pieces of furniture but what makes me really tick is being able to be creative and upcycle the rejects too.

There is something nice about the shiny and new. But, isn’t there something special about the unique, worn, and characterful pieces of old?

Thankfully, there are plenty of techniques out there to help recreate this aged look. From distressed painting and layering of colour, to hand antique effect mirrors. This mirror distressing technique mimics the effect of antique mirrors where the backing has speckles and has been worn away in areas. Creating a textured effect and variation in the colour of the mirror.

I decided to try out this effect because I was inspired by the mirror I had gotten my hands on. The shape of the mirror and the bevelled edge of the glass reminded me of something vintage and antique so I was prepared to take it to the next level.

This blog will go over the step by step process to hand antique and distress any mirror you fancy.

How to Antique a Mirror: Step by Step Guide

Supplies to need for this tutorial:

• Mirror
• Paint stripper
• Metal or plastic scraper
• Cloth
• Bleach
• Water
• Spray bottle or toothbrush
• Mirror cleaner + de-grease cleaner
• Gold paint
• Black paint
• paint brushes
• Protective clothing and dust sheets

Step 1: Selecting Your Mirror

This mirror distressing tutorial can be done on pretty much any mirror you want. I can be frameless or in a frame. Your mirror choice can be a wall mirror, a free-standing mirror, or a small table mirror. Perhaps you already have one in mind or are looking for some inspiration just ensure you can easily remove the mirror from the frame and access the back.

The mirror I chose was headed for the bin and was free. I think this helped prepare me for doing something a little different because if it didn’t work, it wasn’t too much of a loss. The mirror was originally part of a dressing-table that had been upcycled multiple times by the looks of it. The back was terribly painted, the fixings were rusty, and the front had badly stuck on gems. It wasn’t my style at all so, are you ready to antique a mirror?

Step 2: Remove the Mirror Frame

In order to antique a mirror, you need to have access to the back of the mirror. Therefore, before starting it needs to be removed from the frame.

Typically, this is very easy to do by bending back the staples used to secure the mirror in the frame and pushing out the glass and its backing. My mirror in particular was even easier as it was frameless but had a wooden back I could remove. I also remove also remed the gems on the front as they will not go with the antique look I’m wanting’m

Be careful when dealing with the mirror glass as it is fragile and can have sharp edges. My choice of mirror to antique was bevelled on the edge and weighed an absolute ton so I didn’t have to worry too much

Step 3: Add paint stripper to back

The grey or coloured backing on the mirror is a protective coating over the mirror backing. This is there to his is protect the mirrored finish, however, our aim is to distress this backing to create an aged look. So, we need to get to shiny gold/silver underneath. To do this we remove the coating using a paint stripper.

You don’t need a special brand of stripper for this. I just used a cheap one from the Range so there’s no need to go far out of your way for this step. The beauty of hand antiquing a mirror is that is so easy and should be convenient!

Add some large splodges of paint stripper to the back of the mirror and spread thickly but evenly all over the back with a brush. Make sure to wear protective clothing, gloves and be in a well-ventilated area as the paint stripper can have a strong odour.

Leave it to sit on the mirror for at least 30 minutes. I honestly didn’t see a visible difference between when I first put on the stripper and half an hour later, so it can be difficult to tell when is the right time to remove it. Trust your gut and test the edges first

Don’t panic if you’re worried you’ve left it on too long as it shouldn’t dissolve or affect the mirror backing. It would be better to leave it on longer than have to reapply (which you’ll see in the next step)

Step 4: Remove backing and stripper

Once you’ve left the stripper on for at least 30 minutes, now it’s time to remove it!

Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as just wiping it away. You will need either a metal or plastic scraper. You do not want it to be sharp, a wallpaper scraper is perfect for this. I was using a metal wallpaper scraper and didn’t want the scraper to scratch the mirror back as I don’t like the scratched look that much. To avoid this, I covered the scraper with a piece of cloth. This padded the edge so it removed only the coating and the paint stripper. Make sure to change the section of the cloth on the edge regularly as it can wear down and even get holes which means the metal can scrape the mirror.

Be prepared that this part is super messy! I managed to scoop the piles of stripper and coating with the scraper and put it into a bag for the bin. This definitely helped avoid too much mess and potential staining of clothes or the dust sheet.

When you’re ready, begin scraping away the coating and the stripper. I have to say, it was so satisfying watching it rub away. Some areas were removed with no problem at all. `Other areas needed rubbing away and going over a few times. However, I noticed that some of the mirror back was also rubbing away so be careful here. The result of this rubbing was still beautiful as the mirror came away in speckles like the effect I was trying to create but I did get a few scratches.

You’ll see in the image below I had some large parts of the burgundy coating remaining that wouldn’t come off so I had to recoat these areas with more paint stripper. As this was the second stripping, I only left this layer on for about 10-15 minutes. Then I was able to remove almost all of the mirror coating.

Step 5: Clean

After removing the stripper using the scaper you’ll need to thoroughly clean the back of the mirror to remove the residual stripper. Use a degreasing cleaner or a sugar soap as they aren’t too harsh and will make sure the stripper is all gone

Step 6: Antique effect time!

Now we’re finally ready to create the antique effect on the back of the mirror. At last.

To do this, you use bleach to eat away at the mirror backing. You can use 100% bleach as it will work faster, however, I used a 1:1 1 mixture of bleach and water. Depending on the size of your mirror, you likely won’t need too much so mix a small amount first to avoid wastage.

You have options on how you choose to apply the bleach. Other blogs I read on this technique use a spray bottle, which is why the water is helpful to get through the spray. However, I didn’t have one to hand so instead chose to use a clean toothbrush. I dipped it in the bleach/water mix and flicked it all over the back of the mirror.

Leave some large splashes and some small to create texture and variation in the antique effect. Some of the small drops didn’t take away as much of the backing as I wanted so I did apply larger splashes during my second application

Once the bleach is on the mirror you can watch the drop change colour to black. As the drops get darker, it’s the bleach removing the shiny backing of the mirror. Therehereofre, fore, the darker you let it get, the more will be removed.

It took about 10 minutes until I had the desired effect. Some parts were darker than others which I liked so the antique effect will be stronger in those areas.

One thing I hadn’t noticed was the yellow sections on the back of my mirror. You can see the difference in the image below between the silver mirror back and the yellow parts. I think this must be part of the glue that is used to apply the coating on the back of the mirror. As it wasn’t completely removed, the bleach didn’t penetrate all the way through. As a result, some parts of my mirror stayed the same and others have the antique effect. However, I am still happy with the end result but will pay more attention to this on the next one I do.

Step 7: Clean again

Repeat step 5 and clean the back of the mirror using a degreasing cleaner or sugar soap. This is to ensure the bleach is completely removed so it doesn’t continue to eat away at the mirror back. This is also essential as residual bleach can affect the paint at the next stage.

Step 8: Paint gold

So now your mirror is all clean, you should be able to hold it up to the light and see through the splashes completely where the bleach has removed the mirror backing. `So, in order to create the antiqued effect we want to add some colour to these holes.

I chose to use gold spray paint because, let’s be honest, everything is better with gold. But you can use any colour you want such as a bronze colour. It also doesn’t have to be spray paint as they can be messy and toxic so metal or furniture paint would work well too.

I applied a thin layer of gold all over the back of the mirror. Make sure you wear protective clothing and a face mask here to protect yourself. I did mine outside in my tanning spray tent to avoid the wind (it’s my favourite hack for spray painting).

In hindsight, I wish I had painted a second layer so the gold was more prominent and sparkly. So think about the finished product you’re after. If you want it to have a darker distressing, leave the gold light and if you’d like it more metallic, add more.

Step 9: Paint black

The next layer of black paint adds to the antique colour and effect on the mirror. It also helps to protect the finish like the backing we removed at the start of this tutorial.

I chose a black satin finish spray paint to finish the back of my antique mirror. Again, you can use a metal or furniture paint that you brush on as it is less messy. Make sure you let the mirror fully dry before moving it as you don’t want to ruin the paint

Step 10: Replace mirror back in the frame

Yay, your mirror is officially antiqued! Now to add the finishing touches and replace the mirror back into its frame.

Whilst you’re completing your mirror antique effect, you can also choose to change and upcycle the frame as well to match. The back of my mirror was in terrible shape so the back definitely needed a makeover as well.

I sanded, cleaned and painted the back in black. I cleaned and removed the paint from the original fixings, sprayed them with my gold paint, and purchased new screws to use. The mirror also needed new fixings to hang this mirror on the wall as it was originally hung on a wooden frame on the dressing table.

I am so happy with the final result of the mirror and love the black and gold fixings and frame. Now you’re ready to hang and stage the mirror in your home! Don’t forget to clean the glass so there are sure to be plenty of fingerprints all over it.

How did your antique mirror come out? I want to see how you did in the comments 🙂

`Let me know if you have any questions on this tutorial!