Faux Inlay Mirror...the reveal

Ok, enough teasing...I've finally finished the makeover of my old timber mirror. Here it is now:

I love inlaid furniture, and when I looked closely at some of the originals, I realised that my mirror was the perfect candidate for a faux finish. The curvaceous shape was just right, and more importantly, I was really sick of it! If it didn't work out, no problem, I'd just silver leaf it. Those of you who've read my blog for some time may remember what it looked like:

I discarded the decorative pieces in the corners, and then undercoated the frame. The most time-consuming part of the whole exercise was the placement of the pattern - it needed to be fairly symmetrical to look convincing. Once that was done, all that was needed was a steady hand and lots of patience! It took much longer to do because I had to be in the mood to sit and paint - and it really can be quite theraputic to work on such a repetitive pattern! By the way, although it's not obvious in these pics, the pattern is painted in different mother-of-pearl tones, to give that lovely shimmer.

So, what do you think - could it pass as a reasonable copy of the real thing? I'm pretty happy with it, but there's just one problem....I think I've created a monster. I'm looking at some of my old furniture in a whole new light...

courtesy graham and green

irisfurnishings.co.uk 

....and I have a very similar chest of drawers in my shed! Stay tuned....

Oh, and I'm sharing this project over at Design Refuge, so go check out all the fantastic DIY projects on show

Btw, linking this project over here if you'd like to check it out.