Sunbursts, Large and Small

I don’t know what it is about this time of year, but I find myself getting heavy handed with gold paint......................  Read More

And if you are wanting to paint something Gold, or even just add some sparkle to your home, check out my posts  ,DIY Gilt Mirror ,  Faux Mercury Glass Sconce,   Easy Picture Frame Upgrade,  and   Sparkle Your Holiday Decor.

Diy Efex Gilt Mirror

I don’t have a picture of this mirror “before”, but believe me it was very ordinary. Just your basic 24″ x 36″ dark brown wall mirror. I had been working on my Efex Christmas tree ornaments when I decided it was due for an upgrade.

Using my favorite Rustoleum spray paint, I gave the frame a quick coat of gold. I also sprayed  2 pieces of Efex, (T31), those wonderful flexible furniture appliqués .

They were too wide to attach as a strip on the frame, so I cut the strips apart and placed them in pairs symmetrically around the edge. Once I had a pattern I liked I used contact cement to adhere them.

A quick footnote..I like to paint my pieces before gluing. I think the coverage is better and usually touch ups are minimal and can be done with a Krylon Gold Leaf Pen.

  

I love the way this turned out. A quick, easy and inexpensive upgrade to a most ordinary mirror.

For more Efex projects, see my posts, Sparkle Your holiday Decor,  Chinoiserie Cabinet,   Easy Picture Frame Upgrade.  And to find an Efex dealer so you can make your own upgrade to that dull boring, mirror, just click here

Efex™ Picture Frame Upgrade

You know I am all about sharing projects that are easy, fast and, foolproof, so when an exciting new company, Efex™, approached me about trying out their Flexible Furniture Appliques, I happily agreed. There have been many times where I have wanted to add some trim or moldings to a project, but the whole cutting, mitering, nailing part of the process was too intimidating.  Efex™ appliqués  are unlike any I have seen. They are made of latex and completely flexible. You can cut them with ordinary household scissors. And when your measurements are less than perfectly correct you can still make them work because they stretch.  Contact cement is used to apply them. And they can be painted with almost any paint, including my favorite Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and waxed with her clear and dark wax.  What's not to love?

For my first project, I had a small oil painting I had picked up at a local thrift store. I love original signed paintings over prints and you can never have too much art. The frame was a dark oak that did nothing for the painting and was  definitely not my style, and being an odd size, the cost of reframing didn't make sense. Perfect for my first time with Efex™. I wasn't sure which trim would look the best so I ended up spraying two different styles with Rustoleum Metallic Shiny Brass.  I also removed the painting and sprayed the rest of the frame. One piece of Efex was more than enough. I did a fair job of cutting to size and mitering the corners and applied the contact cement to the frame and the back of the Efex™. After waiting 15 minutes, I applied the trim. The whole project was about an hour and most of that was waiting for paint to dry.

Since I had spray painted another style of Efex™ that I didn't need for my frame, I made some samples of different paint combinations for future reference. You can see those on the bottom half of the image. All in all, a fast, easy, inexpensive way to upgrade a frame. Thank you Efex™!

Efex™ is sponsoring a fabulous contest give away this month for the readers of Colorways. If you haven't already, you can sign up here.