Trash or treasure?

"At the dressing table, every woman has a chance to be an artist, and art, as Aristotle said, 'completes what nature left unfinished'" - Sophia Loren.

A dressing table was definitely not a priority when furnishing our current flat. But I was adamant that I wanted one to complete our bedroom, so that I could have a small area of 'girly space'. A space to get ready and do my makeup at, and a space to store my jewellery, makeup and perfumes. It was just one of those female ambitions I guess!

Spending hundreds on a new dressing table wasn't an option, so I decided that I would attempt to find an old, cheap dressing table mirror that I could upcycle and put on the shelving unit in our bedroom. Upcycling furniture isn't something I had ever done before but I was ready for a challenge and the idea of giving a pre-loved piece of furniture a new lease of life was quite exciting!
 

I set about searching for furniture online; on eBay and gumtree mostly. You can find absolute bargains on sites like these - sometimes you have to be willing to travel a small distance for collection, but it's all in the name of saving money and when saving money is concerned I'm all over it!

I found a shabby old dressing table mirror on gumtree and collected it from a little warehouse on a large retail park not far from where we live. The guy selling it actually had a whole room of old furniture and junk he was flogging! It looked pretty tired and unloved... but for £10 this baby was mine to transform.

I knew I wanted the mirror to be white to match the shelving unit in our bedroom and to keep things rather simplistic. I have quite a love for white furniture. We took a visit to Farrow & Ball to choose some paint and explained what we were looking for. A lovely woman talked us through some colour charts (who'd have known that there are so many whites to choose from!). In the end I chose 'Blackened'. I always love the names of Farrow & Ball paints! They can be quite pricey so if you're looking to spend less then head to Homebase or B&Q to find a cheaper selection of wood and furniture paints.

 

First things first I started sanding down the dressing table, using bog-standard sand paper I purchased from a local hardware shop. This can be a rather time-consuming process but it's important that you rub off any lumps of old paint to ensure that you get a really smooth finish for when you paint again. I'll admit that Rob helped with some of the sanding - there's definitely no I in teamwork!

After I'd sanded it all down, I gave the mirror a good clean with a damp cloth and left it to dry fully before doing anything else. I created my own 'upcycling space' on our balcony, and put an old bed sheet down to catch all the dirt and paint. Not sure the landlord would have been too impressed but there we go...

Once I was pleased that the furniture was sanded down and smooth enough I applied a layer of undercoat paint. Again, this was bog-standard undercoat paint from our local hardware shop.

After a layer of undercoat and leaving the mirror to dry, I applied the Farrow & Ball. I did two coats of this to ensure previous markings and paint did not show through. When the furniture is finished and dry you can then apply varnish on top, but I didn't bother.

Ta-daaaaaa!

Looks pretty good, don't you think?! I was so chuffed with how my first upcycling project turned out and it goes perfectly in our bedroom. 

I've well and truly caught the upcycling bug and I cannot wait to finally find a house so I can purchase lots more bargain furniture to give some love to!

Lydia xxx