Thrifty Find Friday.

Every Friday I am going to try to feature something I found at a thrift store.  Hopefully the luck I've been having with finding great things holds out so I can keep this up.

This one's going to be a little light in the picture department.  Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures of the "before." Whoops. 

I first saw this mirror at the Goodwill in my town.  It was originally priced 24.99,  which is pretty good  for a made from real wood mirror.  Plus it had some incredibly intricate carving at the top.  And I knew I could make it look a lot better since it was a little rough around the edges.  But......my goodwill has 50% off sales on most of their merchandise based on the color of the tag.  This mirror was due to be marked down the very next week so I figured if it was still there, it was meant to be.

Unfortunately, I missed the week-long sale, but don't feel too bad just yet.  After an item spends the whole week at 50% off, running Sunday to Sunday, if it hasn't sold, it's offered for 99 cents on Monday.  Yep, 99 cents.  Can you see where this is going?  On Monday, I sauntered into my local Goodwill, swung by the mirror section and IT WAS STILL THERE!  I actually flagged down an employee to double check that I would be snapping it up for only 99 cents.  She confirmed and I sprinted to the front of the store to pay for it.  Well, actually I awkwardly lugged it to the front since the thing probably weighs 40 pounds.

Here's a shot of the before, all taped up and ready to paint. 

Why yes, that is my messy garage in the background.  Keeping it real!

A close-up of the amazing carving at the top.

Back when I found this guy it was still spray painting season, so I grabbed a can of Krylon Ivory paint in gloss that I had leftover from another project and went to town.

I did three thin coats, leaving it to dry for about five minutes between coats.  After it was completely dry (I think I left it overnight) I grabbed some sandpaper and distressed the edges a bit.

Here's the finished product. 

I love how the carved part looks once it's been distressed.  Beautiful.

And here's the budget breakdown, including tax:

Mirror: 1.07 (!!!!)
Spray Paint (half can): 1.85
Hanging hardware: 2.15
Total: 5.07

So for just over 5 dollars I got a mirror that measures 5 feet by 3 feet and fits beautifully at the top of my stairs.  It reminds me a lot of this one I found online:

It's on sale for a mere 469.00.  Down from 739.00. Gulp.

Lindsay.