Megan and I moved last week! Although moving is tremendously painful for us to have just relocated upstairs in our building, we gained an incredible view of downtown Houston and lowered our rent. We’re quite please with our new place. Moving is also a great thing to do, in my opinion, because you really clear out the stuff you don’t really need. I was able to finally raid my closet of old clothes from high school and things that never got unpacked from my first move. It also inspired a redecoration movement… a cheap DIY one at that!

My bedroom lost some square footage from my last place, so the best way to practically make it feel larger was to install a mirror. I stopped by Target and picked up their $6 black dorm room mirror. It was fine looking, but I thought it could use a fun little update. Using just some painters tape and a bottle of gold paint I was able to glam up my room with a modern twist. A layered paint effect adds a neat pattern to the mirror’s frame without looking too intense. Check out my Modern Gilded Mirror DIY for a cheap and chic addition to any room!

Modern Gilded Mirror DIY

Supplies:

Mirror with frame
Painters Tape
Gold Paint
Paint Brush

1. Cut small pieces of tape and place them diagonally along the side of your mirror all the way from the mirror face around the frame to the back of the mirror. Make sure the tape is firmly pressed down into all of the grooves of the frame so that the paint doesn’t seep into them. Continue placing pieces of tape about an inch apart from each other following the pattern shown below. I did this at the top and bottom of the mirror frame as well.

2. Cut long strips of tape and place them along the mirror next to the frame so that while you are painting none of the paint gets onto the mirror.

3. Grab a medium width paint brush and paint three coats of gold paint over the entire frame making sure to let each coat dry before going on to the next one to keep the paint from getting tacky. The paint I bought from Michaels is shown below and gave a great, shiny finish!

 

4. Once you have fully covered the frame in gold paint, take off the diagonal strips of tape to expose the whole frame. Make sure the mirror is still covered in tape surrounding the frame so that the last layer of paint does not get onto the mirror.

5. Paint one more layer of gold paint over the entire frame so that the areas that had previously been covered in tape have a thin layer of paint over them. This creates the cool layered paint effect and makes the modern diagonal pattern less intense. And you’re done, gilded to perfection!