Our Hopeful Home: How To Upgrade A $10.00 Plastic Gold Mirror

Today I'm sharing how to upgrade a $10.00 Five Below plastic gold mirror with a little elbow grease and some Rub 'N Buff.

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gold plastic Room To Room Five Below wall mirror in box

As home decor goes, mirrors are expensive. Sometimes crazily so. That's why I've gotten most of mine at thrift stores and vintage shops. And today's mirror is no exception. I purchased it at Five Below for $10.00. While the mirror has that classic frame I love, the "gold" looked a bit fake, probably because the mirror's frame is made of a lightweight plastic material.

gold Windsor mirror hanging on dining room wall

I actually like that it's plastic because mirrors can be something else as well -- heavy! Case in point: my thrifted dining room mirror. It was so heavy that I needed special hardware to hang it up. Check out the tutorial How To Use 3M Claw Drywall Picture Hanger.

gold frame on mantel with botanical framed print and white taper candle

After deciding that I wanted to put it on the bedroom mantel, next to a thrift store mirror I also transformed, I knew I had to do something about the frame. It really stuck out as cheesy next to the transformed mirror and definitely needed an upgrade.

two gold mirrors on mantel eucalyptus garland

Can you see the difference in the finishes? Honestly, it looks way better in this picture than it does in real life. Oh, and you can ignore the shoe boxes on top of the armoire and the clothes piled on the dresser, thank you. Just keeping it real.

package and tube of gold leaf Rub 'N Buff on paper plate

Here's what saved the day: Rub 'n Buff metallic gold leaf.

DIY Anthropologie Gleaming Primrose Mirror Dupe on mantel

You can read about the process of how I use Rub 'n Buff to transform mirrors in my post Anthropolgie Gleaming Primrose Mirror Dupe.

before and after examples of painted plastic mirror frame

Once I painted on the gold leaf it definitely looked better. But the details of the mirror frame, despite the fact that they're made of plastic, are still great, regardless of the finish.

And the details of the mirror frame, despite the fact that they're made of plastic, are still great -- regardless of the finish.

fall bedroom mantel dried orange cone flowers amber vase gold mirror pumpkin spiral orange candle

My upgraded gold mirror became the star of our fall bedroom mantel.

amber bottle vase dried fall flowers garland orange taper candle pumpkin spiral orange taper

The new gold finish compliments the fall colors beautifully. I couldn't be happier with the new look.

You don't have to pay a lot of money for a beautiful mirror. Just keep your eyes open and your mind forgiving -- sometimes all it takes is a little Rub 'N Buff.

For your convenience, I'm including a list of potential inexpensive mirrors that could use an easy upgrade:

OMIRO decorative wall mirror

OMIRO oval antique gold wall mirror

OMIRO gold shield shaped mirror

Square antique gold mirror

Well, that's it for today, friends!

I hope you enjoyed reading about

How To Upgrade A $10.00 Plastic Gold Mirror

and that I've inspired you in some way.

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