DIY Glamour

Like many 1930s Hollywood movies, this is a rags-to-riches tale: wood tables with humble beginnings blossom into shining stars, thanks to paint, mirrored glass, and an eye for glamour.

You can mirror just about any piece of furniture. The only prerequisite is that the edges be square and the surface flat. "The simpler the table, the easier the project," designer Wade Scherrer says. "The table just needs to be sturdy enough to hold the weight of the mirrors."

Start by priming the entire table. This seals the wood and keeps it from shrinking and expanding with changes in temperature and humidity, which can push adjoining pieces of mirror together, causing them to crack.

For curvy areas, it's better to use metallic paint or silver-leaf on the surfaces rather than try to apply mirror.

When choosing an unfinished wood table that will have painted areas that show, opt for harder woods such as alder or cherry. The tight grain gives a more opaque finish.

Hall of Mirrors Project

Clair de (Demi)Lune Project

Smoke and Mirrors Project

Masterful Mosaic Project

 

For best results, take precise measurements or make a kraft paper pattern of the surfaces that will be mirrored, allowing for overlaps at the corners. Then have a professional glass fabricator cut the pieces to size. (To find one in your area, look in the Yellow Pages under "Glass" or "Mirror" or search online by region at www.glass-fabricators.com.)

Unless the mirror pieces will be set into grout, have the edges seamed to make them smooth and safe to handle. For an additional fee, many glass shops will attach the pieces of mirror to the furniture for you. If you opt to do it yourself, make sure to use mirror mastic, a special adhesive that does not affect the reflectivity of the mirror.

Mirrored glass is available in 1/8- and 1/4-inch thicknesses. Thinner glass is easier to cut, lighter in weight, and cheaper, but thicker is more durable. To keep costs down, embellish your piece with precut mirrored tiles from a home store, as we did on the demilune table project.

So why not bring some drama into your decorating? Pluck a piece of unfinished furniture from obscurity, or rescue an aging star from the flea market, and turn it into a showstopping mirrored diva.

Transform almost any table into a masterpiece with these projects and tips from Creative Home magazine.