DIY: Gold Foil Quatrefoil Mirror

While daydreaming about my new master suite, I got stuck on the idea of hanging a mirror on the wall behind each bedside table lamp. This would add a touch of glamour and sparkle, plus it practically doubles the amount of light in the room - a huge bonus when the bedroom lacks a ceiling junction box. Here is an inspiration photo from Tides South Beach:

It's no secret that I love me a good quatrefoil motif, and you may recall that we used a quatrefoil mirror from HomeSense in my Mom's powder room makeover. I thought that this style would work perfectly for my bedside table idea, so I went ahead and also purchased a pair for myself.

Scale is everything in this case, and unfortunately the mirrors were too small and got lost behind the lamps, so they were promptly returned. Instead I found a pair of 30" x 30" quatrefoil mirrors at Lowe's which were just the right size - substantial enough to avoid being completely covered by the lamps. The only problem was that I was not a fan of the black frames.

Here is where the gold leaf enters the story. I picked up all of the supplies I needed for less than $20.00 - two packages of gold foil and size adhesive from Michael's (purchased with a 40% off coupon), and sponge brushes from Dollarama. After several months of procrastination it was time to get started. With help from my Mom and some online tips from Jenny at Little Green Notebook, we taped off the mirror and applied the adhesive size and gold leaf one section at a time, slowly working our way around.

After just a few long short hours, we ended up with a gorgeous gold quatrefoil mirror. Some of you may wonder why I didn't just spray paint this mirror gold, since I'm such a pro (see other spray paint projects here, here, here and here), but I wanted to achieve the antique patina that comes with real gold leaf. We completed just one mirror on Sunday afternoon, so there is still another to go, but having one under my belt makes me hopeful that the next one will be a bit quicker.
 
I love the way it turned out. What do you think?