Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

Vintage Mirror to Command Center

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Don’t you love when you have an easy day at work on a Friday? You know… when there is not much going on, and you can actually surf on the web freely, maybe read some posts on your favorite blogs or maybe have a little bit of Pinterest time to yourself. Not that it happens often, but one of those Fridays as I was cruising on craigslist I got lucky enough to score a vintage tri-fold mirror for $20.

Last year Christmas time we received quite a lot of Christmas cards, and I didn’t have any place to put them all up. Our fridge doesn’t have a metallic surface, so I couldn’t put any magnets on to hold cards on it, nor did I have any type of card display. So when I saw this bad boy on Craigslist, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it: A Command Center! Because I knew with the right color paint and a bit of modification it could also be used as a sweet holiday decoration spot.

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

Greg and I both were surprised when we went to pick the piece. It actually doesn’t look so big in the pictures, but man was it big and heavy! As soon as we got it in the car I started day dreaming about where I would put the Christmas cards and that I needed to make a nice garland and what kind of chalk art I should come up with. I bet it was the longest drive for Greg, as I even started singing Christmas Carols to go with that day dreaming. [It was July.  -Greg]  Poor my babes! He always has to put up with my weird excitement.

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

I started the makeover with unscrewing the hinges to separate the folds. Once the folds were separated, it was easy to pull out the backing and get the mirrors out. I managed to take out the mirrors intact and put them in my crafts room, as I have a future plan for those mirrors. After all that dismantling I sanded each piece so I could get rid of the peels of that old lacquer. Not that you normally need to do any sanding before painting with chalk type paint but sometimes you just want to have a smoother surface to have a better finish in the end.

I have used and I like most of the branded chalk type paints out there, but ever since I made my own chalk type paint I am incredibly addicted to it. So for this piece also I prepared my homemade chalk type paint, custom color-matched to Old White by Annie Sloan.

I gave 3 coats of paint to the folds and during the drying time of these 3 coats, I worked on the appliques of the main body. Ok, correction: I asked Greg to help me with gluing the appliques. If you want to have those appliques looking nice and neat, ask for someone’s hand, because that hand in fact is a “Time and Nerve Saver.” Oh also, depending on your personality you might want someone with a lot of patience. Below is how our applique gluing work went:

Greg: Where do you want them, my babes?

Me: This one will go here, this one to the middle and this will go as a mirror image to the first one.

Greg: Ok, so you want the middle one here?

Me: Yes but move it tiny bit upwards.

Greg: Like this?

Me: Yeah, I guess… You know what? A wee bit towards left maybe?

Greg: Like this?

Me: No I said left!

Greg: This IS left!

Me: No I meant the other left! (Can you tell that I have left & right dyslexia?)

Greg: O-key?!? Like this?

Me: I don’t know… What do you think? Shall we put this piece here instead?

Greg: No, no. I think this one is good here…. Come on, I need you to hold it in place so I can mark its place.

At this point he was about to lose his patience so I didn’t push it further. As I was trying holding the piece in place:

Greg: Don’t move it!

Me: Oh golly!

I moved the piece and we had to start again from step one. Once we finally marked up the places, the rest was a piece of cake. I just put wood glue on the back of the appliques and let my babes clamp them, as I held them in their marked places. This was the most tedious part of this project, and I was so happy that the appliques were finally in place that I forgot to take pictures of this entire process.

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

Next in line was the cover of the front box. I first filled it with wood filler. After the wood filler dried, I sanded it down to have a level surface and glued the last applique on it. The next day both the main body and the front box cover were ready for paint, and I gave them also 3 thin coats of paint. Once the paint dried, I sanded all the pieces with 320 grit sand paper to have a smoother surface before waxing. I also finished distressing during this sanding process. Then as the protective coat, I put Annie Sloan Clear Soft Wax.

I am not sure how other DIYers buff, but I generally use an electric buffer as I get a perfect shine in an easy and painless way. I also recently bought a buffer brush bit for drill, but I am yet to try it so I don’t know how well that works.

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

This was my first project in which I used chicken wire. After cutting the chicken wire to size, I first thought that I should straighten it before stapling it on the folds. But then I thought if I stretch it enough it will end up being straight and so it did. Therefore if you are doing a similar project, I suggest you not lose time trying to straighten the chicken wire.

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

As for the chalkboard, we bought a metal sheet from Home Depot. I spray painted it with chalkboard spray paint and voila! I had a chalkboard which I can use magnets on. Now who needs a metallic surfaced fridge when you have a metallic chalkboard, right?

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

This command center turned out to be a fabulous addition to our home, and I can’t wait to decorate it for holidays!

Handan, xo

Vintage Mirror to Command Center | DIY furniture makeover| Upcycled furniture | DIY command center | Repurposed tri-fold mirror | Homemade chalk paint | Painted furniture | Farmhouse style furniture | Annie Sloan Old White color | Painted and distressed furniture makeover | Ornate furniture | Transformed furniture | Before & After | TheNavagePatch.com

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68 Comments

  1. I love what you do with your furniture finds and I love your stories. I just recently found your site and have enjoyed every bit of the time I’m spending here. Thanks for the inspiration…always looking for new ways to upcycle old things.

  2. Handan, this mirror turned command center looks awesome!! The conversation with your husband while working on this was hilarious! I really love how this turned out!! It looks great with the Easter decorations and I bet it’s going to look great with your Christmas cards too. Thanks for sharing at Sweet Inspiration!

    1. Thank you so much, Keri! Greg puts up with a lot of weirdness around here, like my right-left dyslexia or blue/green/black color-blindness. With the dyslexia it was hard for him at the beginning, but he learned it quick and nowadays never listens to me when I give road directions…LOL.

  3. Beautiful transformation! I love command centers and it is great how it has a little cubby box. Lol the convo with your husband cracked me up. Patience is key with DIY.

  4. I love what you did with the mirror Handan! I love chicken wire pretty much anything,, and it looks perfect in the side panels. Fabulous job! Thanks so much for sharing at Vintage Charm. I’m pinning this one too!

  5. I am so charmed by your command center. It’s so lovely. I do have to say that Greg is a saint 🙂 But your vision for the command center was spot on. Thanks for sharing at the #ThisIsHowWeRoll Link Party. Pinning now.

    1. Thank you so much, Susan! Oh yes! He is a saint! I don’t know how he puts up with me sometimes but as I always say “I am lucky that he loves me!” 🙂

  6. Beautiful! I need a command center, maybe I’ll get lucky enough to find a vintage mirror like this. Thanks for sharing at the Wednesday Showcase party.

  7. Great idea to use some metal and paint it with Chalkboard paint. Have the magnets made any scratches in the painted surface or does the paint seem to be very resilient?

    1. Thanks so much, Sandy! No, it has no scratches so far…using spray chalkboard paint did the trick I guess as spray paint always stick better to all surfaces. I sprayed it with one thin coat (that was the first coat) then 2 normal coats, so all in all 3 coats. I am not sure if there are any other brands have chalkboard spray paint, but I used Rust-Oleum’s chalkboard spray paint as our local hardware store had only Rust-Oleum in their stock.

  8. This is so very pretty. I’m in a bit of envy over your find of this vintage mirror! I actually want to do a mirror as part of our command center, once I get to that area, myself. I’m excited more by your transformation and will definitely keep my eye out for something half as pretty! 🙂

    1. Thank you so much, Kendall! Yes this was a great find for the price, and what I like about it most is that in the middle part there is a little box which I believe was used for to keep the make-up materials. But since it is a command center I keep all the chalk, little magnets and other bits&bobs that use on command center in that tiny box. Hides the mess perfectly 🙂

  9. Love what you did with this piece! It is fantastic! I bought a buffer brush too but was nervous to use it as it felt so stiff and I was worried about leaving circles in the wax … then I finally tried it and thought “WOW! where have you been all my DIY life little brush!” It works beautifully and it really saves the muscles some pain 😉 I hope you have an amazing day!
    Smiles!
    Terry
    The Curator’s Collection & Making Broken Beautiful Thursday

    1. Thank you so much, Terry! Oh those buffer brushes are my best friend…totally a time saver 🙂
      I hope you too have an amazing day, Terry! 🙂

  10. The transformation is amazing! I try to save old pieces of furniture with the intention of repurposing and all they are doing is collecting dust in the garage. You all are so talented!

    Thanks for sharing with Small Victories Sunday Linkup. Pinning to our linkup board and hope you found some great posts to visit this week!