Today I want to share how I turned a black UNG DRILL Mirror, into a wonderful metallic masterpiece that every evil queen would love to enchant!
Pieces you’ll need:
- UNG DRILL mirror, any color.
- A primer paint if you’re going from dark to light (I used a random baby blue acrylic I had laying around)
- The final color of your choice (I picked a random nickel color at Michaels)
- One bristle brush to really push the paint into those nooks and crannies!
- One synthetic brush to get smooth coats on the larger areas.
- A small dish or paper plate for your paint.
Be sure to have enough room to work, paper towels or similar for any spills, and clean your brushes when you change colors, or use different brushes.
UNG DRILL mirror transformation
So I bought this UNG DRILL Mirror at a trip to IKEA a few years ago. And I do mean trip, it’s 2 hours there and then 2 more back!
At the time they had this beauty in two options: Black and White. I picked the Black one because it matched more with the themes in my new (then) apartment. I loved the frame from back when it was just a frame for sale, but when it came out as a mirror I knew I had to have it! It’s sadly not on sale anymore (for now, but we know how IKEA likes to re-release favorites!)
While the black mirror was nice, I always felt it was missing something. And one day it clicked! You can’t really see the gorgeous details unless you get up close! So this is what I started with:
Photo: IKEA.com
Even though it’s plastic you can see the potential.
I wanted a metallic sheen after seeing a picture of one in a bronze, so I scoured my vast collection of metallic acrylic paints and nothing called out to me. A quick trip to Michaels and I found a single bottle of a nickel color amongst a sea of silver. Jackpot!!
I dusted thoroughly with a microfiber cloth, and then very carefully bent back all of the staples to make sure I didn’t harm the mirror, and put it in a safe place.
One coat of baby blue later, going back over the thin spots, and this was my progress:
You can already see the details so much better than when it was black! I very nearly just kept it like this, but I had my heart set on metallic! But patience is a virtue, and painting on plastic has the potential to scratch off easily. So I waited a day for it to totally dry/cure.
The next day, and one coat of Nickel, along with a few touch ups, and voilá!
You can see all of the details so much better, and when the light shines on it I can’t help but love it even more! Carefully put the mirror back in place, then hung on the wall!
Total price: $2 for the nickel paint. I already had everything else.
Total time: 2 days to let the paint really set and dry on the plastic. Total time painting, roughly 3-4 hours.
Looking back, I maybe didn’t need to use a primer color, but since it was such a big change I figured safe than sorry! And the subtle hints of blue and black that come through make it look antiqued.
I hope you found inspiration from my little hack!
~ by Diane Evans
Jules is the author of IKEAHackers.net: 25 Biggest and Best Projects".
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