Updating a Mirror

I stumbled into a little decorating project by accident this weekend. 

I was trying to clean some double-sided tape off of a mirror in anticipation of hanging it up in the newly-painted entranceway (post to come about that, I promise!) 

This is the mirror before. 

Just an everyday mirror, from Lowe's I think.  I'm not sure what the frame is made of; I don't think it's real wood though.

The tape goes all around the outside edge and is a leftover from Christmas decorating (2 years ago).  I was just using regular nail polish remover to get rid of the sticky residue. 

It was quickly apparent that the tape wasn't coming off but some of the finish on the frame was. I wasn't happy about that at first, but when I rubbed a little harder along the edge and the original frame colour came through I thought it gave the frame a sort of oil rubbed bronze look.  So I kept going.

I would wipe some polish remover along the edge, wait a minute, and then rub it again until I got to where I wanted it. The whole thing took about 20 minutes to do.  It now has more depth and dimension. 

This shot is a good example of the before and after.

Here it is hanging in the hall. 

I'm not sure the detail comes through from this far back.

And unfortunately I still need to find something

to remove that darned tape on the outside edges.

What's better than a happy accident?  A happy decorating accident that costs you nothing!

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I'm linking up here this week!