Repurpose A Mirrored Vanity Tray Into Wall Decor

Vintage mirrored vanity trays make great wall decor. All you need to do is add a hanger to the back, and you have a cute wall mirror.

Before adding a hanger to my tray, I painted the metal edging and added gold gilding wax to highlight the details. 

The mirror was in a large box lot of items from a local auction. It was actually a table full of items, and I had to box them up myself, and it took several boxes. So the tray was cheap.

Today is the Thrift Store Decor Tour, and you know what that means – more inspiration for you. So, after my short and sweet project tutorial, be sure to take the tour.

I cleaned the mirrored tray, both front and back, and then used a screwdriver to lift the clips holding the backing and mirror in place.

It is much easier to spray paint an item if you can disassemble it. If I left the tray intact, that would mean I had to cover the mirror with painter’s tape and paper before spray painting. Taking the tray apart was easy.

I had a couple of almost identical blue spray paint colors on the shelf, and I pulled those for the project.

After looking through my paints again, I decided on an aqua-green color. But then I ended up spraying blue paint over the green because the green was too bright. 

After the paint dried, I put the vanity tray back together. Those clips are really sturdy and a lot easier to work with than 6 screws.

I wasn’t sure how to add a hanger to the tray when I hit upon the idea of just placing a length of ribbon under two of the clips. The tray is lightweight, and those clips are strong, so this worked perfectly.

I realize I started with a gold metal-rimmed mirror, but the blue paint felt flat. Rubbing a bit of Dixie Belle Gold Gilding Wax over some of the raised details perked up the paint. 

I also ran the gold gilding wax along the outer edges. Once the wax has dried, you want to buff it for extra shine.

The butterfly sticker on the mirror was an idea that didn’t work. Even coating it in gold wax didn’t help.

Moving on to other ideas, I pulled a few white daisies from my flower stash and hot-glued them to the mirror. They are easy to remove if I get tired of the look.

I don’t know why I wanted to add more details to the mirror. But I do like the daisies, and the mirror looks great hanging on the bathroom wall.

The colors in the bathroom are shades of blue and green with a bit of coral thrown in. 

The clips and the ribbon for hanging the tray lie flat against the back, so I can use the vanity tray as a… well, a vanity tray if I get tired of seeing it on the wall.

When I was taking photos, I noticed a spot I had missed with the gilding wax around the outer bottom edge of the tray. I need to fix that…..or maybe not.

Let me know what you think of my wall mirror, then take the Thrift Store Decor Tour by clicking the text links below the ‘before’ makeover photo collage.

Thrift Store Decor Tour….
Barn Metal Pride Flag – Shop At Blue
Little Girl Garden Statue Makeover – My Repurposed Life
DIY Macrame Propagation Station – My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Petticoat Junktion (you are here)

As always thanks for being here, Kathy