DIY Gleaming Primrose Mirror (Anthropologie Dupe)
Updated: Jul 10, 2023
I'll be honest, about halfway through this project I thought it was going to be a total fail, but in the end we got there and I'm really excited to share this DIY Anthropologie dupe gold mirror with you today!
I know you've seen the beautiful (and very expensive) Anthropologie Primrose mirrors, right? I've wanted one for years, but the tall floor size I wanted was way more than I wanted to spend, so I decided to make my own. Let me start by saying this project was so EASY! While researching this DIY I saw several people who had done similar projects like Jelly and Jonny or Liz from The Quick Journey and they turned out beautifully, but they also looked like a lot of work. My goal here was to create something that was not only significantly cheaper than the Anthropologie mirror of my dreams, but also something that could easily be duplicated without a huge time commitment.
I'm going to link every piece of molding I used to add to this super affordable brass mirror and it really was as simple as painting the molding and gluing it on!
Supplies:
- brass mirror (You could use any mirror you like, but this one from Wal-Mart is a great size, affordable, and the pieces of molding I'm linking below are a perfect fit!)
- 2 bottom corner molding pieces (size B3)
- 2 long floral molding pieces (size E1)
- 1 top molding piece (I used the E4 size and I will say if you want to splurge and get the E5 size then you can skip the other four pieces of molding I ended up adding to the top, but the E5 size is a huge jump in price)
- 2 small molding flourishes (not needed if you use E5 top molding)
- 2 medium molding flourishes (not needed if you use E5 top molding)
- painters tape (optional)
(not pictured: the two additional pieces of molding I ended up adding)
So let's get into it!
The first thing I did was paint all of my trim pieces gold, I started by brushing on my antique gold rub n' buff.
I used a small craft paint brush and this worked perfectly for getting paint into all the little nooks and crannies, but I soon realized that I was using a ton of rub n' buff on just one piece of molding so I decided to spray paint the molding first.
The spray paint was quite a bit more dull, so I did go back and brush rub n' buff on top of the paint to give it that gilded effect.
This worked out perfectly- saved me time and I only needed one tube of rub n' buff for all of my pieces. After my molding was painted I went ahead and rub n' buffed the frame of my mirror so the different shades of gold would match.
Then it was just a matter of gluing my molding pieces to the frame. I started at the bottom and added on my corners (B3), then added my longer pieces (E1) right above that.
I used Liquid Nails Fuze-it Max because this product claims to have a stronger initial grip and hold. I thought this might be helpful since I didn't want to have to worry about needing to clamp the pieces on while they dried. This product did not disappoint. It worked really well and did exactly what I was hoping it would!
I do think you could use regular Liquid Nails if that's what you have on hand, you may just want to assemble your mirror and molding while they lay flat on the floor. Once my bottom pieces were on I added the top piece (E4).
The second I stepped back to get a good look at the finished mirror I instantly regretted not buying the larger piece of top molding (E5).
I think if my top molding went all the way to the edges of the mirror it would have been perfect, but the cost of the larger molding (E5-$180) vs. the piece that I did buy (E4- $40) was significant. This is the point I thought this project might be a lost cause, but I decided to head to the store to see if I could find a few more pieces of molding to add to the top corners. I found plenty of options at both Hobby Lobby and Lowes and I decided to grab this pair of small flourishes at Hobby Lobby and then these two larger pieces at Lowes.
I ended up snapping off one tiny corner of the Lowe's molding and then piecing it with the small flourish from Hobby Lobby at the top to create a corner.
Once it was all painted and glued on I feel like it really looks like it's just an extension of the original molding. It added the perfect amount of detail and I love it now!
I truly feel like I have the Anthropologie mirror I've always wanted now, at a fraction of the cost! Speaking of cost- let's do a little breakdown so we can see just how everything shook out!
Cost:
molding- $138
brass mirror- $101
spray paint- $10
rub n' buff- $10
liquid nails- $12
Total: $271
vs. the 6' Anthropologie version at $1,198 or 7' version that costs $1,598- I'm counting this as a HUGE win!
I'm so excited and I love it, but I'm dying to know what you think! And please let me know if you tackle this project because I would love to see it! Tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or Tik Tok!
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