You can't win 'em all...

before

before

I bought this mirror from a guy's junk barn.  It is the perfect shape and size for the upstairs bathroom.   It has a wooden frame, coated with plaster and painted.  Unfortunately, the plaster is cracking off.  Actually, I'm surprised there wasn't more damage--it was stacked under five picture frames, and also under a leaky roof.

The wood is so dry and splintery...and the plaster just keeps flaking off.  As it turned out, I needed to remove the plaster.  This killed me.  I scraped off the loose pieces with a dull chisel (hardly a restoration project).  

Halfway through the scraping, I realized that THERE MIGHT BE LEAD!!!  How did I overlook that?  Look at all the white flakes in that picture!

Two negative lead tests later (phew!), I had removed the plaster and painted the wood.  But even after sanding, the surface was in poor condition.  The paint shows how uneven it is.

I'm not hanging this on the wall anytime soon.  You can't win them all.  Good thing it was in bad condition anyway.

after  (gross)

I'd like to keep working on this.  Maybe another sanding?  I don't know.