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How To Make An Old window Christmas Decoration

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Repurposing an old window into a Christmas Mirror Decoration

Earlier on in the year, a friend had a load of new windows put in her house and I managed to rescue the old Victorian sashes she replaced before they went to the dump. One of them I turned into this fabulous old window Christmas decoration.

This is not just any old window Christmas decoration it also doubles up as a mirror for my mantle during the festive season.

There are many lovely words that you just associate with Christmas. I love to use these words in my Christmas crafting projects. Last year I make some giant felt Fa La La letters. For this year’s upcycled Christmas decoration Jingle was my Christmas word of choice. Every time, I hear the word “Jingle” I think of Christmas in a lovely nostalgic way!

Come the first of December I swap my normal mantle mirror for this old window Christmas Decoration. It’s a Christmas sign, mirror, and place to hang ornaments all wrapped into one.

As well as the windows you can upcycle the curtain fixings into Christmas decorations too, like with these Boho wooden ornaments.

Old Window Christmas decoration mirror

This post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to see my disclosure policy.

What I Used for my Old Window Christmas Decoration

Old sash windows upcycled into herb planter

    • Old Window or old glass picture frame – Keep a lookout for these you can often pick them up for free from a skip.
    • Fine paint brush
    • Masking tape

How to Make an Old Window Christmas Decoration

Painting on the words

    1. If your frame is looking a bit too new you can easily age it. Sanding and chipping off some of the paint and then rubbing the frame with a dark furniture wax helps to achieve that shabby look.
    1. To start with download and print out the “Jingle” template here. Depending on the size of your window resize the wording to fit.

      The font I used was far too big to fit on one piece of A4 paper. Therefore, I printed the template one bit at a time, onto several pages. Print your Christmas word out as a mirror image. If you go into advanced options on the print setup page, you should be able to tick a mirror image option.

      I painted onto the back of the window (hence the mirror image). Therefore, stick the printed template onto the front of the window so that you can read the letters on the other side.

      old-window-christmas-mirror-rev-s

      old-window-christmas-mirror-s

    1. Using your template as a guide paint the Christmas words onto the back of your window. I painted 3 coats, letting each coat dry in between.
      Upcycling an old window Christmas decoration and mirror

Creating the mirror effect

  1. When you have finished painting remove your paper template. Cover the back frame of the painted window in masking tape. Lay the window down flat onto newspapers. Either outside or in a very well ventilated room.

    Then following the instructions on the can, spray the back of the window with the some mirror spray paint. I shook my can of paint well, sprayed from a height of 20-30cm and did about 4 coats of paint. Waiting a couple of minutes between each coat.

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  2. The mirror spray paint creates a lovely antique mirror effect which looks great with the old window as it adds to that lovely vintage look. To finish off I added some brass cup hooks to the bottom of the window. This enabled me to hang Christmas vintage baubles and bells on the mirror window.

Old window Christmas decoration: turn an old window into an antique mirror and lovely Christmas decoration for that vintage Christmas look.

Old Window Christmas decoration mirror 2018 s

What are your favourite Christmas words ? Mine are “Fa La La”, “Jingle” and “Ho Ho Ho”.

If you like this window transformation you may want to check out my others:
Upcycled window herb garden
Happy Hour Upcycled Window

I also have some more upcycled Christmas decoration ideas.
Sweater Upcycled Christmas Ornaments
Upcycled Christmas Shuttlecock (Birdie) Angel Wings
Faboulous upcycled felt garland


Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. Leanna

    Old windows are really hard to find in Western Canada and if you do they are so pricey its ridiculous. I wish I could find them because your makeover/craft is super cute and pretty.

    Reply

  12. Lori

    Love this project! Very cool with the tracing technique and the mirror effect! Definitely a treasure.
    Thanks so much for sharing and linking up at Dishing It & Digging It! Can’t wait to see more of your creativity next week! 🙂

    Reply

  16. Kimm at Reinvented

    Oh Claire, I love this SO MUCH! I have an old window leaning on our mantel, but it is plain. I am inspired to create a Christmas themed window for the season, I just need to find another window! 🙂 Thank you so much for participating in the T2T blog hop! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

    Reply

  18. Lynn Spencer

    Claire, I can’t even tell you how cool this is! Oh my…I just really love the creativity you have that inspired this project. Now you have my mind spinning as to all the great take-offs of this project.

    Thanks for the inspiration my friend!

    Hugs, Lynn

    Reply

  19. Florence @ VintageSouthernPicks

    This post caught my eye b/c hubby was just telling me this week he wanted to get rid of some newer old windows I picked up on the curb a while back. Just waiting for inspiration, ya know?? Now I’ve got it with your Christmas window. I totally love the project. Pinning for later. Thanks!

    Reply

  20. debbie

    This reminds me of a client I had that wanted a personalized bar mirror. The techniques shown here would totally work for making one of your own. Love the final project!

    Reply

  27. Sarah

    Oh my goodness – this turned out so great! I love the “old mirror” effect you got with the spray paint!! And the chippyness of the paint is glorious!

    Reply

  28. Lisa

    Your mantle is delightful. Fun, light, and airy are all words that come to mind while I was gazing at it.

    Beautiful re-purpose of an old window.

    Lisa

    Reply

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