How To Make An Old window Christmas Decoration
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.
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 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
-
- 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.
-
- 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.
- 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.
-
- 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.
- 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.
Creating the mirror effect
- 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.
- 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.
What are your favourite Christmas words? Mine are "Fa La La", "Jingle" and "Ho Ho Ho".
China plates can also be upcycled with paint like these doily painted plates.
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
Fabulous upcycled felt garland
Love old windows and this turned our so pretty! Love the shabby look and the added touch of ornaments hanging. Looks perfect hanging over your mantle.
Thank you, Linda I do love how it looks on the mantle.
I love this Mirror Claire I would love this in my house
Ahh, thank you Amber. It's on my Christmas mantle looking very festive.
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.
Thank you, Leanna. I was lucky and got a load for free when my friend had new windows put in.
Great project Claire! It will warm up our house for the season. Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas!
Thank you so much.
Beautiful! I wouldn't have thought to put mirror paint on an old window, but it turned out beautifully! Thanks for sharing on the Waste Less Wednesday Hop!
Thank you so much !
What a great idea!! Thank you for sharing with us at the To Grandma's house we go link party, you will be featured tomorrow morning when the new party starts on Wednesday!
Thank you so much look forward to seeing it.
Thanks for sharing at Inspire Me Monday. I wanted to let you know that you are one of my Featured picks this week. I hope you will come by and check it out at http://www.farmhouse40.com/inspire-me-monday-109
Thank you and I look forward to seeing it.
Thank you so much for sharing with us at Dishing It & Digging It & congratulations on being featured this week!
Thank you !
Claire!!! I love this idea! I have old windows all through my house. Thank you for linking up at the Funtastic Friday Link Party! You are my feature this week!
Thank you so much LaCie for featuring me. I'd love to see how you decorate your old windows.
I am loving this! Thanks for sharing with us at Family Joy Blog Link Up Party this week. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you very much.
This is an amazing project! Love it love!
Thank you very much !
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! 🙂
Thank you so much.
Claire, I love everything about this…inspired to transform one of my old windows-just collecting dust in the garage!!! So glad I saw it on Sweet Inspirations!!
Thank you very much Michelle.