Château de la Basmaignée
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Renovation: a superb rococo mirror
During one of his recent brocanting trips, Billy came across a magnificent 19th century mirror, and if its beauty had not been enough to convince him to buy it, its size certainly was: a reasonably priced Louis XV, 2.30 meters high mirror is too rare to pass on the occasion!
That is how, a couple of weeks ago, Billy and Michael went back out with the trailer, to pick up this new renovation project, and some supplies to mend it. Dedicating a few days to this new enterprise, the pair of them gave it a good shipshape rejuvenation cure: after a good clean, the broken plaster-work was repaired, some mouldings had to be recreated, gold leaf was reapplied…
Once it was looking good again, came the time to find a room for it, which was not that easy! Although we have high ceilings on the ground floor, the wood panelling is, in most rooms, too high to allow room for the mirror above it. After considering saving it for an upstairs room, we ended up finding the perfect home for it, giving us a good excuse for rearranging the winter garden. After securing a safe way to hang all 70 kilos of the mirror (let’s not forget we have a very curious toddler in the house), it finally went up on the wall!
As usual when we install a new antique piece in the château, and even more so when it is something grand like this mirror, I can’t help but wonder where it came from, what it has seen before, and what memories it carries with it. I like to think that we are giving it a new purpose, within the continuity of its original intent.
If you like brocanting, don’t miss www.guidebrocante.com to plan your next outing! There are still a lot of brocantes to add to it, feel free to submit your favourite ones through the dedicated form on the website.