DIY RUSTIC MIRROR FOR UNDER $30

This is just about the easiest DIY I’ve ever done. Seriously, you can put together this baby in about 10 minutes.

When I was in the midst of making over one of Mom & Pop’s bathrooms, I had planned on keeping their builder grade mirror and simply framing it out for an inexpensive update. Well, good intentions don’t always end up with good results. After building the concrete sink (click HERE for tutorial), I was installing the concrete backsplash and well, I broke the mirror. Doh!

I know, I know…seven years bad luck. Yay for me. But needless to say it was time for plan B… a new mirror. So I head over to my local home improvement store to see what I could find. What I learned from my store visit is that framed mirrors are pretty damn expensive. Seriously, large framed mirrors can easily be $100 and up. I suppose that recognition was the first of my broken mirror bad luck. The other problem was that they didn’t have any mirrors that really fit with the new steel cable suspension shelves (click HERE for tutorial) that I had already built and installed in the bathroom.

So my solution: return to plan A…. well, a revised plan A. That is, framing a new mirror.

I found a nice sized 30″ x 24″ frameless beveled mirror at Lowes for $18.97, but with my 10% off coupon the price was right around $17. (Did you know that change of address packets from the Post Office includes 10% off Lowes coupons? So I gotta tell ya that I usually pick up a few packs whenever I stop at the Post Office. The best was when I used one of those coupons for a new washing machine. Score!)

While at the store, I also picked up some mirror adhesive and some 1/4″ thick strips of craft wood.

My total cost for everything with coupon was just under $30. Not too bad for a new custom mirror.

To start, cut your strips of wood the appropriate lengths for the size of your mirror. I cut the wood longer than the length and width of the mirror so that the ends would over hang the mirror. I cut the vertical strips 36 inches and the horizontal strips 27 inches.

I stained the wood with Minwax Polyshades in Ebony, the same stain I used on the shelves. To stain, use a high quality paint brush to apply the stain. Then wipe off the stain using a clean cloth. Repeat if you want a darker color. I was happy with only one coat of stain.

Next, using a hot glue gun I glued the vertical strips of wood directly to the sides of the mirror with the edges extending past the top and bottom length of the mirror.

The horizontal strips are then glued to the top and bottom ends directly onto the vertical wood strips, also with the ends extending past the side edges.

Finally, use mirror adhesive to glue your mirror directly onto the wall. Note that you should not try to adhere your mirror with anything other than mirror adhesive because other types of glue can ruin the mirror backing.

Also, when adhering the mirror, use some mirror clips to hold the mirror in place until the glue dries so you don’t risk the mirror crashing to the floor in the middle of the night. That would suck. Remove the clips from the wall once the mirror glue has dried and fill in any holes left behind by the clips.

That’s it. How easy is that?!!!

Then stand back and admire you lovely new DIY rustic mirror.

This post linked to some of these totally fabulous blogs and Remodelaholic.