DIY Sunburst Mirror

I know I'm way late to the DIY Sunburst Mirror party, but hey better late than never. Right? Right.  I bought a sunburst mirror about 8 years ago when my local Bombay store was going out of business. I love the overall size of it and especially the size of the mirror. 

Recently, I've been looking to add one to my office, unfortunately they are a little pricey.  They range anywhere from $50-$200 and more. I'm not looking to spend near that much.  So when one is looking to do something cheaper than retail...what do we do?? We turn to blog land!  I found some awesome DIY Sunburst Mirrors!

Via Centsational Girl

Via The Frugal Homemaker

Via 9th and Mayne

I liked the color and style of the one from 9th and Mayne, so I bought the materials to replicate it.  As I'm laying out the floral rings and shims, I wasn't feeling the design and felt like I wanted something with more of a clean line.  So thinking about the way The Frugal Homemaker used a piece of scrap wood to secure the paint sticks and mirror, I decided to tweak her design and cut out a circle, in the plywood, the diameter of the shims and mirror.  I will explain as we go.

I bought a plastic framed mirror from the dollar store $1.79.  

I didn't sand, just primed.

For the record, when beginning a project, it may be helpful to sit down and make a list of supplies and actually have somewhat of a plan before diving in head first.  Of course, I didn't have a plan nor did I have what I needed to draw a circle of this size.  I laid out the mirror and shims to determine what the diameter should be.  At this point I haven't considered how I am going to draw the circle on the plywood.  So, I scrambled around my garage and decided to use leftover piping from my DIY project a few weeks ago as my protractor...not scientific and certainly not accurate! This is now a Shabby Chic DIY :)

Behold what I did!

After cutting out the circle, I glued down the mirror with Liquid Nails.  Then I laid the shims on the board with the thick part next to the mirror and I used a pencil to mark where I would need to cut off the excess at the thinner part.  This is where the accuracy of a perfect circle is important because I had to measure every shim and cut 37 of them individually.  Not the worst thing but I'm ready to get it done!  I lightly sanded the shims, eyeballed the placement and started gluing them using Liquid Nails. 

To stain, I used Minwax PolyShades in Espresso.

I didn't know if the stain would 'take' to the primed mirror frame, but that is what DIY is all about...the adventure!

1st Coat.  The stain on the mirror frame is looking good!

I applied 3 coats of stain, since I wanted a deeper look and the plywood was soaking it up.

All done and I love it!!   There are so many ways to DIY a sunburst mirror so not sure if anyone has done it like I did but I couldn't be happier with it :)  It looks so nice against my grey walls and the thrift store piece of furniture I restored (I will be posting it soon).

Linked up:

[Shabby Nest]

Basement Photo Collages

Although our basement is finished, it was in sad shape...as in just blah.  It was painted a light yellow and nothing on the walls.  Literally, NOTHING.  When you have 3 young boys who have a lot of young friends that like to throw things as well, you really just avoid the inevitable. Ya know :)  Now that my boys have gotten older, it's time to take back the basement!  Adult space!

We hung up the dart board and set up the folding poker table.  I will not be showing close ups of the poker table!  Many spills... and that's all I have to say about that (in my best Forest Gump voice).

These pictures are of Wildwood, NJ.  We vacation here every year.  The kids are never to old to hear "watch the train car please".  We love the games and rides, the sounds and food....oh the food.  There really isn't anything like it.  We get slices of pizza that are bigger than my two hands put together! The funnel cakes...the cheese steaks...the fried oreos...the saltwater taffy.  I have to stop!  It's really what these pictures represent.  Some of the best times of our lives were at the Jersey Shore!

I just used an online editor to make them black and white (it's a phase I'm going through) and then printed them on regular paper.  No need to have them printed anywhere but home.  FREE!!  I got all of the small black picture frames at the dollar store!

 Yes...we LOVE Elvis.

I haven't thrown darts in years. Years I tell you!  Hubs, who by the way is very good at darts, and I decided to play one night..well let me show you my first 3 throws:

I have to document this because it will NEVER. EVER. EVER. happen again!  I am at peace  :)

White Picture Frames Collage

I have so many pictures of the kids, vacations, family, celebrations...fun times.  Literally hundreds of hundreds of pictures!  OK, thousands upon thousands :)  Since I take at least three shots of every photo I take, thank the heavens for memory cards!  Those (goodness gracious I forgot what those things were called that we use to put in the camera...those rolls..film rolls!!)  film rolls in the camera use to be such a pain. For real!

I have wanted to do a collage with black and white prints with white frames for so long, but I didn't want to spend a fortune either.  IKEA is about an hour away and it just doesn't seem worth it to drive that far, for white picture frames...who am I kidding...I never leave IKEA without a fully loaded car. It. is. impossible. And is why I rarely go.  So what is the next best thing?  Thrift Store!  Check out my good luck!! All for $10.50! Hello 11 frames for $10.50 :)

When a girl wants a paint job done quick, I wouldn't know what to do without my Rust-Oleum!   :)

Via

They are about to be beautified!

Take a look.  They are so clean and fresh looking.  Btw... I went to JoAnn's for fabric and was looking around as always.  Then.  Lo and behold!  See through frames!   They were 50% off (they forgot to change the sign and shouldn't have still been on sale) AND I had a 20% off total purchase coupon!  Ka-Ching! Seriously, friends and family think I have a slight problem when I get a good deal because I have to make sure EVERYONE knows!  Notice the exclamation points...I'm still a little hyped up :)

I hung them on a wall in our basement.  We spend so much time down there and needed to fill up a very long wall.

I have the other side of the basement to show you in another post.  Til then....keep rockin!

Mirrored Vanity..Found It!

I have been looking for everywhere for a mirrored vanity.  They are not cheap let me tell you!  To the tune of $300-$800 and upwards, for the size I wanted.  I was really having to reconsider the mirrored idea until about my 6th trip to Home Goods.  I saw it!  I was like a cat stalking it's prey.  I am serious.  I pounced on it as if there were a dozen women surrounding it (no one was even looking at it).  They were asking $199 and because there was a small damaged place in the back, they gave me 10% off!  Excited is an understatement.  I got flushed and giddy as if I hit the lottery!  Well, maybe not the lottery but you know when you feel like a vision isn't going to be revealed and you get all mopey?  Come on, you know.  I thought the mirrored vanity wasn't going to happen for me but not today friends! I'm doing the happy dance inside and giving mental high 5's.  Now that I'm typing my inner feelings, I'm questioning is it normal for someone to be so excited over such a thing.  I'm going with YES!

I digress, I bought the vanity and went straight to the craft store.  The vanity is mirrored but copperish (I make up words as I go along).  It's funny because it's almost the same color of my walls that I haven't gotten around to paint.  I am definitely over the dark color of the walls and the copperish color of the vanity.

I wanted to silver leaf the vanity but it is such a pain.  I am telling you, the decorating angels were with me because Liquid Leaf was waiting for me!

Via Michael's

A small amount goes a long way!  You can't even tell it was copperish :)

I love it so much and love sitting there getting primped.  Beautiful does not have to be expensive.