July 1, 2011

DIY Sunburst Mirror

Not too long ago I found a wonderful tutorial here on Centsational Girl's blog showing how she made a DIY Sunburst mirror out of paint sticks! So I just had to give it a go. When I bought paint for our bedroom and guest room, I sheepishly asked the lady who was helping me if I could have about 50 paint sticks. She was more than happy to give them to me and just kept handing me handfuls and handfuls of the things.

Stuff you will need:
  • Around 45-50 paint sticks
  • A 7" round mirror (I got my at Michael's for around $3)
  • A 7" wood or plastic embroidery hoop
  • Craft paint (2 different colors of your choice)
  • A paint brush
  • Caulking
  • A square piece of wood about 9"x 9"
  • A picture hanger
  • I chose for mine to do a grey and a lighter grey. So I ended up just using the bottled grey and then for my top layer mixing the grey with the white to make it a little lighter. I also happened to have on hand this metallic paint that I mixed in to make it have a little bit of a shimmer. It didn't make a huge difference, but I liked it that way.

So the first step is to cut off the curved part of the paint stick. Then you want to take your mirror and lay your sticks around it to see how many you will need for each layer. For the top layer we chose to cut off a few inches so it would give the mirror more texture. The sticks that would be for the top layer I painted the lighter grey.


You will want to paint your embroidery hoop to whichever color you want. Then glue it to your mirror. While that is drying screw your picture hanger on to the back of your 9"x 9" piece of wood. Then glue your mirror centered in your 9"x 9" board.

Start with your back layer and hot glue (or gorilla glue) to the board. Now the end of your stick is square and your gluing to a circle, so just try to put the center of your stick against the circle with the corners touching each other. I used  some of the extra paint sticks to hold up the ends of my sticks so they would sit flush on the board.


Next start adding the second layer. Just center the sticks over the joints of the lower layer. When your finished you can caulk any gaps that show, then paint over the caulking. And your done!!


I love that this project is so cheap, and can be made in any color you need to fit your decor.


It also worked out perfect for this wall in our master bedroom. To the left of the mirror are french doors that I love to have open. So I knew I needed something that would sit flush against the wall so it wouldn't hit the door.


Yes I know that my curtains are too short, they were all we had on hand. So that will have to be one of my next projects ;)


Ive linked this project up to The Shabby Nest.

3 comments:

  1. it turned out so good! i love the colors against the blue wall. three cheers for cheap decorating!

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  2. Go you! I had wondered why you hadn't updated your blog in so long, but remembered you changed the name, so I updated my link. :) I can totally picture you sheepishly asking for the paint sticks! Props for asking.. :)

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