Jan 30, 2011

DIY: Gold Branch Mirror Tutorial

When looking at the after photo of my mini office makeover I realized that the space was reading more like it belonged in a kid's room than an adult's (or at least that's how I was seeing it anyway). Here's a little mirror project I did to give it a bit of glam and a more "grown up" feel.


My inspiration first came from these beautiful mirrors:

Mecox ($1000)


Bellacor ($698)

 image via Decorpad




To start, I began by taking a walk in the woods and collecting sticks from the ground (it really helped that we  had a windstorm come through the week before!) I gathered a small pile and got to work breaking the branches up into smaller, more manageable pieces.


I used one of the medium sized mirrors from the pack of 5 that I got from Home Depot and placed the sticks around it until I was happy with the result.


Then I broke out the hot glue gun and began gluing the sticks together in place, trying not to let too much glue glob up and show.


By the time I was finished, I had a "frame" that could be held up. I flipped it over and added extra glue to the backsides of the sticks to reinforce them all.


Then it was time to paint the whole thing. I taped off the mirror...


...and used Rustoleum's specialty metallic gold spray paint, thanks to Bryn Alexandra's recommendation.


I gave the branches a coat on both sides and did two coats on the mirror, no primer needed. I was really happy with how it turned out, it really reminded me of metal. Because the branches that actually touch the mirror are a bit fragile, I decided to hang both pieces up separately. The mirror already had a hook on the back for hanging and after I got that up I used a nail to hang up the branch part and overlapped it on the mirror.


I was surprised by how quickly this project came together and in the end it cost me less than $20 ($15 for the 5 mirrors and $3-4 for the spray paint). I'm hoping to show an updated photo of the office with the mirror in it soon, once I finished up a few things!

10 comments:

  1. This is great! I Definitely must make this.

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  2. LOVE, except love isn't even a strong enough word! I need one of these in my house! Thanks for the awesome tutorial!

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  3. Thanks for the inspiration. One more idea to add to my mirror obsession!

    www.ajbarnesonline.blogspot.com

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  4. I love the mirror- it's glam and rustic at the same time! I just found your blog through your etsy site (I'm ordering the two dog silhouettes and faux bois) and now I'm a follower :)

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  5. Wow, that really came out nice. I may try it for above my bed.

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  6. Hello! I featured your gold mirror tutorial in my monthly blog series, Get Your Color On!. Each month I select a color, provide tips on how to decorate with it, and feature other bloggers with their projects that relate to this color.

    This month’s post is all about silver and gold, so I featured your mirror because I loved how you repurposed something so earthy to create something so glam.

    Feel free to grab a Get Your Color On! featured button and check out my post at Get Your Color On! Silver & Gold. Thanks for sharing your amazing creativity!

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  7. We featured this along with 26 other gold inspired crafts in our DIY Craft Round-Up. Such an awesome idea!

    http://www.goedekers.com/blog/weve-gold-digging/

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  8. This is wonderful! Thanks for the instructions and spraypaint recommendation.

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