We All Could Use a Little Sunburst in Our Life (and Bedroom)

Let me start this post by saying, there is not a single person in this world who knows me, who believed I could be a crafty DIY kind of gal, including me.

But you know what?  You hit your 30s, reevaluate your life and voila, you have all these things you never knew you could do before.  Topping that list currently was building a sunburst mirror from scratch and  becoming a pro with a glue gun to boot!

I successfully completed my first glue gun DIY project with only one sustained injury – a burn to my ring finger.  Note to self: Don’t try to rub hot glue off a piece of wood, just not a good idea, trust me.

The sunburst mirror craze…..ahh they’re so lovely, so en vogue and so EXPENSIVE!  There was no way in this world my  husband was going to let me spend over $200 on a “doo dad thingy” (husband speak for beautiful decor) for above our bed.  So I started surfing the internet and came across what looked like a simple DIY Sunburst Mirror project. I took advantage of the three-day Labor Day weekend and threw myself into the project.

Things you need:
1) Two packs of wood shims (any hardware store will carry them)
2) Hot glue gun and a TON of glue sticks
3) Round wood picture frame (size depends completely on you)
4) Some sort of mirror or other round shiny object to glue to the middle once you’re done.
5) Paint (LOTS and LOTS of it)

(The upside down picture is just to test you…seriously!)

After laying out all of my supplies, I decided to do a test run laying out the shims,  I mean RAYS.  My 3-year-old son helped with this part.  He’s much more detailed than I ever could be.

Then start gluing!

All in all, it took me probably a little over an hour to glue all of my shims onto the frame. I did three(ish) layers and surprisingly it looked okay. My husband was shocked but still a little skeptical as it wasn’t painted and he didn’t really think it’d hold. I, on the other hand, knew my new friend the glue gun wouldn’t let me down. (I mean for the sake of my competitiveness with my husband, I couldn’t be wrong!)

The next day I got up bright and early, before my little helping hands three-year-old was up, to start painting. I first tried white spray paint, and after two cans it still didn’t cover well, so I opted to use some left-over white paint we had lying around. That worked out much better. It took about three coats of white paint and was a pain to get into all of the crevices but it looked great by the end of the day.

Last but not least, I added a small round mirror that I found in the back-to-school clearance section at Target. Apparently, circle mirrors are all the rage in dorm rooms. After gluing the mirror on, I hung that baby up and WOW what a difference! I was so impressed, I emailed everyone I knew. Seriously people, this is a HUGE achievement for me. It looks fab in my 65%  redone bedroom. (More of that to come later.)  Get excited!!!!!

So you’ve been waiting long enough….here’s the REVEAL!

And here’s a close up (don’t judge):

Now for the wrap up…

How much did this baby cost?
Glue gun: $7.00 Walmart
Hot glue sticks: $4.00 Walmart
Round wooden picture frame: $4.00 Walmart
Two packs of wooden shims: $3.67 each Home Depot
One round mirror: Target $5.00
White Paint: Free
TOTAL: $28! Take that $200 designer sunburst mirror!

Lessons Learned:
1) Learn how to use a glue gun BEFORE starting a project. Jamming glue sticks into the gun only to find hot glue spilling out the other end onto the carpet is not a good time.
2) Not all the shims are smooth so it’s better to sand them before gluing them on for a better consistency.
3) Might be better to paint the shims BEFORE gluing them onto the frame. It worked out fine the way I did it but just took a while.
4) Add a clear glaze to the finished product for extra shine.
5) And I learned about an awesome blog while researching the mirror – www.hisugarplum.blogspot.com — thanks for the tutorial!

Hope I’ve inspired the DIY in you all! Till next time!

Posted by Sara