Dining Room Mirror DIY
This dining room mirror DIY was inspired by a few pins on Pinterest. Some of the posts showed that the tiles were merely glued next to each other, and you could still tell that they were mirror tiles. Then, I saw that a creative lady had added a gold frame around some mirror tiles that were butted together. It added a little pizazz to the overall look, but you could still tell they were mirror tiles.
That gave me an idea. I wanted a big mirror. (Actually, I wanted an entire wall of plate mirror, but the cost of that was going to be more than I wanted to spend on it.) So the mirror tiles just seemed a good alternative, but I did not want them to look like mirror tiles.
Then, I saw a big mirror from Pottery Barn. It was large, framed in a wood trim painted Pottery Barn Black. There were black mullions on it, so it resembled a window, only with the mirror instead of the glass. I imagined that on the dining room wall, only bigger.
Unfortunately, I did not take pictures of the entire process, but the basic directions follow.
First, I measured out the wall, found the center, and using a plumb bob marked a vertical line. With a pencil and a T-square with a ruler on it and a level, I began to draw a pattern, or layout, of where the tiles would go. I left 1/2" between the tiles on all edges, that would border another tile. My thought was that I could screw the mullions into the wall. It looked perfect!
Nope, that is not how the application of the mullions was ultimately achieved. It was a great plan, right?
The 12" x 12" mirror tiles were purchased. The mirror mastic and enough wood mullion trim for the whole project were purchased and I was ready to go. I have to admit putting that first tile on the wall was a little bit intimidating.
What I found was that the wall bowed out a little here or there and the mirror tiles did not bend with the wall. Although it appeared to be flat on the wall, as I applied the tiles, there was a little bit of a variance in that 1/2 " space between them at times. I tried to stay as close to the drawn lines as possible.
Fortunately, the mullion trim did cover all of that. No one would ever know.
In retrospect, I wish I had made them closer to 1/4" apart!
Next, the frame was cut to size and mitered, then, painted with 'Pottery Barn Black paint'. The frame was then nailed to the wall around the mirror.
The wood mullions were cut the width of the mirror. I measured each individually in case of any variation. Then these were painted black, too
(Having someone help put these longer strips of mullion up would have been a blessing. If you choose to do this on a large scale, get an assistant for the long pieces!) I used painter's tape to hold the mullions on until I was sure they were secure.
I ended up using 'Construction Adhesive' to apply them to the mirror and wall. I couldn't find screws thin and long enough to use and the idea of the hammer and nails next to the mirror was somewhat scary!
The short mullions were glued on vertically, after being cut and painted black. That part was a piece of cake! A thin line of black caulk was then applied where the frame and the mullions met the mirror.
It was relatively inexpensive and pretty easy. I think this 'Dining Room Mirror DIY' looks pretty stunning, especially centered between the picture frames with the fabric inset on both sides, created last week.
