Pinterest Challenge: Winter 2013

Have you seen the Pinterest Challenge project, start by Young House Love and Bower Power? If not, check out the newest challenge here and here. (How cute is that video of the kids?!)  The basic gist is to encourage bloggers to actually make something that they've pinned! Novel concept, right? :)  It's also a great time to go through all your boards and do some purging.  You know, from when you first got a Pinterest account and pinned anything and everything that looked remotely cute, pretty, or tasty?

I tend to be pretty good about making recipes I've tried on Pinterest (see my 'Accomplished' board here), so I wanted to try a craft project this time.  After some debating, I finally decided on my project- a DIY sunburst mirror! Woohoo!  I've wanted one for awhile to hang over our guest bed. I think a white mirror would look great on the new teal walls (which I still need to write about). But, along with most things I want in life (new jeans, a vacation, a master bathroom not designed in 1952), they're typically pretty expensive.  Thankfully there are a lot of great tutorials on Pinterest, and the Winter Challenge was just the motivation I needed.  I used this tutorial from House of Fifty.  Here's what her awesome mirror looks like (please pin directly from her site, not mine):

Supplies needed:
Mirror (Hobby Lobby, $3.00- I had a 40% coupon).
2 packs of faux bamboo sticks (Hobby Lobby $7.00- they were 50% off)
Glue gun and lots of extra glue (already owned)
White gloss spray paint (Hobby Lobby $4.80- It was 30% off)
Spray paint primer (already owned)
Newspaper and tape to protect the mirror while painting
Hanging kit (Hobby Lobby, $1.47- paid full price. Darn it.)
Scissors, to cut the bamboo

I was looking for a regular mirror, but I found this flower shaped one and I thought it would provide extra support for the bamboo sticks.  I found the bamboo sticks in the floral section and got two bunches- each of them had about 25 rods.  I used almost all of them, so if your mirror is larger I recommend getting three bunches.  They're somewhat fragile, which made moving the mirror tricky, however I could cut them easily with regular scissors instead of needing a saw.

I started by cutting my sticks in various sizes.  I didn't really measure anything because I wanted it to all look natural and not too planned.  My sticks were about 24" long.  I cut some of them into thirds, and others I cut into a 18" piece and a 6" piece.  I first glued the longer sticks evenly around the mirror. (Sorry for the dim pictures, I was working in the basement).

Then I used the shorter sticks to start filling in each section.  I tried to alternate shorter and longer sticks.  I would often place them on the mirror to see how they fit before I glued them since some sticks were thicker than others and I had to make sure they would all fit.  Try to fit them together as tight as possible and make sure they're lined up at the bottom along the mirror. Also, don't go crazy with the glue gun. I definitely overdid it in some areas and you can still see the hardened glue globs.

After it was all glued together and dry I taped a piece of scrap paper over the mirror to protect it from the paint.  Here it is all taped and ready to be primed and painted.

Because the spray paint I got at Hobby Lobby didn't have built-in primer I decided to use separate spray primer first.  I did one coat on each side of the mirror.  The next day I used white high gloss spray paint to do two coats on the front and one coat on the back.  Make sure you spray from all angles to fully cover the bamboo rods.

After it was dry and back inside the house I attached a picture-hanging bracket on the back of the mirror.  This would have been much easier to do before all the rods were glued on, so now you can learn from my mistake!  Although only two pieces of bamboo had to be glued back on, so not too shabby.

Here it is in all it's glory in the guest room!

(Bed, nightstand, and striped pillow from IKEA, bedding from Crate & Barrel, rug from RugsUSA.com)

I hope you liked my Pinterest-inspired project!  Check out the four founding blogs' projects here: Young House Love, Bower Power, The Remodeled Life, and Decor & The Dog.

*If you like this one, check out some of my other Pinterest-inspired projects:
Staining a kitchen table
DIY Chalkpaint (Dining room buffet)

Next week I'll be blogging about our $33 half-bath transformation, including painting thick horizontal stripes!