When we first moved into our new house, I took one look at the raw edge mirror in the downstairs bathroom and had every intention of removing it and replacing it with something better. But, when I got down to the nitty gritty, I realized that whoever had installed our bathroom mirror was glue happy, and didn’t just adhere it to the wall — they cemented it! Removing it would have damaged the wall terribly, causing need for repair and re-texturizing. I decided to go with plan B, (even though I really didn’t have a plan B) and do something different.
I really hate changing plans… but, it worked out for the best as you’ll see! I love a good, quick home improvement project anyway.
I decided to start my little diy bathroom mirror project with a fresh coat of paint first. I wanted something rich, something chocolate brown. Not only for the design aesthetic, but the fact that it’s basically a boy-proof color. I’m all about that.
I went to Lowe’s and purchased two sheets of tumbled marble tiles clearance priced for $7 each. This diy bathroom mirror project was just getting better and better! When I got them home, I trimmed the mesh around the tile to make a smooth edge.
I also purchased a tube of silicone adhesive that boasted it could be used for fusing glass together to form a fish tank. Another nod in the way of boys and their bathroom habits. I figured that if it could hold together a fish tank, my diy bathroom mirror could take anything that my boys could throw at it.
Then, I spent the next hour cutting, squeezing, and sticking…
The trickiest part was the top. I just used a little painters tape to keep them in place until the adhesive could harden up.
Before I knew it, I was finished and off doing something else! Not bad for an hour’s worth of work!
But, do you want to know the best part!? My diy bathroom mirror was so cheap!
Yup, only $18!
I love this idea! Definitely doing it! I do have one question. It looked like your mirror had those plastic clips that hold the mirror to the wall. How did you tile around those or did you tile right on top of them?
Thanks so much!
Good question! I have those on my mirror too.
I would love to know that answer also!! I have 3 mirrors in my house with those silly clips and I would be willing to give this a try if I knew how to get around them.
Any answer about the clips?
Twitter: SITSGirls
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Sorry, ladies! Not so sure about the answer to this one. Ask us a question about blogging or social media, and we’ve got you covered. However, when it comes to home decor, we aren’t quite sure.
I’ve sent an email to Emily Louise to see if she can lend her expertise! She is the blogger behind this amazing creation.
Stay tuned!
For those of you that were asking about the clips on the mirrors, I have your solution. My husband and I just did something similar to this with wood just this past weekend. We just unscrewed the clips from the mirror and took out the silver strip along the bottom of the mirror, took the mirror completely off the wall, then just used some liquid nails glue (A LOT) and glued the mirror back on the wall. It stays up and is perfectly secure! It was super easy to do and our mirror looks amazing now! Hope this helps!
I just love this idea! It really looks fabulous. My question is, how did you get so lucky to have them perfectly line up without having to cut any of the tiles? Did you measure when you bought the tiles? I can see myself trying this and end up trying to figure out how to cut the tiles to fit! Thanks again for sharing this great idea.
I am so gonna do this!
Oh my gosh! I had no idea you had a blog like this! How cute! Can’t wait to see everything. The mirror turned out great! I would love to see your whole house. You’re cute
This is awesome, thank you so much for sharing! I have a huge mirror in our master bathroom that has no frame at all and I think this would be amazing.
So…I started to do this and realized that you can see that backing on the tiles reflected in the mirror. Did that happen to you? I can’t see it in the pics but I’m thinking that your pics aren’t at the right angle. What’s your trick?
Thanks!
I just did this project today and noticed the same thing. I’m going to see if using a clear silicone caulking on the inside edge works. Just a thought.
@Brooke, did the clear silicone work?
before you glue the tiles on paint a trim around the mirror where they will go, it will keep the backing from reflecting and being seen. (just an idea I’m going to try)
Hope it helps
I was thinking of a few things. Possibly a waterproof trim. Instead of a piece of cording that you would use around an ottoman… maybe look into the craft section and see if you might find some beading or some smaller natural stones that are similar in size that could be glued around. If you know you are going to spray with a glass cleaner often… think in terms of something that is easy to wipe around.
The easiest thing … get the grout to match the tile and make up enough to just go around the mirror to finish of your look. If the tile is sticking away from the wall on the outside of the finished piece, you could also grout that area, too.
The easiest thing … get the grout to match the tile and make up enough to just go around the mirror to finish of your look. If the tile is sticking away from the wall on the outside of the finished piece, you could also grout that area, too.
Thank you for sharing, this is the perfect project for me to do to hide some flaw at the edge of the mirror. I’ve been thinking about what to do for a while, thanks.
How clever, easy, and cool! I MUST find a mirror in my house to do this to! Love it, and love your blog. ( :
Okay..I want to do this..but need answers to the previous questions before I start???
Nice! That looks really good!
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Looks Amazing! May have to try something along these lines as well. Thanks for the inspiration, friend!
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I LOVE this!!! We just built a new house and this will be the perfect way to fix those plain old mirrors-thanks so much!
I can’t answer about the tiles but we did something similar in our old house with wood. We bought some pieces of trim, my husband cut them to fit the mirror, and he carved out some notches where the mirror holders go. Then I painted both the front and back of the trim with a Rustoleum spray paint that matches our espresso furniture and glued them on with mirror mastic. Be careful though to use the glue on the outer part so it doesn’t show in the reflection. We also had to clamp the top and bottom pieces or hold them for a while so they wouldn’t slip down. I know it doesn’t help with the tiles but it turned out awesome for us on the cheap!
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If you read her blog you will see that she didn’t have clips. The mirror is glued to the wall
I think it would work if you took a dark marker and put a line or two on the back side of the tile that is exposed to the inside edge of the mirror…..the only side of the tile you would see relfected back at you.
will this work with glass tiles as well or do you have to use ceramic? i’m also wondering about the reflection..
Did this and it turned out great. The only suggestion I can say to make it a little easier is to completely remove the fabric backing. The reason is that once the tile is on the mirror, the mesh is visible around the edges.
This saves a LOT of trimming time. Did both mirrors (58″x42″ & 28″x42″) with 4 sheets and 3 hours. Also used a straight edge along the top, taped the edge up, placed the top tile on, then did 2 strips of tape completely across and the whole top line was perfectly level.
I didn’t have to individually tape each piece as I placed it.
Just some helpful suggestions
…almost forgot….
Unless the mirror is glued to the wall, and you have clips holding the mirror on, the only way to get around them is to cut the tile with a Dremmel or similar tool that will cut tile. I did this for one of my mirrors and it fit perfectly. Make sure the round cutter is the black, carbide with the criss-crossed graphite fabric embedded in it. The flush ones will break halfway through cutting just one tile.
I wanted to let you know that I did this today to my bathroom mirror! And the results are outstanding! If I could figure out a way to show you a picture, I would. Thanks so much for the instructions, and especially the type of adhesive to use!!
That is super fabulous!! I have a HUGE raw edge mirror in my master bath that takes up the entire wall it’s on and I hate it! I’ve been trying to figure out something to do with it and was actually going to take it down when we started doing that room. Seeing how yours turned out makes me want to give it a second thought and perhaps try that! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!
Loved this and did it today. Tips: don’t cut out the pieces, much easier to align in strips! We used hot glue, which allowed for some mistake do overs!!!
So clever! Love this!
Wanted you to know that I found this from Pinterest and DID IT this past weekend!
http://slightly-off-kilter.com/2012/01/tackle-it-tuesday-finish-a-raw-edge-mirror/
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This is an awesome idea. I am getting ready to redo my bathroom and hate the mirror. Plus the redo is sweetly cheap…
I had a mirror glued to the wall but needed more storage space, when I removed said mirror there was a HOLE behind it. So, it’s probably better that you left it. Or even BETTER you probably didn’t have shady people flipping your home like I did mine. But I’m not bitter.
Absolutely love this idea. I have 2 huge mirrors in the bathroom around a garden tub. Anyone got any suggestions on making this look very rustic or like a log cabin look?
I keep seeing this on Pinterest and just have to say I love this! Just an easy an quick idea that makes a big difference! Way to go!
I did this project on my own before i read this blog and i DID have the clips on my mirror ! I ended up putting my clips back on after i was done over the tile . Doesnt look too bad but i bought new clips so they would be in nice clear shape !
Oh and i grouted mine ! I was lucky and iy just turned out that the tiles measured out exactly so that i didnt need to make any cuts !
I was so excited to see this. Ladies I have a huge mirror in the bathroom and I applied it with Mirror Silicone and NO CLIPS. It didn’t take much and it holds through all the steam and moisture. I hope this helps.
Would this resolved the reflection problem ? Using Painters Tape and newspaper, mask off the mirror leaving all edges with an exposed strip of mirror exactly the width of your tiles. If you are leaving the mirror mounted on the wall, use newspaper and Painters Tape to mask a very wide section of wall all around the mirror. Using a matt formula of paint, spray paint the remaining exposed strip of mirror with a shade very similar to the color of your tile. Let dry; spray another coat. Let dry thoroughly before attempting to remove Painters Tape. Now adhere tiles and there won’t be a reflection.
AWESOME!
What a great idea. I’m totally doing this in my powder room.
Thanks for this terrific idea! I actually have the mirror on my wall currently; it was here when we moved in and we kept it up! I have those silly clips too but really don’t want to take the mirror down. What do you think it would look like to not tile all around but to evenly place random tiles all the way around?
curious…was your mirror hung with the little plastic clips….how do you mount on those?
Twitter: SherylGriffin
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Thanks for sharing- I also saw in pintrest and then went to your link LOVE THIS! and plan to do it in my master bathroom!