DIY Rustic Wood Frame Mirror - Amanda Katherine

Today I’m sharing one of my favorite DIY projects I’ve made yet. This one is fairly simple to make and looks wayyyy more expensive than it really is.

We have a little window nook in our living room that I’m struggling to decorate. Previously, we had a credenza in the nook but we sold that, so next I positioned a chair and table in the nook (seen here) but wasn’t happy with that either. I considered making a built-in bench to fill the nook, but I don’t know if I want to commit to that since it won’t be removable. The window is off-center in the nook so it’s throwing me off. I thought a full length leaning mirror might fill the empty space next to the window nicely, and it would also help make our small living room seem bigger, thanks to the magic of mirrors.

However, mirrors are expensive. Like SUPER expensive. Specifically, this mirror at West Elm I liked that costs $500.

So I did what a cheap girl like me does best and came up with a DIY version for a fraction of the price.

Keep reading to see how I made my own DIY rustic wood frame mirror for only $45. Talk about a big bang for your buck!

Materials:

1/8″ plywood for backing, $12
16 x 60″ frameless mirror, $24
Mirror adhesive, $5
Liquid Nails Fuze It, provided but retails for $7
Reclaimed wood

I had our plywood cut into a 24 x 70″ sheet at Home Depot. Originally I was planning on getting a 12 x 58″ mirror but they didn’t have one in-store so I got a slightly larger mirror and that just meant our wood frame edges would hang off slightly from the backing. Our reclaimed wood is 6 inches wide.

1. We started by measuring and marking where the mirror should be positioned in the center on the plywood backing.

2. Then, we applied mirror adhesive to the plywood…

3. and set the mirror in place, pressing firmly to secure.

4. Once we measured and cut the 4 reclaimed wood boards for the frame and made sure they were flush, we applied Liquid Nails Fuze It to the plywood, beginning with one single side…

5. and set the first wood board in place.

6. We clamped the board to make sure it bonded tightly. Unfortunately, we only have one clamp so we made due and had to move it from end to end after it dried for a few minutes. Not ideal but it works. Repeat the same gluing process on the other side.

7. After the 2 sides were glued in place, we moved to the top and bottom boards. Apply more Liquid Nails Fuze It and clamp them in place.

8. To ensure the wood adhered to the plywood backing, we set a few 80 pound bags of Quikrete we had laying around to hold everything down in place while it dried overnight.

The next day I checked it and everything was nice and secure so I brought it in our living room to use.

I absolutely love how well it turned out! This is such a simple DIY with a huge impact that would cost hundreds of dollars at any store. I’m already tempted to make another one for our bedroom because it looks so much nicer than those cheap $12 door mirrors we have right now.

Here you can see the mirror leaning perfectly in the little nook in our living room.

I’ve made a few more updates to our living room since you last saw it when I showed our IKEA hack built-ins, so I’m planning on sharing a reveal soon!