DIY Mirror Upgrades

Mirrors, much like light switch plates, are often overlooked as a place where one can get crafty and really add color and light to a room without having to drop a lot of coin. We briefly touched on mirrors back when we talked about stencils, but mirrors offer a slew of upgrade options – and they make for great broke ass decorating. They make rooms look bigger, add light and, according to feng shui, bring in the energy of the element of water.

So, in addition to stencils, you can also monogram a mirror easily using con-tact paper, an x-acto blade and etching cream. Super classy.
While there’s only so much you can do to the mirror itself (and still use it easily for its intended purpose), there’s a lot more that can be done to the frame: mosaic of broken glass, tile, glass beads, or whatever craziness you have laying around works pretty well and all you’ll need is glue.
A frame can also be reworked by adding objects to it like strings of lights, jewels, fake flowers, or whatever works for you. I’m partial to adding plastic action hero figures to things, but that’s just my thing.

Now, the other option is to craft a mirror and frame combo, which is a lot easier than you’d think. Obviously you’ll have to score the mirror itself somewhere (the usual suggestions of Goodwill, street scores, Salvation Army, craigslist, Really Really Free Market etc apply here), but frames are remarkably easy to construct out of almost anything.

For example, plastic spoons spray painted and arranged in a sunburst shape. Kinda awesome, right? And bonus: sunbursts are easy to make, and easy to make variations of. You can make a sunburst out of almost anything: painted bamboo branches, plates and silverware, repurposed wreaths, poster board, wood shims.
If you’ve got a steady hand, glue, mirrors, and skewers you can recreate this starburst shape too. Or you can fit a mirror into any similarly shaped base like, say, a tennis racket. Or if you’ve been fortunate enough to score mirrors in unique shapes (like these hexagonal mirrors from Ikea) then simply mount them in a fun pattern.

Lastly, if you’ve got a choices as to where to place your mirror, remember your feng shui and keep it facing east (for health and family), southeast (for wealth and abundance), or north (for career and path in life).