Starburst…no, not the candy
Hello all! I have been BUSY lately around the house and have quite a few projects in various stages, which means I have a lot to blog about, but not much time to do it!! Some of the projects I will not be blogging about–like the new strawberry beds in the garden–and others I obviously will–like this starburst mirror project I just completed for the kids’ bath.
It turned out pretty good and was pretty cheap. My kinda project all around. It totaled $4.50 without the glue and $9.50 if you have to buy a bottle. I finally caved and bought some Gorilla glue, even though I am a complete believer in the product, I haven’t owned it until now. I wanted some strong stuff for this, since having it fall apart onto the bathroom floor (invariably in the middle of the night ala window transoms) wasn’t appealing.
I happen to know this stuff works, because about three years ago I was picking my son up from his friend’s house when one of the friend’s little brothers used my rear view mirror as a monkey bar–you can imagine how that ended up. When I was panicking about how to fix that, my neighbor offered her Gorilla glue to use. It hasn’t budged since that day! (Wow, that paragraph was really apes–ha!).
Back to the starburst mirror…
Supplies:
6″ mirror–$1.49 (JoAnn Fabrics)
2 packs of the shorter shims–$1.49 each (Lowes. Check in the aisle where you can buy doors)
scrap 1/4″ plywood or similar, approximately 10″ square with edges rounded off. I tried to get away without rounding the edges, but they kept peeking out when I was playing around with the placement.
Gorilla glue. Or if you want to walk on the wild side, you could try using hot glue.
Play around with shim placement. I used all the shims but 2.
Draw a circle where you want your shim to line up. Mine is the small circle in the middle. Once the glue goes on I pulled the shims from their spots up to the circle line.
Wet the wood. The Gorilla glue needs moisture to activate. BEWARE of how much Gorilla glue you use!!! This stuff expands!! I had to dig out the glue because it showed in spots I didn’t think it would with this project. The shims have gaps once you layer them up that show the glue.
Now you won’t see much of my process because I was busy getting the glue on there and the shims in their places. And my son came home with new, neon green soccer shoes that I had to check out as well! Very cool. I wanted to get all of the shims in their place before the first ones were set, in case I had any placement problems. This was not easy to do. With all the layering of shims, it was precarious for awhile. But finally I got to this step:
Don’t envy me because of my awesome clamp. I am learning how impatient I am with some of these projects. It was all I could do to wait an hour until the glue label said I could mess with it. I waited exactly 60 minutes and took it up to the bathroom to see what it would look like.
I know that starburst mirrors are not exactly cutting edge in blogland, but I’m not really a cutting-edge kinda gal. And when I see this in its spot in the bathroom it makes me happy 
The bathroom is really starting to shape up! I’ve got one more small DIY project in there to hang on the wall, and then I have to decide what I’m doing with the vanity area. I’m also working on another project for Pip’s room that I started this weekend and if it turns out how it looks in my head, I’ll be excited!
Hope you are in the middle of a great project with sawdust in your hair and paint on your clothes!
Linking up to:
Sweet Sharing Monday @ Sweet Anne Designs
14 Responses to “Starburst…no, not the candy”
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The only plywood I use
Pink Toe Projects (click on the picture to get to the post)
Build your own crates:
Under Sink Storage:
Closet Organization:
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Pottery Barn Statton knock off in twin:
Pottery Barn Inspired Bedside Table:
Twin Storage Bed with Drawers:
Hide washer & dryer hookups:
Built-In Cabinet and Shelves:
Entryway Bench:
Board & Batten:
Laundry room cabinet & hutch:
Painting the dining room table:
Leaning wall shelves:
Thrift store lamp revamp:
Refinishing door hardware:
The $20 (or not) storage closet door:
Ruffle Flower Pillow:
Luggage Tag Tutorial:
TeePee Tutorial:
Fresh Eggs sign tutorial:
I haven’t seen them built with shims though and shims are che-eap. I like it. And pianting it will be very easy.
Paint would be great on this as well. The shims were perfect for the look I wanted and you are right on with the price!
Ahk! I just realized that I implied you should paint it, and that was not my intention. Just that if one wanted to it would fun to play around with.
No worries–I didn’t take it that way at all
I do agree with you though–this would look great customized to a color that goes with the room it is made for!
I just have to say thank you for all the boys bathroom posts. We are rebuilding our home after a forest fire and the tip about using the towel hooks instead of a towel bar or ring really struck home. We had both a hand towel ring and bath hooks in the old house, and I couldn’t put my finger on why the hand towel (although always askew) was not really used. But, it really is easier for young kids to use a towel on a hook and be able to put it back without pulling the whole thing out of the wall! Thanks for the realization and I think I will be borrowing your mirror idea as well!
Thoroughly enjoy your blog!
Ginger–I am so sorry about losing your house. I cannot even imagine. I am glad that you are getting some ideas for your rebuild though! I love, love, love the hooks for the towels. It would drive me nuts every time I went by that door to see the towels all over the place. And the Hubs had tried to make the towel rod tighten back up in the wall in recent years, but it was still loose. Thanks for your nice comment!
Love it! I am envious of your awesome clamp! I only have blue tape to hold things together! ha!
Nice thing about this clamp is that it is multi-purpose–after the glue is set, I can use it on pancakes
LOL!!
I think that would be so cute in my girls room, painted bright yellow, or maybe multicolored, yellow, orange and red to really mimic the sun. I think I might also try it as a clock, you can buy clock kits at Hobby Lobby, or maybe just get a cheap one from the dollar store and dismantle it.
That clock idea is great! I actually originally planned on doing a multi-colored one like this:
http://pinterest.com/pin/168110998560664408/
so I like the combination of colors idea!
I’ve seen this done with paint sticks too!
Just found your blog and I’m hooked. I have all these projects that I would love finish swirling around my house – I’m glad I’m not the only one that doesn’t just one work on one thing at a time. Can’t wait to see what you do next!
Jen
I always love these quick spruce things up projects. I would totally see if the kids wanted to finish or paint the shims so they would have a part in it too.