The Look for Less

While flipping through a recent Ballard catalog I saw their Sacha mirror...

I loved the tiled effect it gave the wall, but not the fact that is was $369 for a 39" square.

(There are 4 panels shown above, so ka-ching!)

I had a light bulb moment.

It looked an awful lot like our Grace 20" square O'verlay...

Could I recreate this look? 

I Googled "small mirrors" and found a box of (30) 3" round  at Craft Supplies for Less for $12 a box.  I needed 25, so perfect.  I also found some 2" square mirrors* that fit our 20" Harper O'verlay so I decided to get some of those too. 

*the Harper has 49 squares, and they sell boxes of 48- bummer- so I left the center square empty on mine.

Also, the circles fit perfectly while I did notice some size variations with the 2" square mirror pieces.

They still worked and you can barely notice.

So here is how you make these:

1) I spray painted the O'verlay gold, didn't bother priming since they were going to be hanging on the wall and "low traffic"...

 (You don't have to paint them.  Keep them white for a cleaner more modern look.)

I was going for a more distressed metal finish, so I took some random metallic paints I had on hand in shades from bronze to copper to gold- you can really do anything here, the goal is just to "dirty it up" and give it depth.

 With a sea sponge I mixed up a few colors and dabbed it over the O'verlay...

 I then took a dry brush and feathered it out a bit to soften the sponge marks...

 Once dry I flipped it over and ran some Elmer's Stix All along the backsides of the circles one row at a time...

 Now carefully place the mirrors face down into the adhesive and press in place.

Let dry according to the adhesive instructions.

 I wanted these to set away from the wall a bit so I stuck thick felt chair pads on the outside and center circles.  If you want to attach a picture hanging hook with epoxy, now is the time to do so.  I would recommend using 2 at the top.

I am impatient, so I just used 2 small gold nails to hang mine 

(you can faintly see them in the second row down)...

 And here it is with the Harper.

Total Cost $37 + adhesive and paint of your choice.

you would need 4 of these to make a 40 x40" panel similar in size to Ballards

Still way cheaper... $148 to their $369.

What do you think?