Wednesday, February 29, 2012

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?





24 comments:

Acire said...

....on the same page....had some ideas about the use of your overlays combined with mirrors...just need to decide which one to use on the ikea trondheim dresser...can you suggest which one to use?

Danika Herrick said...

Hi Entelechy! What Trondhein do you have? The 3 Drawer can use any of our 7x30" panels, the 6 Drawer can use any of the 7x29" panels and we are working on 7x37" to fit them.

MaviDeniz said...

That looks amazing. I like your version better anyway :)

Xo

Unknown said...

OMG Girl... I have been GaGa over that Ballard Designs mirror and you have just made my day! You are a rock n roll star. Thank you!!!!

xo-Whitley Adkins Hamlin
ps- AND you throw in a discount code. Awesome.

Unknown said...

Wow, this idea is genius!!!! I get the Ballard catalogs all the time and they are PROUDDDDDDD of their stuff!!! I am in the beginning stages of decorating my bedroom- I'm so doing this :)

Maury @ Life on Mars said...

This is so cool! I love this mirror in the ballards catalog and yous looks so similar!

Anonymous said...

Have a rather large expanse of wall over the sectional couch to cover. A picture will not suffice.(Too costly) I saw the Ballards Mirrors and cannot afford the price for even one of them. I plan to follow your excellent,easy directions and make 6 of them !! Thank you for your expertise.

Anonymous said...

OMG... This is so AbFab! I love it!!!

Nicoleindenver said...

I bought all the materials for this except the glue. Do you have to buy a special glue that doesn't desilver the mirror. Is the Elmer's you used safe? Thanks!

Danika Herrick said...

The glue shouldn't affect the silvering since it is going on the glass part of the mirror, not the backside. The Elmer's I used worked great and I didn't have any problems. Good luck with your project!

Best,
Danika
O'verlays

Monica said...

I'm late for the party and just discovered the Sacha. I found your site doing a search for its knock off. I'm going to try this.

The picture where they use these in the newest catalog won me over. I sooo love it!

Kelliq81 said...

So funny, I was just looking at Ballard's online and loved the Sacha too. And just like you about tripped over the price. I need two panels. I knew I could slide one in but not two for almost $800 dollars!! So did a quick search for Sacha and there you are. Thanks so much for your directions. You're very clever!

Anonymous said...

I love your idea! Thank you for taking the time to post this. I fell in love with the look when I saw it in the Ballard Design magazine. I just purchased everything and can not wait to see the final result.

Unknown said...

I love this idea!! But how do you combine the four Harper pieces to make one big mirror? There isn't a transitional piece. I am sooo glad I discovered our site. Our entire house will be getting a makeover!

Unknown said...

Hi,

Has anyone tried hanging several pieces to make one mirror? If so, how would you rate the difficulty? Thanks!

seanine said...

I finally finished this weekend :-) It came out great! Thank you so much for your great instructions.
I used a satin grey spray paint and topped it with silver webbing craft spray paint. Some notes: I cleaned the mirrors prior to assembly. Many had nicks in them and I used a silver sharpie to fill them in so they weren't big holes. I didn't use furniture pads, but instead used the command velcro type fasteners (4 per panel). These were pretty easy to use and gave some of the intended depth. Assembly (cleaning the mirrors and gluing them) took about 50mins a panel.
For spacing - we hung the 8 panels 4x2 using the distance between the circles. I couldn't figure out how to post a picture, but maybe this link will work? pic.twitter.com/nOuf6IN7jH

Unknown said...

Any idea where to find the o'verlay with the circles so I can recreate this mirror as well? I didn't see it on the site your link sent me to.. :(.. Hoping I'll still be able to find them! Thanks!!

O'verlays said...

Hi Sierra, YOu can find the panels in the Pattern Section under Grace. It is the Grace Mini Square 20".

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Thank You! Would 2" mirrors work? I can't seem to find a bulk pack of the 3" craft mirrors for a reasonable price.. I can find them but it ends up being pretty pricey since I need so many.. (to make 9 tiles)..

cheryle said...

Hi Sierra,
Yes the 2" mirrors will work. You can find them in bulk them on line on a craft suply site.

Karen M. Scott said...

I love this! Is the Grace Mini still available online? I am unable to find it. Thanks!

Unknown said...

Hi Karen! The Grace mini is still available. http://www.myoverlays.com/grace-2 Contact@myoverlays if you need assistance.Thanks,Cheryle

Unknown said...

Hi..wow, this is so beautiful and I cant wait to make one ...How can I join 6 of these together to make it look like one piece?

Thanks