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I am absolutely thrilled with how my DIY stained wood shim mirror turned out. I know there are a zillion tutorials out there for making mirrors like this.

However, I think I am the only crazy one that sanded and stained 315 wood shims. That part was not for the weak of heart. Me-oh-my!

But I love it, I love it, I love it and don’t regret the decision for one minute!

stained wood shim starburst mirror


I swear in nearly every Better Homes & Gardens picture I see of a bedroom there is a starburst mirror above the headboard.

How can you not fall in love with the classic look of these mirrors! I was drooling over a few but they never went down in price ($300+!) so I decided it was time to make one.

wood shim starburst mirror

Supplies:

How To Make the Stained Wood Shim Starburst Mirror

Step 1 – Sanding the wood shims

I started by sanding each of the 315 wood shims I used. You don’t have to do this but some of them are really rough so I thought to make it look as nice as possible I would spend the time sanding them.

Step 2 – Staining them

Next I stained all of them with the 4 different shades of stain. I didn’t stain the entire thing just the edge I was using, the tip and down the sides (this saved on stain).

stained shim

Here are the the colors so you can see the different variances in the wood tones.

stained wood shims for mirror

Step 3 – Put them together

To put them together the way I liked them, I tried not to make a pattern. Trying to be as random as I possibly could – which was hard for me.

I used a paint can in the middle so I could line them all up.

wood starburst mirror

Step 4 – Glue them

I grouped them together in stacks of 9 and glued them together with the Loctitie Power Grab Adhesive in the pressurized can.

It was awesome and super easy to use. Because it did such a great grab of holding I didn’t have to use clamps. Bonus!

On each additional stack of nine I used the previous stack to line up the shims so they were exact to each other.

No worries if a little of the glue seeps out, go ahead and wipe off the excess – it does dry clear.

wood starburst
glueing the shims for the starburst mirror

Step 5 – Cut the circle out

Then I cut out a circle-ish piece of 1/4″ luan with my jigsaw. I flipped over all my stacks of shims (so the unfinished side was up) and glued each of them with the Loctite Power Grab together.

Then I glued the luan on top of that. I let it sit overnight with some weight on it.

DIY starburst mirror

Step 6 – Glue the Mirror

The next day I glued the mirror on with the Loctite PL520 Mirror adhesive. It is very important to use the right kind of adhesive with mirrors or else it can pull up the silvering on the back.

I let that sit overnight with some weigh on it to.

Step 7 – Add the cleat

Since it weighed a ton, I used a french cleat on the back of mine. All you have to do is attach it to the mirror and attach the other side to the wall and it locks in place.

french cleat on mirror hanging the starburst mirror

I was going to put it over my bed but it was too big so I ended up putting it in my previous guest room with the serpentine dresser and coral lamp in my old house.

The overall finished size was 34″ in diameter.

wood starburst mirror with serpentine dresser

And a few close ups. Isn’t the different color wood beautiful?

stained wood shims
wood starburst mirror tutorial
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Lovely isn’t it?

Here it is in my new home paired with the 2×4 industrial wood cart I built…

DIY cart plan with 2x4

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88 Comments

  1. Well that is amazing 🙂 I have a thrift store mirror that I want to turn into a sunburst mirror. This is just beautiful!

  2. I never felt inclined to have a starburst mirror, until I saw this on your facebook page! I have to make it! I love the variations in stain – it’s just beautiful!! Thanks for sharing.

  3. Is it weird that I’m in love with that picture of your shims on the garage floor showing the different stains!? SO pretty! And the final reveal is gorgeous too! Great job… I might break out my wood shims and actually try again!

  4. I will have to say that you are one patient woman….and it paid off. Your mirror is beautiful.

  5. This is beautiful. The different stains add depth and movement, you did a great job and the tutorial is excellent.
    Shims are neat. Thinking that faux pallet art could be done with a couple of packages of shims, low cost and big fun.
    Thank you for the delightful inspiration.

  6. You are one amazingly patient DIY’er! I would go bonkers on that “little” craft. Congrats and I love it! Great work Beckie! And I have to add that the piece of furniture you have looks like MMS type furniture. I think she would be all over that piece! Have you ever tried her paints?

  7. In step seven, do you mean that you attached the cleat to the luan, not the mirror. I don’t see how you would attach it to the mirror now and it might confuse people.

  8. Yeah, I surprised myself a little with my patience with the sanding. I knew it was necessary though to get a better finish so I suffered through. 😉 I am loving it over the dresser too even though it wasn’t my original plan. Thanks so much!

  9. Well, that is hard to say because of dry time. I worked on it over a three day period. The first day I spent four hours sanding and staining. The next day I spent a couple gluing them all together. The last day I added the mirror. It definitely wasn’t a quick project, but I love how it came out!

  10. WOW! I’d really love to make one of these, but with my less than stellar time management skills, I’d probably be better off re-painting my faux one! LOL

  11. I actually haven’t, but she is a GREAT friend of mine and has offered to send me her paints. I just haven’t taken her up on it yet, but I definitely need to.

  12. I just love how the blogging world creates friendships among women who have blogs. What a GREAT benefit to the blog work–create, share, inspire, have fun, and meet other amazingly talented women with similar interests and passions!

  13. I love this!! The different stain colors really make it pop! Pinning now, to make for later!

    Thank you for sharing!

    Char @ His and Her Restoration

  14. Beckie, that is gorgeous! I am so impressed! I pinned it, but I’m not sure if I will ever be that patient.

  15. Hehe, done over a couple of days, it wasn’t so bad. Trust me… the end result is worth it! Thanks for pin, by the way.

  16. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!! I have seen so oooo many sunburst mirrors but this is by far THE MOST BEAUTIFUL!!! I am going to try & tackle this for my bedroom! Love the different stains you chose! Bravo!!

  17. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!! I have seen so oooo many sunburst mirrors but this is by far THE MOST BEAUTIFUL!!! I am going to try &; tackle this for my bedroom! Love the different stains you chose! Bravo!!

  18. Thank you! Was just going to ask that. I can only find 12″ at Hobby Lobby. I’m making this this weekend..thank you! I’m going to wash some of the shims with some colors too. You did a great job!

  19. Thanks, Kathy! If you have a Prime account, you could order from Amazon using the link in the post and get it in two days.

  20. Very nice! I made one out of dowels 2 yrs ago. I painted them in silver metallic paint. Turned out beautiful. I may have to make all these mirrors in this column on Zite.
    BTW….I also have that same dresser. Did you add that decorative scroll at the bottom? I treasure that dresser. Many hours of sweat and tears to sand and stain went into it.
    Just love your mirror!

  21. This is awesome! I only see one problem….I will be making this for my entire family when they see this!

  22. This is just stunning. I think I need to make one for my living room…just need to find the time 🙂

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