I know I'm a little late on this trend, but I've wanted a starburst mirror in my house since day one.  After unsuccessfully trying to incorporate it into various rooms, I've finally found a home.  The master bedroom.  Much to Mike's dismay, since he's not a big fan of decorating with mirrors.  I know he's weird, but he loves me enough to let me get my mirror on in almost every room.

So, with my decision to DIY a sunburst mirror made up, I turned to Google for some inspiration.  And let me tell you, there are tons of DIY goodness out there.  Here's a few examples, each using different materials to get a unique look:

Paint Stick Sunburst Mirror (via Centsational Girl)

Poster Board Sunburst Mirror (via The Nester)

 

Wood Shims Sunburst Mirror (via Crazy Wonderful)

Bamboo Sticks Sunburst Mirror (via Isabella & Max Rooms)

And while these are all great tutorials, I wanted something a little different.  So, I found this mirror from Global Views (sold for over $400 at Amazon.com) and used it as inspiration:

(via Global Views)

I got all of my materials at Hobby Lobby including: a 10" round beveled mirror (which was $4.99 and 50% off!), three 10" wooden rounds, (I ended up only using 2), 5 packs of 12" wooden sticks, (20 sticks per pack), white spray paint, and a pack of Ultrafast Epoxy Cement.  All for less than $20.  I used wood glue to glue all the dowels together, but we already had that on hand.


I used the wooden round as my base and began by placing the dowels in a pattern I liked around the circle.


Then I realized it wouldn't fit on the table to I moved everything to the floor and laid out about half of it, then I got tired of placing everything so, I started gluing.  Yes, this could have turned out bad, but I got lazy. 


Then Mike came upstairs and told me that wood glue doesn't come out of carpet, or anything non-wood in general, so I got scared and moved it back up to the desk.  I was getting tired of moving this thing back and forth at this point.
 
 
I kept the basic design overall, but I didn't want it perfectly spaced, so I squeezed some here, and spaced some there.  I did draw a halfway line before gluing anything to give me some sort of checkpoint into the gluing.  Luckily I ended up matching up.  When I got to the end I did have to cut a few of the dowels to keep them relatively lined up, but since I covered the back later on, no one will ever know.
 
After waiting overnight for the glue to dry, I took it outside and spray painted everything white.  This is where I would post the spray paint action shot, but when it's 90 degrees plus, like it was last weekend, the last thing I want to do is run around trying to find camera and take pictures.  Sorry, Charlie.

As the paint was drying, I used a brush to paint the second wooden piece white.  (I like a good spray painting as much as the next crafter, but I like a good ol' paint and brush better.)  After both of these dried I used the wood glue to glue to the back of the dowels, (sandwiching the dowels between the two round pieces).  Since no one will see the back of your mirror, this step isn't that necessary, but I was making it up as I went and I felt like having a flat back would be better to add hardware later.

After all of this was dry, (more time was spent drying than actually assembling this mirror if anyone is keeping track), I added a little sawtooth hanging hardware that we had in the garage.  I used the little nails in the package and although they were a hair too long, they didn't fully break through the front and it was being covered by the mirror anyways so it wouldn't matter.  This is where I was glad I added that second round piece to give it a little bit more thickness.


I used the epoxy to add the mirror the front.  I used epoxy because in my neurotic mind I wanted to make sure the mirror didn't fall off and somehow jump off the wall and hit either of us in the head while we were sleeping.  Fat chance I know, but for less than $4 I wanted to be safe.  Then I put as much random stuff I had lying close by as weights and let that sit for 24 hours as directed on the package.  Here's the package from the epoxy I bought.  The stuff didn't stay in my house for too long after I was done because it smelled horrible.   



 Here's the mirror after 24 hours:


Then I had to wait even longer while Mike finished up some projects out back like tearing down the porch before he could help me hang it.  I could have hung it myself, but I definitely needed someone to hold it while I stood back and checked it.  Usually this involves moving it up and down 27 times, an inch at a time, before I find the perfect spot for it, but amazingly, Mike held it up to the wall while I was grabbing the supplies and I walked it and it was perfect.  To make sure I was in the center of the headboard, I used the laser level from the center board and drew a very faint vertical line.  Then I just had to eyeball the height I wanted and then drill the screw along my pencil line.  I also used the tape trick to save on clean-up: fold a piece of tape in half and tape under the spot where you're going to drill.  It catches all the dust and then you remove the tape and don't have to vacuum:


So, we used a screw, (which we always use to hang thing around the house - due to mostly plaster walls, most of the time pre-drilling just to be safe), to hang the mirror and after a couple round of 'Find the hook with the screw', we were done!


Since I don't have a nice DSLR camera, (yet), I have to settle for our crappy point and shoot, but the entire reason for this project was because of my little photo shoot with our friend's Canon Rebel XSi a couple weeks ago, which made me aware that the space above the bed was a little lacking:


And now:


Man, I hope I see my own Canon Rebel under the Christmas tree this year.  It's even worse when you see the pictures from each camera right next to each other.