The idea for this tutorial started with this photo spotted here.
the marion house book
A little deeper searching led me to this beautiful image of the same space published in House & Home. (a Canadian publication – seriously, how crazy amazing is the interior design talent there??!!)
house & home featuring emma reddington of the marion house book blog
Then I found this photo on Pinterest.
source unknown
And that was it. I was in. I could do this. I started searching high and low for the perfect, beautifully antiqued, wine barrel. I searched CraigsList, I searched Ebay, I searched local antique stores. Nothing. Well, nothing affordable. But then, the stars aligned, and while I was working on my Home Depot project (premiering in ONE WEEK!!), I stumbled across these right outside the plant area of my local Home Depot.
Okay, so they’re not wine barrels, but they had the feel I was wanting, and although I am not a whiskey drinker, I think they smell really good. I picked out the one that looked best to me and brought it home.
After some debating, I decided to saw about a quarter inch above the second metal ring that goes around the mirror. This is important because those rings hold the barrel together. You want to make sure you have at least two rings so your barrel frame will be nice and sturdy.
The rings are not exactly evenly spaced around the wood, but I wanted the uneven, organic feel. (similar to my first inspiration picture)
What you need to do next is take your cut barrel to your local mirror and glass business to have them cut a circular mirror to fit in the back of your barrel. You can even call around and explain your project to get the best pricing. The mirror will probably run you between twenty and thirty dollars.
You can attach your mirror to the barrel using your adhesive of choice, but of course, you want to get something super strong and reliable. This is not an Elmers project. I used Gorilla Glue, an adhesive I use all the time. (I find the gorilla hand around the gorilla glue in the picture below oddly disturbing)
Put a good amount of glue all over the back of your mirror, paying special attention to the edges.
Attach the mirror to the barrel and press around the edges and center of the mirror firmly. (don’t press too hard, you don;t want to break the glass!) I let my mirror dry overnight for good measure. My barrel was a bit flaky so I vacuumed it with my hand vac to get all of the loose particles.
I cannot stress how vital it is to choose the correct mounting materials for your mirror because it is HEAVY. Although I didn’t use the entire kit, I purchased this picture hanging kit and attached the D-rings to the back of the mirror. (actually, my sweet hubby did this part)
I sunk some anchors into the wall and put screws in the anchors to make sure my D-rings would have something strong to hang on. Then came the fun part – hanging the mirror, and admiring my work. I decided to place the mirror in the kids/guest bathroom, and I utilized a pretty piece of antique art to hide the ugly outlet. Side Note: Yes, in case you are wondering/remembering, this is the bathroom that came through the living room ceiling – I’ll share the full makeover with all of the details soon, just consider this a sneak peek.
See the two metal rings?
Originally, I thought I would put some sort of stain on the raw edge of the cut barrel, but I liked the fresh wood color.
You can see through the mirror’s reflection that we did the shower in a different tile than the rest of the bathroom. It was a risky move, and we really debated about it, but in the end, I am happy we did it. This bathroom is super small, and the white beveled subway tile with gray grout adds interest to the small space. Plus the white helps the shower space feel larger.
The kids towels hang above the bathtub, and someday, I will get pictures in those cute little frames.
I have a thing for dentil molding. Love. It. You can see a little bit of the dentil molding we put in this bathroom in the photo below.
Since this is a new bathroom in our old house, I like the feel the barrel mirror brings. It’s a little rustic, a little unexpected, and pretty charming.
So there you have it – my DIY Wine Barrel Mirror Tutorial! Hope you can use this idea somewhere in your home!
P.S. I actually just found the story behind the barrel mirror in my original inspiration photo! Click here.
