How to Light Up a Mirror

If you have a mirror at home that you want to jazz up, this could be the perfect DIY for you. Adding LED lights behind your mirror adds some ambiance and a hotel feeling to your bathroom, or any other room in your house for that matter. Just be sure there’s an outlet behind the spot you want it!

This project took Joe only an hour or so. Here he is measuring our mirror.

Steps to Getting Your Mirror Glowing

Start with a standard mirror. Ours was from Menards, and didn’t cost too much, although they can get pretty spendy.

We started with something like this one and bought some pieces of wood to frame it out. You want to have the mirror sticking out a little bit to create a soft glowing effect behind it. So to create a space behind the mirror, we need to build a platform behind it to sit on.

Once you have your mirror turned over and measured, cut your wood frame to nest just a little bit inside the borders of your mirror. You can either nail the four pieces of wood together, or use wood glue.

Next, use some industrial strength glue to mount your frame to the back of the mirror.

Make sure it’s even on all sides before glueing. Let it dry for a couple hours.

Next, notch out a hole for your string of lights. This part will be hidden behind your mirror.

Then you just need to stick the strip of LED lights around the backside of your mirror, close to the edges, to create a glowing effect coming out from the mirror.

One of Joe’s can’t-live-without supplies is his strings of LED lights. He buys them in bulk online and uses them virtually everywhere. They’re handy because the backs have mounting tape right on them, pull and stick style.

Find them here. Around $25

They also come with a remote control to choose whatever color you’re in the mood for. They’re flexible and waterproof, and super thin so you can hide them under your cabinets and do all kinds of fun things with them.

That’s it! Hang your mirror up and plug the lights in.

You glow, Joe.

He added a few more fun touches to the bathroom too. Joe’s in his happy place.

If you don’t mind not having a bathroom medicine cabinet, I think this is a great option for mirrors. We have plenty of storage, so this lightweight mirror was perfect for us. Although, I’m sure you could figure out a way to do it with something bigger and heavier too.

Still to Come:

• Shower Glass
• Shelves
• Hardware
• Trim and Door
• Decor/Hardware
• Reveal
• Surprises

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