DIY Rope Framed Mirror

I found this rope framed mirror at Target awhile ago. I like the texture, but it seemed a little small: I wanted something larger for our guest room.

On a recent trip to IKEA, I found a large round mirror that didn't have a frame. I realized right away that it would work perfectly for this project.

I bought manila rope from Lowe's in a couple thicknesses, and then sat down and played around with the rope and the mirror to decide how I wanted it to look.

I used Gorilla glue to attach the rope to the mirror, then used strips of packing tape to hold everything in place while the glue dried. I also put some weights (books and boxes of stuff) on top to make sure it dried flat.

The next day, I took everything off, and this is what I found:

Yeah, not quite what I was going for, but not completely unexpected. I did use Gorilla glue, after all, and it does expand as it dries.

I should have just used hot glue.

Oh well. I cut off the worst of the dried glue, then hot glued more of the thinner rope over the spots where the dried glue showed.

I think I actually like it this way better. Though I'm still not sure about the hanger part. It's not functional, it's just there to cover up the ends of the ropes. It would have worked better if I had thinner rope, but I couldn't find thinner sisal rope (and I wanted all the rope to match), so I had to use what I had.

The last thing I had to do was clean up all the adhesive residue: between the tape, the Gorilla glue, and the hot glue, the mirror was quite a mess. After alternating between rubbing alcohol and white vinegar and some liberal use of elbow grease, I managed to get the mirror reasonably clean.

I'm not sure that I saved any money on this project, but I did end up with a larger mirror than what was available at Target. I hung a hook from Lowe's on the wall for the mirror to "hang" from. It's actually supported by some clips that came with the mirror on the bottom and sides.

And I like how it looks in our guest room: