I consider myself pretty handy when it comes to home improvement projects or crafty ventures. I get it from my Mama. There’s absolutely nothing the woman won’t figure out how to do.
So when I was invited to attend a class and learn how to to mosaic tile a mirror, I jumped at the opportunity to expand my DIY skill set.
Note: While the photos in this post are watermarked for another site (my old one) the content was updated in September 2023. This post also contains affiliate links.
Everything I needed to know to complete this project I learned in under an hour at a Home Depot’s Do-It-Herself workshop. Under an hour! That’s how easy this project is.
In total, the project took about 6 to 8 hours of work time over the span of a few days.
Because of the housing market crash in 2008, we felt stuck in that house. There were parts of it that I definitely didn’t like. Lots and lots of parts of it. Like the front bathroom. But it was our home, so my goal was to make it a place we loved being, which means lots and lots of home improvement.
After attending the DIH workshop, I grew a wild DIY hair and began talking Dan’s ears off about renovating the front bathroom. Starting with applying my newly developed skills and adding mosaic tile to the front bathroom mirror. Thankfully, he loves me despite my penchant for 11th hour DIY planning.
Step One: Gather Your Supplies
For this project, you’ll need mosaic tiles of your choice, adhesive tile mat, pre-mixed adhesive and grout, a sponge or two, a 150-grit sanding block, and some clean cloths. All of this cost me about $60 at my local home project store, but you can order from Amazon.
You will also need scissors or a box cutter, painter’s tape, a razor/scraper, access to water, either in a bucket or your bathroom sink, and patience.
Step Two: Cut Your Tiles
My bathroom mirror was 40 inches x 47 inches. Each mosaic tile sheet measured 12 x 12 inches. I used five sheets of tiles with extra tiles to spare. It’s always better to overestimate how many tile sheets you’ll need in case you encounter difficulty. You can always return any unopened tiles after the project is finished.
Using a box knife, I cut each of my tile sheets to the border size I wanted, which in my case was 3 inches. I extended the visual size of the mirror to 48 inches to match the length of the countertop.
SimpleMat comes in 9 x 18-inch sheets, so I cut several sheets into strips of just under 3 inches wide. I also cut two sheets into strops just under 2 inches wide to accommodate the edges I was extending.
Step Three: Prep Your Mirror
Make sure your mirror surface is clean and dry. The previous homeowners had glued a tiny frame to the surface of our mirror. Because it’s in a bathroom, the steam from showers caused the glue to unglue and the frame fell off.
I’m ashamed to say how long we lived with that ugly, glue-gooed mirror surface. While I kid wrangled, Dan scraped the glue off the mirror using a razor blade/scraper tool.
(You’ll also notice I changed the light fixture. Buh-bye ugliest box light I’ve ever seen in my life!)
Step Four: Sand Your Mirror’s Edge
Using your sanding block or sandpaper, rough up the outer edge of your mirror, just a little, being careful not to go further into the mirror’s center than you intend your frame to extend.
You just want to scuff the surface, which you can see in the upper portion of the above picture. (It’s really, REALLY hard to get a good shot of the scuff marks! Just a little. Promise!)
Step Five: Apply the Adhesive Tile Mat
I used a product called SimpleMat, but there are many, many similar products on the market now. Bonus, you can use adhesive tile matting on wall projects, too! Kitchen backsplash? Perfect! Adhesive tile matting eliminates the need for concrete or wooden backer board and for applying a layer of adhesive and raking it before applying the tile. Using adhesive tile mat easily cut this project time in half.
Cut your adhesive tile mat slightly smaller than the width of your tile strips. Peel the backing and apply the sticky side to the mirror’s clean, dry surface. Most adhesive strips are covered with a clear film that you’ll peel away before applying the tile.
Step Six: Apply Your Tile
Peel the clear film from the adhesive tile mat and apply your mosaic tile strips, working in small sections until you’ve covered the perimeter of your mirror.
I thought I would have 1/2-inch overhang on both sides of my mirror and ended up with almost a full 1 inch on each side which was fine because it actually looked better this way. To make sure the tiles that weren’t on the mirror would be sturdy, I used the pre-mixed tile adhesive and grout (hooray combination product!) to build a base behind the tile on either side of the mirror, as seen below.
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Once the tile was in place, I used a plastic knife to scrape away excess grout that squished (technical term) out from behind the tile. Then I removed the painter’s tape and let the grout set while I watched tv.
Pro tip: It is strongly advised (by me, based on my own errors) that you lay out your tiles on your mirror before adhering them to double and triple check your measurements. I did not do this and ended up having to peel off part of the tiles, scrape off one entire side of tile mat, and then redo my work. Trust me on this. Lay them out before sticking them to the adhesive.
Grab a partner and hold your tiles up and mark on your mirror where the tile strips begin and end and mark which tile strip went where. This will also allow you to figure out if you’ve bought enough tile and arrange your strips to get a pattern you like, if you’re concerned with that. I didn’t want same-colored tiles touching across strips.
Step Seven: Apply the Grout
Applying grout is actually a multi-step process and you’ll have about 30 minutes per section before the grout begins to set and gets harder to wipe off. However, each section of the mirror took me about 15 minutes start to finish, for a total of 1 hour of grouting. It was the fastest and easiest part of the whole project.
Most people would use a tool called a grout float to do this step, but I just grabbed a latex glove and used my hand. I could feel and see what I was doing instead of just being able to see. Tape off your wall and mirror and then begin.
First, you put the grout on the tile.
Next, you scrape off the excess:
Then, you wash down the tiles and grout until no grout remains on the tile, being sure to rinse your sponge frequently and change your water often.
This is where being in the bathroom came in handy. I just used the sink. (A commenter suggested this is not a great idea. Use a bucket with water you can dump and replace instead!)
You really want to make sure that you don’t leave grout film (which you can see on the tiles in the bottom left of the above picture) on the tiles. If you do, you’ll need to polish the tiles to get it off. So wipe with the sponge and rinse rinse rinse.
Then gently wipe with a clean cloth, microfiber works well, but I used a jersey cloth and paper towels and they both worked well, too.
Once your mirror is grouted, peel off your tape and leave the grout to dry. I went to bed right after finishing the grouting on Sunday night and everything was dry by Monday morning.
Step Eight: Admire your DIY Handiwork
You did it! You did it yourself! It looks amazing and you did that! That’s pretty awesome, right?
So now you can stare at the mirror and find reasons to go into your lesser-used bathroom to look at it. And maybe take 100 or so photos of your handiwork.
The actual final step in this process is sealing the grout. That will protect the grout from cracks and water damage. I gave the grout a few days to cure before applying the sealant, but I don’t know that several days are necessary.
After adding mosaic tile to the mirror, I tackled painting the ugly countertop and cabinet in that bathroom. By the time this renovation was done, the employees at my local Home Depot store probably knew me by name.
September 2023 update!
This house has been sold twice since we sold it, and the mirror is still going strong, over ten years later.
I definitely swiped this photo from the most recent real estate listing. The bathroom wall color and floor tile has been changed, and it looks like the cabinet and countertop may have been replaced, too.
But that mosaic tile mirror?
That’s all me.
If you do this tutorial, I hope you’ll let me know how it turned out for you! I’d love to see your finished projects!
omg so easy and so pretty!!!!!!!! thanks for sharing.
Thank you! And you’re welcome!
Hi Miranda
Great work. I am in process of doing my bathroom mirror. May I ask what sealer you used? Also part of my simple mat at the bottom part of mirror is above the tile it was crooked I had to move it. I am going to try to use goof off to get the glue off. If it doesn’t come off I guess the grouted area there will be a little wider then the rest of area? Your thoughts?
Thanks and happy diying !!
Francesca
We actually didn’t seal the project. (If we did, I don’t remember. But I don’t think we did.)
You can use a razor to cut/scrape the simple mat, but be careful not to scratch the mirror. A putty knife would also work. Then wipe, wipe, wipe with Goo Gone or Goof Off to clean it.
I love this concept, but wonder if anyone would do it differently for a family room mirror over a fireplace mantle. I have six oblong bevelled mirrors glued to the wall, and it will cost a fortune to buy a mirror to replace these panels, so I thought of making a glass tile frame.
Any suggestions??
Beautiful. I will be moving back into my house in a few months. It has been rented. I have wondered how to make the mirrors (2 bathrooms) to look more finished. I love this idea!
Ahhh! This is perfect! We are SO going to do this. Thank you!
Yay fun!
Love it and very impressed with how pretty it turned out!
Thank you! I love it too!
That is just amazing sweetie! I am so glad you took after me at being crafty, and you are so right, I will not quit until I figure out how it’s done. You’ve got me wanting to do something now! I am actually thinking about doing the entry way to the kitchen in tile so my birds don’t tear my house down! I am excited for you!
Tiling is so easy! You can do it!
Thanks, Mama 🙂
It looks awesome! Great job.
Thank you!
I spent an unhealthy amount of time today, while I was driving, thinking about how you would be sure that they all lined up at the corners. It like became a little obsessive.
I had to rip out a section and redo it. It wasn’t pretty.
Did you not have plastic mirror clips? And if you do, is it okay to take them off? Every mirror I ever saw had mirror adhesive on the back and plastic mirror clips on the corners.
Nope. Our mirror didn’t have them. It may have had them at one time, but the previous owners had put a faux-frame on the mirror that fell off, so they may have removed them. I don’t remember if the master bath mirror had one or not, but I know it was glued to the wall so well we had to break it (bad, I know) and then re-sheetrock the entire wall because of the adhesive.
FANTASTIC! I was wondering how it would look in a grand scale, and it you did a perfect job!
Thank you! I think I knew the minute I saw what we were doing that it had to happen in my house.
I love this. I have 2 huge plain Jane mirrors in my bathroom that need updating. This would be great!
It’s definitely a cheap and easy way to give your mirrors a facelift! Good luck!
So pretty! Did you have to cut any of your tiles and did you start at the end or middle when placing them? Thanks, Karin
It looks so pretty!! Great job !!
Thank you! I’m liking my bathroom more and more already!
What a great idea! The mirror looks fabulous! Love the idea of using the tiles as a frame!
Thanks! It really dressed the room up!
Great job with the mirror. I was at the Home Depot event too and was delighted to see so many people getting crafty.
Your bathroom mirror looks amazing!
I love it. And if I wasn’t a renter, I’d try it. Not sure my landlord would approve of me doing DIY in his bathroom. Although he lives in Thailand, so he probably wouldn’t care…
love it and i found some lovely mosaic tiles at http://www.mosaictiles.com.au
so i’ll be making one very soon 🙂
I totally love this idea! I’m going to attempt it with my husband next weekend. We have the same kind of mirror, but I wanted to ask how you got the tile around the brackets that hold the mirror to the wall.
Hi Amy! So glad you like the idea! Our mirror actually didn’t have the tabs on it. The previous owners removed them when they glued pieces of baseboard molding to the mirror to make a frame. (!!!!)
However, if your spacing is right, you could snip out the mosaic tile where the brackets are and then just tile around them. It shouldn’t be TOO obvious depending on what color you choose. Or, if you think your mirror is also glued to the wall (most are glued and bracketed in place) you can remove the brackets. Just make double sure it’s glued in place first, of course! No bad luck needed!
Lovely idea Miranda it turned out great! I have two bathrooms currently under construction at home and have been looking for ideas for the bathroom wall mirrors , I’m definitely going to have to give this a try! Thanks again!
Great project idea — but don’t ever rinse grout down your sink. It’s a form
of cement and will clog up your drain! Yikes! Use a bucket of water and a
sponge to rinse off grout. Then let grout settle to the bottom, pour off
the water OUTSIDE and dump the grout dredges in the garbage.
What color grout did you use?
I’m curious to find out what blog platform you are using?
I’m experiencing some small security issues with my latest site and I’d like to find something more safeguarded.
Do you have any suggestions?
I went to Home Depot for Misaic tile hand learn to tile my mirror. I only want the tile on my mirror. Is that possible? I was told I could. I was sold tiles and glue designed for mirrors. Sanding not mentioned. Please advise!!
Home Depot 45 minutes away, I need to make it count.
I’m doing this, thanks for the information. It looks great.
Thanks for the tutorial! It’s exactly what I was looking for! My husband and I are trying to revamp our hideous 80’s master bath this weekend on the cheap! I just have one question I’m hoping you might be able to help me with… my mirror has clips on it that attach it to the wall. did your mirror have these as well? If so, how did you avoid the tiles on top popping out and looking funky? (If you’ve already answered this question, please forgive me!) Thanks!!
Hi, Becky! So what did you do about plastic clips? I have them to, the only idea I have in mind is cut the tile around them.
I love this! How is your mirror attached to the wall? I’m sorry if you’ve answered this already, but I can’t see the other comments.
She said it’s just glued to the wall with a LOT of super strong glue
I’m so glad you posted this on your blog! It’s exactly what I want to do in my newly renovated bathroom. Thanks so much!!! Hope my frame comes out looking as fabulous as yours! 🙂
I just completed this project. Thank you for the step by step instructions, advice and pictures. It was very easy to do and the result looks fantastic! Here is a link to my FB page that has the pictures of my process and completed job. I did include a link to your blog in my posting. Thanks again!