DIY tabletop lighted vanity mirror

I live in a shared house with a friend from uni. It's one of those old one bathroom Victorian terraces in which the architect didn't really have mirror placement in mind. Also, the lighting is awful for makeup application. I've been lusting after a lighted vanity mirror since discovering the modest dressing room accomodation at our local theatre last year; so when I was oggling mirrors on Amazon recently, I had a brainwave. There was this perfect table-top dressing mirror made of real Oak and it was only £35, it just needed me to slap some fairy lights on it! Fairy lights rule the world.

Originally I tried a string of warm white LEDs we use at christmas, but found them way too dim, so I picked up 3 sets of 30 superbright LEDs from Amazon. The gold one is for adding some warmth, rather than luminousity; nobody looks good in flat white light.

Materials:

• Large vanity mirror of some kind (the price has gone up since I bought it)
• enough fairy lights to light up your face from 2 feet
• Velcro squares
• Command hooks for fairy lights
• tape measure
• food clips or wire ties (anything that will serve as a marker and hold light strings in place)
• decorative bits and bobs (optional)

To start off, I measured the mirror on three sides, where I wanted the lights to be. I figured lighting from the bottom would be undesireable. I layed my tape measure out on the kitchen counter, making sure I had access to the 54 inches of space for putting the light strings together. Obviously one longer surface would be better, but my office is taking up a large portion of the dining table at the mo'.

Then I marked where the light strings would wrap around from the back, giving the battery packs enough room to be placed comfortably on the back side of the mirror. I used a food clip to keep the strings in place for when I started wrapping.

Because the mirror swivels, the battery packs need to be in line with the swivel point so they don't influence how smoothly the mirror swings back and forth. If you don't do this, the mirror may not want to stay in the position you put it in. I measured from where the string would wrap around to the bottom then placed the clips at that far in from both ends of the tape measure.

You'll notice I split up the strings and put one on the left. This is because I didn't want to put the battery packs on one side and end up with any of the lights on the back side of the mirror because the lightless part of the string wasn't long enough. If you've got lights with a lot of space between the battery pack and the first bulb, you don't have to do this and it might make the twisting easier. You can also get one string instead of three, if you can find a long set that is bright enough.

I twisted the strings together toward the closest end of the tape, bent them back at the end, then started wrapping the rest of the two light strings back around what was already twisted together. When I reached the clip again, I started twisting the two free strings together again toward the other end of the measuring tape.

All this twisting and wrapping is necessary because otherwise the light strings wont hold together and you'll have to attach each one to the mirror seperately. This way I only had to hook one string to the mirror and everything stays put. Of course, if you find one longer light string, all of this will be easier as you'll just be wrapping back and forth from end to end.

When I got to the third battery pack I clipped the other two strings to it where it wraps around from the back side of the mirror, then incorporated the third string into the twisting.

Like at the other end, when I got to the far point on the tape I bent the light strings back, wrapping the loose ends back around the already twisted bits. At this point it becomes necessary to start feeding the bulbs through the middle of the other strings. This helps to bond the whole thing together better and keep the twisting  and wrapping in place. You'll notice that each light string is made up of more than one wire; just stick your finger through the middle of the wires, where you want to connect two light strings,  and pull the LED bulb through.

For the rest, I just kept wrapping the loose ends back and forth, feeding the bulbs through other strings occasionally until the end of the last string.

Now to fix the twisted light strings to the mirror:

How many velcro squares and in what position they need to be depends on the size of the battery packs on your fairy lights. Mine fit 3 AAA batteries, so I pressed the two opposite sheets together as they were, then cut through the backing sheet width-wise, leaving two squares on the same backing sheet. The spacing was just right for securing my battery packs.

Take the backing sheet off one side then stick them appropriately on the back side of your mirror. I just eyeballed it, but if you're worried, you can use a level and/or ruler and a pencil to draw a line if you want. But I'm sure if it's not perfect, on this small a scale it won't make that much of a difference.

Be sure to leave both sides of the velcro stuck together as this will make it easier to place the opposite side in the right place on the battery packs. Then leave them alone for a bit to adhere.

Now you can place your fairy light command hooks on the front side. The great thing about these is that if I don't like the placement, which I didn't at first, you can remove them and put them somewhere else. I also ended up adding more later to support the lights where they needed it. The right side was particularly disobedient and I now have three by the swivel point. I also discovered that purchasing clear hooks is pointless as the command strips always come in white, as you can see in the pics.

The direction the hook is pointing is important as otherwise they will not hold your lights in place. The end hooks are placed pointing downward.

The swivel point hooks are pointing outward here, but I discovered they should be pointing inward in order to hold the bit coming from the battery packs in place.

The ones in the upper corners just need to be pointing upward. I put them on the diagonal because I thought the lights would hide them better that way. I also eventually added two more to the top edge, at equal intervals.

On the back side again, I removed the covers from the battery packs, made sure I had the orientation correct (otherwise the weight of the batteries could be enough to make them slide off!), then peeled the last backing papers off the Velcro and pressed the covers on. Try to make sure they're centered well.

After a few minutes, you can put the battery packs in place onto the covers. I suggest putting the light string at the front of the mirror, from underneath, then sliding the battery packs upward to lock them in place.

Now hook your light string in place. Sometimes only one wire strand is needed, but I suggest picking a couple strands from seperate light strings just to make sure it all holds together well.

Et Voilà!

You can do what I did and place a scarf over it, either for decoration or as below, to cover it up so I don't have to look at myself all day. But if you like looking at yourself in the mirror, don't worry about it!

I also had some pearl-headed floral pins from the centrepieces at my wedding party which I stuck into the strings for decoration, along with one perfect little dried rose and a couple bow-headed pins. Since LEDs don't give off much head, you can decorate these in all sorts of ways.

Now this did cost me a weighty £70 all told, but when you compare it to the purchaseable options from Amazon, you'll soon find it's a bargain just on square footage. Lit vanity mirrors  seem to go for way over half the cost at a small fraction of the mirror size. And if you're lucky enough to already have a tabletop vanity mirror, you're only looking at £30ish.

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