Genius DIYer Dupes Pottery Barn's Cool New 'Ghost Mirror'

Ah, Pottery Barn - ever the perfect store for aspirational window shopping, not so much for finding deals. Pottery Barn has tons of unique items in their catalog, but their high prices tend to scare off thrifty shoppers. But when skilled DIYers see a beautiful Pottery Barn piece that's outside their budget, they don't despair - they get inspired.

Even as far as Pottery Barn dupes go, this one is next-level. Lindsay, a mother and art teacher from Alaska, flexed her DIY magic on some early Halloween prep with this masterful dupe of Pottery Barn's holographic "Ghost Mirror!"

Pottery Barn's new Ghost Hologram Mirror is spectacularly spooky, but not as spooky as its $399 price tag! Lindsay, aka @lindsayinalaska , knew right away that she wanted to dupe this piece on the cheap. However, this DIY project would take a little bit more than a new coat of paint. Lindsay was tasked with the challenge of recreating the mirror's unique hologram illusion!

Related: Furniture Flipper Turns Old Wardrobe Into Pottery Barn Armoire Inspired Dupe

DIYing a Hologram Mirror

This challenge might have stumped a novice DIYer, but Lindsay is clearly no slouch. If anything, the hologram part was easy. Lindsay had an old LCD TV, and she realized that if she could hide the TV behind a two-way mirror , she could just pull up a spooky ghost video and perfectly recreate the illusion! That just left the real challenge to tackle: building a custom two-way mirror.

As Lindsay demonstrated, she measured her TV, figured out what its dimensions would be when turned on its side, and then bought a large picture frame to fit it. For the mirror part, she bought a full-on two-way mirror from Amazon, though she added that two-way mirror window wrap would also work as a cheaper choice. From there, she decorated the frame with wooden appliques, added the two-way mirror in the back like a poster, and admired her finished mirror!

As an aside, you might notice that this is not a 1:1 dupe of the Pottery Barn original, as the frame looks different. Personally, though, I still consider this a prime DIY dupe considering that she recreated the most important part: the hologram illusion. You could still create a more 1:1 recreation off of Lindsay's tutorial by finding or modifying a more "similar" frame, but personally, I prefer Lindsay's version. The ornateness of her frame matches the whole ghostly gothic vibe better!

Completing the Illusion

With her mirror complete, all Lindsay had to do was place the mirror in front of her sideways TV, and voila! In the comments, Lindsay explained that she downloaded a ghost video on YouTube, rotated it, and uploaded the video to her private YouTube library, hence why the ghost appeared up right on her sideways TV! Between upcycling her old TV and grabbing a few new supplies, Lindsay estimated that she saved $300 duping the mirror instead of buying it. DIY win!

As a caveat, commenter @hannahmpacitti warned that leaning an LCD TV on its side like this can ruin the pixels and cause the image to go purple. For Lindsay, this wasn't a problem, as she used a roughly 15-16 year-old TV that had just been sitting around and gathering dust. Still, friendly reminder not to sacrifice your favorite TV this way: either use an old one you don't mind going bad or pick one up for cheap at the thrift store . Or, you could follow one of Lindsay's other tips and make a miniature version using an iPad!

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