With wood and paint/varnish, it might cost a total of $50-80 depending on what materials you want to use and the overall size. A 55 x 30″ two-way mirror could cost thousands.įrame: building a frame is quite cheap and easy – even for a large mirror. If you want to purchase a two-way mirror, the cost rises dramatically as the size of the mirror increases. My large glass pane (55 x 30″) was $200 and a large film to cover it was $30. Large panes of glass can be fairly expensive because they need to be quite thick (6mm). This is what I did for my bathroom smart mirror and you will see details about it across this website. One option is to buy a regular pane of glass and use a mirror film. Glass: For a large mirror, you don’t want to use plexi-glass. I’ll use my smart mirror as an example on how much a large one may cost.

The below photo shows the large smart mirror I built for my bathroom: All of the other parts such as the computer and display will be fairly cheap. If you want a large smart mirror for your bathroom, it will cost quite a bit more due to the size. If you’re okay with the smart mirror only displaying on part of the overall monitor, you can buy something for far less cost.Ĭomputer: unless you plan on adding a lot of processor intensive features to your smart mirror, a Raspberry Pi will likely be enough for your smart mirror.Ī complete kit with all connectors will cost around $50-80.Īssuming you don’t have a spare monitor, medium size (eg: 30″) smart mirror could cost anywhere from $150-400 depending on the quality of materials and features you want it to have. A second hand 28″ monitor might cost around $80. With wood and paint/varnish, it might cost a total of $20-50 depending on what materials you want to use and the overall size.ĭisplay: if you want your smart mirror to display across the entire mirror, you might need to buy a large monitor. Regular glass with a film should only cost around $20-50, good quality plexi-glass might cost around $150, and a proper two-way mirror might cost around $200.įrame: building a frame is quite cheap and easy. If you’re building a mirror larger than 30″ diagonally, then it’s recommended to use glass. The larger the mirror will be, the more distortion you will notice if you use plexi-glass. You could use regular glass with a mirror film, buy a two-way mirror, or use plexi-glass with two-way mirror coating. Glass: depending on the size you want, you can still choose between plexi-glass or glass. Depending on how you want your mirror to look, you might need to buy extra parts for a frame, but overall it’s still quite cheap. Medium sized smart mirrors can still be quite cheap to build. If you don’t have any parts, the total build might cost somewhere from $100-150. You could buy a complete kit with all connectors for around $50-80.ĭepending on what you already have available, you could easily build a small smart mirror for around $100.

Or you could easily buy a second hand monitor for under $50.Ĭomputer: the most popular option when building a smart mirror is using a Raspberry Pi. If you have an old computer monitor, you can use that for your smart mirror at no cost. To give you an idea of the cheapest option, you could simply buy a photo frame (~$10-20) and use reflective film (~$10) to turn it into a two-way mirror.ĭisplay: the advantage of building a small mirror is you can find a display that fills up the entire mirror.

You could use regular glass with a mirror film, or use plexi-glass with two-way mirror coating. Glass: you have plenty of options when building a small smart mirror. There are three main components to a smart mirror, so let’s look at how much each might cost for a small build. Small smart mirrors can be cheap to build. Building a Small Smart Mirror on a Budget Let’s go through a few examples so you can get a better idea on the costs of building a smart mirror. The cost of building your own smart mirror depends on what materials you will use, what features you want, and the overall size of the mirror.Ī small smart mirror might cost less than $100, a medium sized smart mirror from $150-300, and a large mirror could be $400+.

Instead of paying for features you don’t want, you can build a smart mirror with exactly the features you want. Not only can you build one for a fraction of the cost, but your smart mirror can have the same features as a $2000 smart mirror.īuilding your own smart mirror also means you can customize it to your needs. Purchasing a smart mirror can cost $1000-2000 depending on the size and features.įortunately, it’s far cheaper to build one yourself. While smart mirrors are starting to become available to buy, they can be incredibly expensive.

Magic mirror project