Mirror Mirror Off the Wall (DIY Mirror Frame from Old Wood)

making a DIY Mirror Frame from old wood/barn wood/reclaimed wood…

1987. Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson. What a work of art. Here’s my version. I’m calling it “woman in the mirror”.

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Woman in a 1980’s vintage builder’s grade vanity mirror, to be exact. And we had a lot of these lovelies in our house…

But not after today. Because we have a budget-friendly DIY update for them, so they’ll look like this when we’re done…

Here’s what you’ll need to complete this project:

Mirror Cutting Supplies:

Irwin quick grips
level
vegetable oil
paper towels
mirror/glass cutting tool
sanding block

Supplies for making reclaimed wood DIY mirror frame:

frame material (we used reclaimed barn wood)
table saw
mitre saw
Kreg Jig
5/8″ drill bit
mirror clips
drywall screws

When I look at these outdated vanity mirrors, that song from the Ferrari scene in Ferris Beuller’s Day Off comes to mind…the one that just keeps saying “Oh Yeah” in that perfectly-cheesy-synthesized-Miami-Vice-theme-song way?

Like OH YEAH, these suckers GOTTA GO.

GORGEOUS DIY bathroom/french country bathroom via www.heatherednest.com with toile, barnboard ceiling, vintage door!!

Mirror, mirror on the wall? More like “mirror mirror” get your [email protected]# OFF my wall!!

And preferably without breaking because I’m not digging that whole seven years of bad luck deal. MJ said, or sang it more eloquently…”I’m starting with the man in the mirror, I’m asking him to change his ways.” In this case, let’s just change the MIRROR and leave the man out of it.

Here’s the thing. Mirrors are expensive. So rather than toss these suckers, we figured we’d treat these 80’s icons to a 2015 makeover by cutting them, then making a DIY mirror frame from some old wood…barn wood to be exact.

After removing them from the walls (luckily ours were just installed with inexpensive mirror clips that were easy to unscrew), we took them to the garage. And now, we’ll run you through the play-by-play so you can try it too!

How to Cut Mirror:

1.) Using some Irwin quick grips (SUPER useful to have) and a level, set up a straight line/guide on the mirror. The clamps will keep the level steady during scoring.

2.) Rub the area of the mirror that is about to be cut with some vegetable oil (helps prevent chipping).

3.) Using an inexpensive mirror/glass cutting tool, score the glass by running the tool down your straight line, applying some pressure as you go.

4.) Move the scored line to the edge of your work surface, and apply a bit of downward pressure. It should break right along your score.

5.) Using a sanding block, lightly “sand” the cut edge to knock down the sharp edges.

6.) Seal the newly cut edge by “painting” some clear nail polish along it.

7.) Affix mirror to the wall with mirror clips (only if you are re-installing the mirror now).

This is a stairwell that leads to our basement.

If you need an inexpensive solution for outdated stairs...PAINT!!! Check out this DIY painted staircase from www.heatherednest.com

And here it is today, after a lengthy rehab process.

This DIY mirror frame was not a tough project. We just cut pieces of extra barn board we had here from our guest room and basement bathroom project.

It could have been even easier if instead of angled cuts for the frame we just kept everything 90°. But Dave had gotten a new Kreg jig for Christmas that he had been dying to try out, so he wanted to make the angled cornered frame and use the new joiner.

Steps for making the DIY Mirror Frame:

1.) Rip the barn board down to the desired width using a table saw. We used a width of about 4″, but you could rip them to any size that works for your project.

2.) To make the frame sit on top of the mounted mirror, we used the table saw to cut a groove in the edge of each of the boards. The groove was about 3/4″ wide and 1/2″ deep. This is not hard, just takes about 10-12 passes on the table saw for each board. **Tip: make sure you lower the blade so you don’t cut all the way through the board…that would make for a bad day…

3.) Cut the 45° angle on the boards. We used a mitre saw, so this job was pretty easy. I cut one 45, then measured from the top of the board the “overall” length that you need (outside dimension). I then cut the second 45, in the opposite direction.

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4.) Time to join. The Kreg Jigluckily comes with great instructions. Follow these and you will be just fine. Once you have the holes drilled, lay the boards on a flat surface and screw them together…you will be amazed how well this works…I was!!

5.) The frame is now complete before you mount the frame to the wall…you need to make notches where the mirror hangers are located. We used a 5/8″ drill bit. Hold the frame up on top of the mirror and mark where the hangers are located. Drill out a pocket for the hangers to go into. You might need to do repeat this process a few times until it fits just right.

6.) Mount the frame to the wall with drywall screws.

Can you see the mirror clips in that little crevice below?

And below, you can see one of the drywall screws. When you step away from it, they are barely visible. We could have made the project harder and tried to disguise them, but sometimes, you just wanna check something off your (long) list and move on. These were supposed to look rustic anyhow, so a couple of screws wasn’t going to bother me.