Barn Wood Framed Mirror

I’m slowly picking away at projects for the master bedroom as a way of putting off doing the floor. It’s wall-to-wall carpet up in this biznatch and although I’m really eager to see it go, I’m not eager to do the work. I wanted a nice big mirror for the dresser in our room, and had this one lying around not doing much of anything:

It was really gross. I took the glass out of the frame and realized it was not cut perfectly square which was annoying. Not a deal breaker, but just enough to make working with it more difficult than it needed to be. (One of the pitfalls of using old junk rather than buying a new piece of mirror cut to size, I suppose.)

I went to Home Depot and got a half sheet of MDF board, two pieces each of 1×4 and 1×2 8 foot strapping, and some hardcore construction adhesive.

The MDF was a little bigger than I needed so I cut it down to size with the table saw.

Once I had the mirror positioned in the center, I traced it so I would know where to put the glue come time to attach it. I framed the outside with the 1x4s and the mirror itself with the 1x2s. Learning to work the mitre saw was a really good decision. I use it for so many projects and it is really nice not to have to ask Matt to pause the PlayStation every time I want to cut something. Do not fear the mitre saw, people!

I painted the space that would show between the frames and edges of the MDF board white and stained the frames with Minwax Early American.

I love this color. I don’t know why I don’t use it more often; I always forget about it. It is the perfect ‘barn wood’ brown without being too dark, and has minimal orange undertones (depending on the wood). I really, really dislike orange wood. I dislike Donald Trump as well. He is also orange.

I attached the mirror to the MDF with LePage construction adhesive, the stuff that specifically says it works on mirrors. I put a lot on because I did not want the mirror to fall off the board and cause someone’s untimely death.

 

As you can see from the photo above, there was a border of scums all around the mirror’s edge that I had to cover up with the inner frame. That meant the pieces of the frame wouldn’t be sitting flush on the MDF, so I used paint stirs as shims, gluing them on to level everything out.

I made my way around until all the pieces were glued in place, and then left it alone for a little bit so the adhesive could cure. I really had to push down hard, but the stuff worked well and I don’t think the mirror will come crashing down dramatically at any point, so that is comforting. If you are super ambitious you could use clamps but I am LAZY and did not want to truck back down to the garage to get them. I screamed to Matt several times to bring them up, but for some reason he ignored me…

 

This was a real cheap project coming in at just under $40. It was super easy too, and came together in a weekend. I’m pleased with the end result:

And of course no post would be complete without a photo featuring my dog model of the day:

That carpet….