If you are looking for a new statement piece in your home, but don’t want to break the bank or feel like you’re wasting what you currently have… give your mirror a facelift! I swear you can make a big impression with minimal(ish) money and effort. I decided to take what was once a savvy home goods find and turn it into a Pinterest inspired masterpiece. Yes, you will need to take a trip or two to Home Depot and will need to use some power tools. BUT! Who isn’t up for a challenge?!
One of the first things you will need to do is frame out the size of the “new trim” you want to surround your existing mirror. This can be whatever size/thickness you would like, I chose a cedar finish and did a foot wide trim all the way around. You will need industrial grade wood glue or liquid nails, a sheet of quarter inch plywood to act as a base, 4 pieces of your 1 x 10 cedar to cut to size (Home Depot or Lowes will also cut it for you for FREE- just know measurements ahead of time), hand saw to cut all wood of you do it at home, and sawhorses (or a work table/ flat surface). Don’t worry, pictures will be shared to help with explaining everything! It makes more sense than it seems. Promise.
Here we go. Very carefully remove the existing frame from your current mirror. I recommend doing this outside and be sure to have a scraper or some sort of blade available to get all the excess glue off! Don’t feel the need to go purchase a bunch of gadgets. If you think it will do the job, then use it! Discard of everything except your mirror and place this off to the side on a flat surface. Don’t worry about cleaning it yet, that’s last!
Grab your piece of plywood base and lay it on the saw horses (or a table you don’t care about possibly damaging) for a higher working surface. You will need to mark off around the entire perimeter of this board where your mirror and new trim will lay to ensure how much needs to be trimmed off. It should not stick out from the back, this should be about 1/2 smaller than everything going on top of it to keep it hidden.Once you have everything measured for the plywood base, take your cedar pieces (or whatever finish you choose) and lay them over each other almost like you are framing out a rectangle. Mark off where the pieces overlap and note that this is where you will be cutting them at a diagonal! Be sure to have a precise measurement as possible, you don’t want any gaps!
Once you have the framing pieces cut, set them aside and get your actual mirror piece. Apply as much glue as possible to the center portion of the back, avoiding the perimeter of the mirror because it will squish out when it makes contact with the mirror. You don’t want it to come out the cracks or edges! Lay the mirror in the grid area you marked and let it dry! At this point you should have just the plywood base sticking out around the mirror. This is where your new trim will go! Be sure to watch where you place the glue on these boards as well so nothing seeps through onto the mirror. Now that you have all of your pieces together, let everything set for about 12 hours and there ya go! Mission mirror facelift completed!
XO, Kalynn