Mirrors.....What Can You Do With Them?

Making mirrors a piece of artwork........

When I moved into my house 11 years ago I had those contractor mirrors in every bathroom. I lived with them for years, but eventually just got sick of how plain they looked. Without spending a fortune, I was able to make these plain mirrors into something that looked nice and complimented my decor. I started with the master bedroom bath. I went over to the local Home Depot and walked around the trim aisle. It's amazing how many types of trim there is out there. Here is a site where you can actually look at several types of molding.

http://www.newoodmoulding.com/

What I came across was door molding with square rosettes in the corner as pictured below.

This type of wood isn't cheap either, but for the master bathroom I decided to splurge. Cutting is easy! Straight cuts only. I used a cheap miter saw with a miter box. I measured my mirror (twice....I always make mistakes) and cut my wood.
I kept in mind the measurement of the square rosettes. I glued each piece to my mirror (the four rosettes first) and carefully attached duct tape to hold them up while drying. I used clear silicone adhesive which I purchased at Home Depot. I used this because it's strong and if I ever decide to remove my frame, I can use a razor blade to remove the silicone and not ruin the mirror. That's important because if you like to change things around you will still have an intact mirror. Here is what it looked like when finished. Before I hung this wood a did a faux finish on all the pieces. Some people I've shown this to have asked this question: Why not put the frame together with nails and glue and then hang it? Well, it just doesn't work that way, the frame is just too large. I know this because I tried that way first. Install the pieces one by one. Measure carefully....that is the key.

I did a wildlife/animal print decor in my kids bathroom. Their mirror was boring too. I purchased four pieces of bamboo from Pier One Imports and glued them in the same way as the framing above. I placed bamboo on the top, sides and bottom several inches from the edge of the mirror and gave it a framed look. It now matches the decor of the bathroom.

This photo doesn't do it justice, but if you look below the light fixture, you will see the top bamboo piece.

I do my own stained glass work, so I made these and glued them (clear silicone adhesive) to the two lower corners of the mirror. The mirror I purchased at a thrift store for $5.00. Stained glass is something you can find at thrift stores, garage sales and retail stores. Use your creativity and think about what would look nice on the mirror. See below:

Close up of stained glass glued to mirror.

Lastly, I did the downstairs bathroom mirror. This one was a little more tricky. I used plain door molding and mitered the corners. You can see from the photo that I glued four decorative corners on(purchases at Home Depot)and also a small, thin decorative piece of molding around the perimeter of the mirror. I faux finished the wood before mounting it with a marble effect.

Basically, you can do plenty with a mirror to make it fit your room. Look for decorative wood corners (I know they sell them at Lowes,
Home Depot , Joanne's Craft store and Micheal's Craft store)

Silk flowers, stained glass (check ebay) and a host of other items that can decorate your mirror.

Here are some websites that may help.

http://www.homedepot.com/

http://www.joann.com/

http://www.lowes.com/

http://www.ebay.com/

http://www.michaels.com

01 02 03

04 05 06

07 08 11 12