DIY French Country Style Mirror
I was going for a light-medium char.
When I finished torching the frame, Handan scratched off all the char with a stiff wire brush. The brush took away the charred soft wood, while leaving behind the denser, harder areas, which then stood out in relief against the eroded softer wood.
Now the frame had some awesome relief for Handan to wax. She applied the wax with a brush…
…and then rubbed it off with cheesecloth.
It gave just the look we were after.
She did the same to the edges.
Handan then filled the recessed edge of the circle with E6000 glue. That stuff is awesome, but the smell makes me dizzy, so I left the room. Once she had the glue applied, we placed the mirror and weighed it down with whatever we could find. We further secured the mirror by screwing on four “L” brackets, just in case the glue would ever fail.
To make the little circle design in the middle, Handan gave me some upholstery tacks that she had in her craft room. To ensure that all of the tacks were equally spaced, I first determined the diameter of the circle that I wanted (3 1/2 inches), then I searched online for “clock face with dots.” I found a simple pic, downloaded it, then resized it so the distance between 12 and 6 was 3 1/2 inches. I then printed it and cut it out with scissors. I placed the clock face where I wanted the tacks to go and then pushed the tacks through all the hours on the clock face. When all the tacks were in place, I pulled off the clock face and hammered the tacks fully into the frame.
And with that, Handan’s French country style mirror was done! I removed Handan’s beautiful vase from the mantel and placed the mirror there instead.
And here is the cut template with the full round feet for your personal use only.
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Love, love, love the mirror! I think it is inspiring me!
Thank you, Grace!
God bless America, you two continue to blow my dress up, this is freaking gorgeous,awesome and beautiful love it xx
LOL! Thanks, Chris!!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!!?
You’re so very welcome, Amalia!
You are talented!
Thank you, Madeleine!
This is absolutely gorgeous!! Thank you for sharing the template! Now my hands are itching to make one.
Thank you!
That maths trick of Handan is just the best ever. She’s a very clever lady and I’m so glad she roped you in to make the mirror for her, Greg. You deserve lots of Martini’s for this one. It looks gorgeous.
You’re right, Michelle! I do deserve lots of martinis! Oh, and you’re right about Handan, too! 🙂
I’m speechless, that is so cool. I’m just learning to work with tools and you made it look do able. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Jackie! 🙂
You win the craftsmanship award!!! 🙂 This is absolutely AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL!!! Thank you for sharing…I LOVE IT!!!
Thank you, Michelle! 🙂
I have just such a mirror! … or two Love how it turned out!
🙂 gwingal
Greg is there any DIY wood project you cannot do? This piece is gorgeous, Pinning for later when I get the right tools! Best tutorials..Keep em coming!
You did a fantastic job on the mirror. But I don’t appreciate the insult of my style, even though you called your mirror French Vintage. If you could please link back to my site as part of the Copyright that is listed in the sidebar of my blog.
Thank you.
Thank you, Jamie, but…
1) Before leaving a bitter comment on someone else’s blog post for all the world to see, check your facts. The picture has always been linked back to your site and you would know that if you were to check your referrals on Google Analytics. If you don’t know how to do that, we can send you the screenshots for you to see that I’m not violating your copyright terms. (15+ people have clicked over to your site from that picture since I published the post)
2) I could have not used your picture at all and only used the one Handan sent me from CountryLiving.com. (You can find it on the second page of my post.) But I thought sending at least a few readers your way would be the decent thing to do. Reading your comment, I see I was wrong.
3) Who’s insulting “your” style? I’m poking fun (pretty innocuously) at French Country style/farmhouse style/shabby chic and basically all the named styles-of-the-moment that people get so caught up in. Did you invent that style? No? Then you’re safe – I’m not making fun of you. In fact, I’m not making fun of ANYONE. It’s humor, Jamie, and it’s what I do.
4) If I or Handan were really down on that mirror’s style, I surely wouldn’t waste my time making it and then writing about it. I invite you to read any of my recent posts. If you are concerned that I may be making fun of your style, please see how often I make fun of myself. It might make you feel better. Heck, it might even make you laugh. That is my goal.
wow jaimie did you get up on the wrong side of the bed today? greg did credit your site so much better with age right under the picture plus your watermark was on the picture also, and after going to your site and checking out a post with this mirror in it you said and i quote “If you noticed my rustic mirror before, like from a fall tour this year, you’ll notice there was a huge crack down the middle.
I actually purchased it like this because it was $50 in a clearance section of a local store. Score!” so what are you crabbing about? you didn’t spend the hours and hours like greg did making his , so i would assume you aren’t mass producing them to sell, and i might point out you called it “my rustic mirror” not french freaking anything, so i would suggest you go pour yourself a glass of wine and chill for pity’s sake
Absolutely love this! Thanks for linking up to The Talk of the Town Link Party.
Wow, so creative and unique. Thanks for sharing your creativity at DI&DI.
Thank you, Linda!
I love it guys! I’m going to totally copy this technique to give my plain kitchen clock a bigger, more decorative frame. (Don’t worry, I’ll link back to you as my inspiration- wouldn’t want to infringe copyright ?) Thanks as always for sharing xx
P.S. I’ll be featuring your beautiful mirror at To Grandmas House We Go link party this Wednesday xx
Awesome, thanks, Kate!
Thank you, Kate! 🙂
Love this idea. You did a wonderful job.
Thank you, Debra!
Thanks for sharing on the Pleasures of the NW’s DIY Party!
You did a great job on the mirror, love it!
Thank you, Christine!
Is there anything you two cannot do?! It’s going to be amazing…thanks so much for the download!
So happy to have you share at AMAZE ME MONDAY!
Blessings,
Cindy
Thank you, Cindy! 🙂
Oh wow this looks great! Though I would have probably painted mine in a distressed white, vintage/cottage style 🙂 I’m in love with all your craft projects!!
Thank you for sharing at the Friday Favorites linky party 🙂
Happy Tuesday!
*Maisy
Thank you, Maisy! 🙂
Wow! I love the mirror. Thank you for sharing at Ravenwould.
Thank you, Kileen!
Wow, great job and love the husband and wife collaboration! thanks for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!
Thank you, Sara!
Absolutely fabulous, Greg! You are so very talented! Wish I was as comfortable with a saw as you are:) Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm! xo Kathleen | Our Hopeful Home
Thank you, Kathleen! 🙂
Beautiful!
Thank you, Robin!
Love design process! Thanks for sharing at the Pleasures of the NW’s DIY party!
Thank you, Helen!
This is beautiful. Great work. Thank you for sharing it with us at Funtastic Friday.
Thank you, Joyce!
I cannot even BELIEVE you figured out how to make one of these stunning mirrors! There is hope for me yet! 🙂
I’ve featured you in this weekend’s DIY Salvaged Junk Projects. Thanks for linking up! 🙂
Hi Donna, thank you so much! 🙂
Such an impressive piece for the mantle! I’m featuring it at this week’s link party. http://www.thelifeofjenniferdawn.com/2017/04/diy-wood-craft-projects-weekly-link.html
Awesome! Thank you, Jennifer! 🙂
This is just fabulous!! Love! I am featuring you tomorrow at the Creativity Unleashed Link party!! Thanks for linking up and come vote for your project!!
Thank’s great! Thank you, Mindi! 🙂
This mirror is just gorgeous! 🙂
I’d like to invite you to share this at the brand-new Farmhouse Friday link party which kicks off this Friday at 6:00 am PST! I am giving away a $50 Amazon gift certificate to celebrate, and I will also share your linkup on DIY Farmhouse Style Facebook group where I admin, which at this writing has over 130k members! 🙂
Hope to see you on Friday! 🙂
Michelle
The Painted Hinge
http://www.thepaintedhinge.com
Thank you so much, Michelle! I forwarded your link party info to Handan so she can link it up. 🙂
You’re very welcome Greg, and thanks so much for linking up! 🙂 I chose this as one of my features for this week’s party 🙂
Greg, OUTSTANDING!!!! May I ask, what it the Height and Width of this mirror? So incredibly GORGEOUS!!
Thank you, Jennifer! Overall, the mirror is 42 inches tall and 39 inches at its widest point.
This is so beautifully done! Love the french vibe.
Thank you, Maria! 🙂
I love this mirror!
Thank you, Laurie!
I’ve been looking for something just like this for several years now and I love this! Thank you!!!
Awesome! So happy you found us!