closeup of DIY Rustic Mirror Frame | TheNavagePatch.com

DIY Rustic Mirror Frame

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This DIY Rustic Mirror Frame is big on looks and rustic charm but small on effort and price! It’s perfect for a bedroom, hallway or entryway!

Last month, when we were still working on Barish’s first room makeover, Handan and I were brainstorming some of the things he would need in his second room.

I informed her that back in the 80s, it was quite common and totally cool for high school dudes to have some Led Zeppelin posters, some sweet extreme skiing posters and some big-haired floozies in string bikinis adorning the walls of their radically gnarly bedrooms.

Wait a minute.

The floozies weren’t actually in our rooms or on are walls. But that would have been epic!

Alas, the bikini-clad floozies (generally of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit variety) were also in poster form.

As you might imagine, my Turkish wife was less than thrilled with my idea.

It wasn’t so much the content, mind you.

But posters!

After all of our work, you want to put posters on the wall?

I looked around the room. I had to admit she made a good point.

Okay, so wailing guitars, 100-foot cliffs and swaying bosoms were out of the question.

But what about a mirror?

One thing he’s sorely lacking is a full length mirror. His only mirror is the bathroom vanity.

But every teen needs a full-length mirror.

It’s where they practice dance moves, pickup lines and perfecting the ubiquitous Teen Slouch.

Great! Mirror it is!

Handan had the idea to make a rustic-framed mirror – something that would complement the other wood tones in both the first room and the ones what will soon be in his second room.

We already have several rectangular Put and Take mirrors we’ve kept stashed in the basement. One of those would surely fit the bill.

Handan rummaged one from the depths of her corner of the basement (I rarely go that far into the basement – I’ve heard tales of dragons!)

rectangular mirror on a work bench
Handan’s Ongoing Pajama Counter: 36

The idea was simple: I’d cut out a backing from some thin hardboard I had leftover from another IKEA Kallax hack I’m working on (you’ll be reading about that one soon!), then I’d glue the mirror to it. Around the mirror, I’d glue some rustic wood panels.

Quick.

Easy.

Simple Stupid.

Just the way we like it!

About four years ago, we bought some Weathered Wall Boards from Home Depot without any clear idea what we’d do with them. It was one of those, “Hey, these look cool! Let’s buy some!” decisions.

weathered wood wall panels

They’ve sat perfectly undisturbed ever since…

But now they were perfect for the mirror! Alternatively, you could use 1×4 pine lumber or pallet wood and stain it to the color of your choice.

Since they’d been sitting in the basement enduring crippling swings of intense, swampish humidity in the summers and snot-hardening aridity in the winters for almost four years, most of the boards had cupped. To correct this and make them all of a uniform thickness, I ran them through my planer. New boards wouldn’t have the cupping issue, so the planing wouldn’t necessarily be needed. Having boards of varying thicknesses would only add to the rustic look!

running boards through a thickness planer

I cut the wall boards to size. Here I’m doing some final trimming to get everything perfect.

cutting boards on a table saw

And then I arranged them around the mirror. I made the boards overhang the hardboard by about an inch, so the hardboard wouldn’t show on the finished product. Nobody wants to see your hardboard peeking out!

mirror surrounded by boards

At this point, I marked the edges of the hardboard and cut it on the table saw. I told Handan to take pictures of me (I mean, who wouldn’t want that job, right?), but she went all “SQUIRREL!” right about then and started bouncing around the basement like a deranged pinball looking at this doodad over here and then over to that knickknack over there and then on to some other thingamabobber over in another corner.

The ADD is strong in this one.

I managed to corral her back to the project at hand just before I placed the mirror on the hardboard and centered it by measuring with my Kreg Multi-Mark.

centering a mirror on a piece of hardboard
centering a mirror on a piece of hardboard

I outlined the mirror with a pencil.

tracing around a mirror with a pencil
outline of a mirror

I then mounted the mirror and panels to the rough side of the hardboard using construction adhesive. The rough side allows the adhesive to get a much better grip.

For some reason working with these construction adhesives always reminds me of those Poligrip and Fixodent denture adhesive commercials from the 80s. Yep, that’s how my brain works.

applying construction adhesive to hardboard
mounting a mirror on hardboard

With the mirror in place, I applied more Fixodent Loctite around the perimeter.

making a diy rustic mirror frame

I then placed the wall boards around the mirror. I wonder if Loctite would work with teeth?

making a diy rustic mirror frame

I clamped up the boards and let the whole thing cure overnight.

I told you it was so simple!

We took it up to Barish’s second room but realized we couldn’t take any beauty shots there, since we’re in the middle of its makeover, and everything is everywhere.

I decided I’d take our new DIY rustic mirror frame down to our bedroom for the photos.

And now I’m torn.

This rustic mirror frame looks so good in our bedroom!

Maybe I’ll make him another one with one of the other, bigger mirrors we have in the basement.

And maybe I’ll keep this one in our room.

What do you think?

DIY Rustic Mirror Frame | TheNavagePatch.com
DIY Rustic Mirror Frame | TheNavagePatch.com
DIY Rustic Mirror Frame | TheNavagePatch.com
DIY Rustic Mirror Frame | TheNavagePatch.com
DIY Rustic Mirror Frame | TheNavagePatch.com
DIY Rustic Mirror Frame | TheNavagePatch.com
DIY Rustic Mirror Frame | TheNavagePatch.com
DIY Rustic Mirror Frame | TheNavagePatch.com

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28 Comments

  1. LOVE this project! Beautiful!! Also, tell Handan I feel for her, the ‘SQUIRREL’ is also strong in me. ?

  2. It’s a keeper for your bedroom–guess you’ll be making another one for Barish (funny how this happened with the table too, hmm.)
    Seriously, the depths of your basement storehouse knows no bounds. Can I shop there? And Handan has quite the pajama bottom collection. I don’t think I spotted a duplicate pair yet.
    Thanks for another funny and informative read. Squirrels and swaying bosoms indeed. LOL

    1. LOL, that IKEA table finally migrated up to Barish’s room – I was sad to see it go! But this mirror? I don’t know. I think I will have to make another one for him. I love it in our room! Oh yeah, Handan lives in fuzzy pajamas around here – even gardening in mid-summer, lol!! đŸ˜€

    1. Believe me, Deedee, not everything is as easy as this mirror frame! I try to keep all the blood, sweat, tears and swears out of the blog, though, lololol! đŸ˜€

  3. This would be $75 bucks minimum at Kirkland’s- you killed it! You had so much fun making the first one surely you can manage a second for your precious baby boy ;-p

    1. Thank you, Audrey! It’s always so hard to choose the pics, so I toss that job over to Handan. Apparently she had trouble choosing a favorite too, lol! đŸ˜€

  4. Absolutely love this! I think I’ll try one a bit shorter and wider made to look like a window pane for my outdoor entryway. Thanks for the amazing idea – just love you guys!

  5. I have two good size rectangle mirrors and wasnt sure how to stabilize them, thank you so much for posting this. You do beautiful work.

  6. I thought special mirror adhesive was required or the mirror would cloud over. Looks great.

  7. Ya’ll are amazing! But seriously, I want a tour of that workshop of endless wonders! Everything is in there!

  8. Nice job! Love the rustic. In Maine we often call “squirrel” Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. I can go from thing to thing, picking up one thing, putting it away, seeing something else that needs doing….I work hard all day and then look at my to-do list and NOTHING is checked off and nothing looks very different! No one SEES the folded underwear in the drawer, the mail out to the mailbox, the compost no longer sitting on the side of the sink! It is SOOO frustrating. Guess that’s why I make my to-do lists!

  9. Well another Handan and Greg master piece! Do you two ever sleep or eat i don’t know how you find the time for all these wonderful creations. Love the fuzzy p j’s i have some and some fuzzy onesies, so comfy.

    1. Thank you so much, Catherine! Handan loves her fuzzies! They’re her standard crafting, painting and gardening gear! đŸ™‚