Sunday, August 26, 2018

Framing a builder grade mirror that is not between two walls

Framing a builder grade mirror that is not between two walls


I promised quite a while ago that I would give directions on how to frame a builder grade mirror that is not tight between 2 walls (like my first post here).

My daughters bathroom has a mirror on a long wall and we needed to find a way to conceal the mirror when looking at it from the side (since the frame sits on top of the mirror).
In my master ensuite bathroom our mirror is fitted tight between two walls, so we adhered the frame directly onto the mirror.

We used the generally the same materials and mostly the same method to create this frame. For detailed instructions on how we made this mirror frame, please refer to this original post.

I am only going to show you how this frame differs from the original post.

This frame was much more difficult for my husband to create. We could not just create a frame with straight cuts and not have to worry about how the molding was finished on the sides. Since the frame is adhered to the mirror, we had to determine a way to hide the mirror when looking at it from the side and we also had to finish the crown molding and flat trims (making it into a 90 degree corner) so that it was finish nicely.
We used a smaller crown molding for the top because the bathroom light was tighter to the top of the mirror and we did not think we had room for a large, detailed piece of molding.
In order to hide the side of the mirror, we measured the depth of the mirror and purchased a thin piece of molding that was the exact depth of the mirror. We painted it to match the frame, cut 2 pieces to be the exact height of the mirror and secured them onto the wall on both sides of the mirror.
Using the same techinique as we did in the first post, we created the rest of the frame.

Once the frame was secured, we used some filler (like DAP or caulking) to fill in the seams between all the pieces used to create the frame. This gave the frame a nice finished look. It made the frame look like 1 piece and not a bunch of little pieces stuck together.

The hardest part by far was getting the angles for the crown molding and flat trim. If you search online you can get the exact cutting angles needed to achieve a perfect corner. Remember though, the caulking can hide errors :) ...this we know first hand.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy!
Stephanie

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