Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Mirror, Mirror on the wall....


It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to post some of the progress of the balcony. I won’t lie, I’ve been procrastinating, turns out even being frugal and saving money at every corner you still want to not spend money. Or at least since my trip I’ve been thriftily trying to cut corners to save even more money. So that’s meant a lack of spending in the balcony department.

Have no fear! I have good news blog readers that I can share  with you, I Michael being of sound mind and semi awesome waves have completed a project of a lifetime (for under 6$ to boot!). Wondering what that project is? The sad mirror...

There it is in all it’s glory, lonely, queue IKEAS sad song for the lamp in the rain. -> Was I the only one that watched that commercial and actually felt sorry for the lamp? <- now you may be asking yourself now... what could he possibly do with this cheap hand me down mirror? Let me tell you! (alas I did not photo the project because well that might have been a smart idea grrr)
Step 1: Remove mirror from old frame (which was surprisingly harder than I had anticipated)
Step 2: Cut new frame out of 1x4’s so that its slightly smaller than the mirror. I made it simple by using those 90 degree angle cutting cubes that you can get at WALMART or HOMEDEPOT that we already had here from doing the sectional.
Step 3: Put the pieces together, I used regular carpenters glue for the corner, several screws from every angle and a nail, believe me those bad boys aren’t going anywhere.
Step 4: Connect mirror to the frame. So simple, I used mirror anchors, the kind that people use to hang mirrors in there bathroom.
Step 5: Super glue. **insert mohahah here** I rounded the frame with gorilla glue just for that added security and so it wouldn’t move around at all. No one wants 7 years bad luck!
Step 6: Stain, and spray on finish. Which I’ve put in one step since it took a full day to do but really took no time at all.
And after all that hard work (use your mind to in vision the process) we finally come up with this new fabulous mirror that really adds a special something to the outside!


So that’s one small step for the balcony and one giant step closer to completion! What’s next? Well we are finishing up the frames and getting ready to add them to the walls, then we are done line dinner!

4 comments:

  1. Michael, what is the "90 degree angle cutting cube" you used. I looked on THD & Walmart sites and didn't see anything except a "Cut-N-CrownMite-R-Gage Angle Finder Tool." Is this what you used to cut your corners? Love the mirror!

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    1. Hi Carla! So sorry for the confusion, I’m not always the best for naming tool (my father would probably be shaking his head right now!) What I used was a Miter Box and here is the link for home depot: http://www.homedepot.ca/product/clamping-miter-box/972568 I would get the Stanley one as I had the cheaper version -- not such a good experience. It’s so easy to use! I used it recently here to add moulding to the bottom of some IKEA shelves we just finished! http://guyonthe-move.blogspot.ca/2013/04/how-to-paint-shelf-part-two.html Let me know how it turns out or if you have anymore questions :)

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  2. Well done! That mirror looks awesome!

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    1. Thanks a million Vanessa! We sure love it after (before.... the love was not really there..) -- XO - Mike and Karen

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