Sunday, May 15, 2011

DIY Quatrefoil Mirrors

Our Living room has been a decorating work in progress. We updated and refaced our fireplace this last winter, and then I removed the gray shutters from our large window and replaced them with linen curtains for a much improved look.
On either side of the window I have been wanting to put up something to finish the wall and add a shape of interest without too much time involved. So we whipped up two quatrefoil shaped mirrors from scratch. I got the idea from these online at $139.00 each on sale from $168.00 each.
I love the quatrefoil shape, it lends well to our style. Its has a very Moroccan look that I love.



Each mirror is 18"x 18" and we finished them in a day.






So here is my "How To" if you are interested in making some yourself.
(click on images to enlarge)
**Warning some fancy power tools necessary**

What I used:
• Two 15"x 15" mirrors that I had custom cut out of 1/8" thick mirror from local glass guys. $20.00


• One 8' x 12"x 3/4" piece of pine wood, $10.00 cut into 18" pieces and glued together and clamped in the center seam. Mr. B did this for me.
• Wood glue
• Clamps
• Table saw
• Jigsaw
• Router
• Silicone
• Wood stain and finish in one
Hanging brackets $3.00
• Two drywall anchors
• Two screws
• Masking tape
• Measuring tape
• Sandpaper
• Scissors, pencil, scotch tape.... other random DIY things everyone should have

Here is the seam being glued and clamped.


• A 14" Quatrefoil template, I made in InDesign, you can get the image here if you would like to print it, you may need to adjust the size on your end.
I printed it in 4 sections and taped it together then cut off the outer edges.





I traced the template with a pencil after centering it on the 18" square piece of wood.
Then Mr. B used his Jigsaw to cut out the shape. He then Routered out a 15" square on the back at about 1/8" for the mirror to fit on the back flush.


I sanded and stained both, let that dry.
I used Silicone to adhere the mirrors to the backs of the wood in the groove cut out by the router. I let the mirrors set overnight face down.


The next day I nailed one bracket to the top center of each mirror.


You can see my custom "termite holes" that I added for an aged look before staining.


Here the are ready to be hung up.


Mr. B anchored two screws on the wall, I use the masking tape technique for easy clean up.




Side note, while Mr. B was busy putting the screws in the wall, Baxter was infatuated by his reflection in the mirrors. He stared at him self and scratched at his reflection over and over again.
Mr. B took this as a message that he wants a friend. Which means dog #2 for the "B" household. I am not so sure about that!





Here they are all done and in place, I think for the money they are a great addition. The whole project cost us about $33.00 since we had the majority of the items already.


What do you think?


4 comments:

Janet said...

could Baxter be cuter?

Trisha @ The Sweet Survival said...

I love those mirrors! I have seen something like those somewhere and wanted to get them but they were expensive. Great job! Maybe I need to make my own too.

marygrace said...

I LOVE those! And that picture of Baxter checking himself out is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Roeshel said...

Gorgeous! You're a DIY rock star! They're awesome! I just love Baxter! :)

Almost Friday! Woo hoo!

Roeshel

Related Posts with Thumbnails