After Mace had finished building the bathroom shelf insert it was time to focus our efforts on the mirror above the vanity. I planned on using the existing mirror but wanted to put a frame around it to make it more appealing. Here it is in its original form.
Since I wanted a fairly thick frame we had to cut the glass down and make it smaller, Mace did all the calculations to make sure the frame and mirror would fit in the space. We got to work prepping an area to cut the mirror down and clamped it down to the dining room table.
Next we took the glass cutter and scored the glass with the level.
Then it was time to apply pressure to one side and break the glass. Since this was a first for both of us we were both very nervous about what was going to happen… was the mirror going to shatter, was it not going to be a clean cut, was it going to slit our wrists as we pushed down? Time to find out and Mace put some muscle behind it… and then nothing happened. So we tried scoring the glass again, put a broom handle under it to get more leverage and still nothing. I tried (because of course I’m just as capable as him) and then back to Mace. The table was getting worked on and moving on us but still nothing. We were close to giving up (and of course I was annoyed because that meant finding another huge mirror before the party) and then Mace decided to give her another try with everything he had… and CRACK!!
17 minutes later we had success!!! Doesn’t seem like that long but for something that should take a few seconds it was very frustrating. Mace was actually very surprised at the amount of force he had to use, I guess we were both being wimpy to start with. Remember to always wear your safety goggles!
The mirror was from the 70’s and it was 1/4″ thick, today’s mirrors are only 1/8″. No wonder it took some serious muscle to cut it, that is one thick piece of glass!!
The first cut wasn’t perfectly straight because we scored it more than once but the 2nd one was very clean and we only scored it once.
And then we had the smaller mirror ready for a frame!
The night before the party we were up late finishing the frame and other projects and we were both very stressed out and ready to be done with projects (this would be the preoccupation and where I had no idea what was about to happen in 24 hours). Here’s the frame after it was put together and the trim detail was added.
Time to fill in the seams with putty and sand it to get it ready for paint, which was my task for this project.
Since the mirror was so much heavier because it is thicker and so large Mace wanted to reinforce the corners so we didn’t need to worry about them separating with just glue and nails.
Next it was time to get it ready to hang. We screwed in hooks on either side and then strung wire pretty tightly so it wouldn’t show at the top of the frame.
And then it was time to hang it on the wall!! It cost about $40 to make the frame which is a steal for a mirror of this size and the frame really helps to make the space feel finished. This space had come a long way from where we started but we weren’t done yet!
Kommentare