I was toddling around a neighborhood
garage sale this Summer and came across this fantastic deal. A giant 3'x3' mirror for
only $2! Well yes, it was too good to be true because it had a chip out
of one corner, which is probably why it was only $2 to start with.
I figured I could just make a frame to put around it and solve that issue
all too easily, so I snapped up the mirror. It barely fit in the car, so
it was a good thing our house was just down the street. Oh, did I mention...
this mirror is HEAVY.
This mirror has no backing on it so it is basically a large, beveled piece of glass. I thought of every way you could possibly attach a frame to this thing and get it up on the wall. (Some methods were more destructive and passive aggressive than others.)
Thankfully, my parents came up to visit that weekend so I explained my predicament to my dad. Put two ex-mechanical engineers on a problem and we will come up with every idea in the book... and out of it for that matter. We must have spent over an hour brainstorming possible options and discussing the pros and cons. I think we both had a great, geeky time of it too. Mom and DH (Dear Husband) were probably cracking jokes at us, but we were too enthralled to pay attention.
Dad came up with a simple, elegant solution. At first I wasn't convinced, but eventually the inevitable happened: Dad was right... as usual. (Thanks, Dad.)
He suggested attaching the mirror to
the wall using the flat metal mirror clips (see left), rather than the plastic ones
that stick out farther from the wall. Then use industrial strength velcro
to attach the frame to the mirror. This allowed the weight of the mirror
to be directly supported as designed, but the frame would hide the clips
and be removable so you could relocate the mirror at a later date without
trashing the frame. Like I said, simple but elegant. 
So here is how I mounted the mirror:
1. Take out your lime-green wrapping
paper and cut out a square the same size as your mirror. Ok, you can use
purple polk-a-dot paper if you want.
2. Tape it to the wall with blue painter's tape so it doesn't leave the wall sticky. Stylish, no? (The idea is to determine the exact location of the mirror, without trying to get Dear Husband, DH, to hold 20lb of fragile mirror against the wall for 10 minutes)
3. Measure, and draw a schematic
4. Using a studfinder (and after making
a few suggestive comments to DH) locate the wall studs. I ended up shifting
the mirror over about 4 inches so that all four mounting clips could be
screwed into studs. (Ours are 16" on center)
5. Measure again, level, and mark the location of your mirror mounting clips
6. Drill pilot holes, and screw in the bottom mounting clips.
7. GENTLY place the mirror in the lower clips and hold it against the wall to confirm the location of the top clips. It is such a good thing I did this, or else my clips would have been a foot too low! Measure twice, drill once. (Repeat as a mantra). Set mirror aside.
8. These clips have a slot instead of a hole for the screw. Mark the final location for the upper clips, attach to the wall with the screw at the TOP of the slot, and tighten SLIGHTLY. You should just be able to move the clip up and down, but if you let go while it is slid "up," it should hold in place.
10. Place mirror in the bottom clips, lean carefully against the wall (making sure not to bang too hard into the top clips)
11. Slide the top clips down to "grab" the top mirror edge, holding it to the wall
12. Ta-da! Take a step back to admire your work... then go in search of Windex to clean off all the smudges!
The Frame: I created the frame in the same way as the frame for the map on one of my previous posts. See step 5 about half way through the post.
(See the map post here!)
Eva is such a great model, isn't she?
I painted the frame first with a "bonding" primer so the paint would really grip it. Then I painted with a "satin enamel" coat for that polished Pottery Barn look. It turned out a little more glossy than I wanted, but I think it still looks great.
Putting it together:
I bought the super strength velcro with the sticky backing to mount the frame to the mirror. Removing the film to expose the sticky side of the velcro, carefully line up the frame with the mirror. Try to get as close as possible because you only have one shot, and... stick it to the mirror.
Here is the finished product with everything in it's spot. I am amazed what a difference the frame made!
That is the buffet/wine rack that DH's uncle made us for a wedding gift, and the figures are our Chinese zodiac "cake toppers" made by an artist friend as a wedding gift. (Her blog here!)
Looks great!
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