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Friday 2 March 2012

Geometric Mirror Tutorial

As I explained in my first post about my geometric mirror, I got my inspiration from this pic at Anthropologie.  

I new I could come up with something without spending Anthropologie's $648.00 asking price.  So here's what I created:



I already had 2 mirrors that I had purchased a couple of year's ago at a Target store in Illinois while I was visiting my sister.  (I live in Canada and we do not have a Target store)  They looked a lot like this one that the Target store has on line now.  But, I would never have paid $27.89 ea, sale or no sale.  Mine were about $14.99 or less if I recall.  

This is the actual mirror:  (my house is dark and hard to take a good pic)

So I took a trip to my local Michael's Store and found some Balsa Wood sticks.  

They looked like these:

They were 36" long and 1/2" X 1/2" and no more than $2.00ea.  I took them home and spray painted them black. 

Then I took my mirror, found the center of it, and drew a line down it with a dry eraser pen and a long straight edge, which happened to be a long level.  


I then need to find my center spot on the mirror.  I used the concept from art class as a child.  I drew two more lines from corner to corner, crossing over the first one.  Were the X meets is now your center of the entire mirror.  


I then needed to figure out how large I wanted the three squares to be.  I hunted in the house for something square.  The best I could do was this ZipLoc lid.


I felt that this was still a little large for my squares so I folded a piece of paper up into a square, just smaller than the lid.

I cut out my square and then found the center of it using the same X system as above by folding the square twice.  I then poked a hole into the center of the square so that when I placed it on top of the X on the mirror, I would be able to see the black markings on the mirror.  I also measure the square in order for me to no how big to cut the wood to create the square.  It ended up being 4 1/2" square.  


I cut 12 pieces of wood to the length of 4 1/2".  I then had to make a 90 degree cut in order to connect the pieces together like a picture frame.  To find my 90 I again folded my square from opposite corner to opposite corner.  This created a 90.  I laid it on top of the wood and cut my 90.  (I only work with hi tech tools here people)


  I then glued them all together using Home Depot's No More Nails:

I took my paper square with the hole in the middle and laid it onto the X on the center of my mirror, I then positioned my square on top of it until it was lined up and then removed the paper.  I then began measuring all of the distances I had remaining and centered the next two squares in the same way.  


I then measured the distance between each square in order to make my cuts to join up each square.  I laid everything out for a dry fit. 


I touched up all of my paint spots that needed doing and then I proceeded to glue everything down with the No More Nails trying very carefully not to use to much so that I would not seep out.  I did have to cut some away with a utility knife after it was dried.  

And that's it.  I ended up with my Anthropologie inspired mirror.  Now I just have one more to complete and then I have to decide where to hang them. 

                       Mine                                                                             Anthropologie's 



















I am linking up to the following.....

Thrifty Decorating 
Organize With Sandy
Shine Your Light
The Shabby Nest
Serenity Now
Tatertots & Jello
Knock Off Decor
Addicted 2 Decorating
Thrifty Decor Chick





9 comments:

  1. wow! What a great idea! I love that mirror. So glad I stopped by and saw it. :)
    Have a blessed weekend!

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    1. Thank you for stopping by Traci. I actually posted my previous post onto your Linky Party.

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  2. Found you on TT&J, Carol. I recently found a china cabinet with detailing on the doors similar to the Anthropologie mirror. Still searching for easy and affordable materials to try the circles but this is a great backup plan.
    Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks Lauren. I'm so glad I could give someone an idea. I made squares because I figured it would be way easier. I do prefer the circles though. I just thought, you can buy circles for embroidery projects. You could just cut off the screw thingy in it.

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  3. Thank you for stopping in and joining. I've been enjoying your blog.

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  4. Love the mirror-great idea-I'm following you from TDC-stop by for a visit!

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    1. Thank for for the compliment. I will definitely come over for a visit.

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