Cardboard Box to Mirror Frame
6 Materials
$4
4 Hours
Medium
I've always wanted a tall mirror with a thick frame. I was going to go out and buy some wood to make my own, but then we bought a new tv and I suddenly had a ridiculously big cardboard box... and I had a thought. What if I could use this thick, heavy cardboard to make a frame? So I gave it a try!
I've had a super cheap, plastic mirror for years(I forgot to take a pic before I took off the white plastic frame, so I took a screenshot from Target.com). I kept it hidden in my closet.
I took off the white plastic - I was able to just pull it off with my hands, but I did use a flat head screwdriver to scrape off some of the glue that remained stuck to the mirror. I set it on the cardboard and measured around the mirror to determine the frame size.
I broke the mirror! I decided to just keep going and make the frame a little shorter and have it cover the broken edge of the mirror.
I made three layers. The first layer is the piece of cardboard that I glued the mirror on, the second layer fits perfectly around the mirror (seen here), and the third layer has straight edges to cover the curved, broken edge of the mirror.
The third layer and final piece of the frame.
I glued(E6000) each layer together and then used wood filler to cover the edges so that the cardboard layers aren't noticeable. I also put a very thin layer of wood filler over the front of the frame and sanded it all after it dried. I was just trying to add a bit of texture to hide any cardboard look.
I used a mocha brown color for the first coat of paint (left over from a previous project).
I wanted a "brush-stroke" look so I very lightly brushed a cream color (Country Chic, Vanilla Frosting) paint for the final coat. It's shorter than I wanted due to the break earlier in the process, but I think it turned out to be a decent frame for a long mirror.
I had to buy new glue for this project, but other than that, I didn't need to purchase any new supplies for this one!
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2 of 14 comments
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Great use of cardboard! Looks great!
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Very nicely done. I have 9 small prints i plan to frame in cardboard so have been searching for ideas. You did a fantastic job.
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Did you use mirror glue to glue cardboard for the first step? I always thought that you had to use a special glue on the back of a mirror to keep from ruining the mirror.