DIY Full Length Mirror & Floor Vase

I decided that after finishing the bedroom, it was still missing something. Specifically in the corner by the window. It was bare. But I didn't want anything too big because we already have a lot of big furniture in there. So, I decided to re-purpose a 5.00 Walmart mirror. You can find the original tutorial here. I started by pulling the cheap plastic molding off from the mirror. Please be very careful with this step. I broke my first one, and was extremely ill. Plus it sliced my finger. So, anyways, after that, we (I had Jason help me since I'm new to the whole electric saw thing) cut some 1x3 boards to frame it out, measuring the pieces long enough to fit around the mirror but leaving enough of a lip on the wood so that we could glue the mirror in place later. Then we stapled it in the corners on the back side to help the wood glue dry and help hold it extra super good. 

 

 

Jason took over stapling for a minute so I could get some pictures:

Then we hammered the staples in really good and flat, and let it all dry overnight!

I was so excited to get it done that I forgot to take any pictures of the staining process or gluing the mirror in, but it's pretty self explanatory.  We used Rust-oleum Wood Stain in Dark Walnut.  We let it dry for about 5 minutes and then wiped it down.



After it was done, we put it in said corner.  It still wasn't doing it for me.  So, I made another rope wrapped vase.  This one was a floor vase, and I used the chunkier Sisal Rope.  It used every bit of that role of rope except for one inch of it.  It worked out perfectly.  The vase was an 18 inch glass vase from Michael's in case you are wanting to duplicate!

Once it was wrapped up, I added it next to the mirror with the intent of adding some kind of vase filler.  STILL wasn't happy.  So, the last thing that I decided on was an old crate to set it all on top of.  Since I haven't been able to find one at the very limited amount of thrift stores around here, we made one with extra scrap wood.  We built the frame out of 2x2's in the dimensions we chose, which were 22 inches wide, 11 inches deep, and 13 inches high.  Then we just used wood glue and finishing nails to nail 1x3's all around the frame and across the bottom (which is kind of like the top since I turned it over to sit everything on top of).  We rubbed some of the same stain from above on random places, and once that dried, gave it a good coat of spray paint in Valspar's Churchill Vanilla.  Once it was all dry, I sanded the heck out of it and made it look as beat up as I could before the heat forced me inside again.  But I was so happy with the final product. 

So without further ado...the not so empty corner:

Our "rustic" crate that I am so in love with:

Added a few accessories.  Awesomely large grapevine ball was from Michael's, little box was in a gift set from Walmart.



 

 

The vase branches were 2.00 from a Salvation Army store, they were the same color as the mirror and blended too much, so I painted those too.  Same color as the crate.  The finished look was exactly what I was going for. I love when that happens!