How to Make a Planter Box Mirror

Video Transcript

Ron:
Do you have a room that needs a window, but you don’t want to go to the trouble and expense of cutting a hole in your wall? Well I may have a simple, inexpensive solution for you. Something that looks like a window, makes a room feel larger, creates the illusion of looking outside, but it doesn’t require a hole in your wall. What is it? A window frame and window box fitted with a mirror. It’s fun to make and even more fun to decorate.

Now I’ve chosen standard one by four pine for this project. You should be able to find this at any lumber yard or home center.  And as much as possible I’m going to make this with hand tools; keep it as simple as I can.  Step number one is to cut out the sides.  Now, to make sure that these are exactly the same length, I’m going to tape these together so that I can cut both of them at the same time.

(SOT: HAND SAW)

MUSIC

Now we’re going to attach them together.  And this is going to be a simple butt joint; the end of one piece is going to go right up against the side of another.  So we’ll use some wood glue here…let’s assemble this now.

MUSIC

We’re going to use this tool right here, this is called a band clamp, it’s a nylon strap with four plastic corners on it.  This is a very inexpensive tool, usually about 12 to 15 dollars at the hardware store or home center, and we’ll just fit the corners over the corners of the frame like that.  This corner right here has a tightening mechanism on it.  Okay, I’m going to pull all of the slack out by hand.  Tighten up this ear.  And then we’re just going to tighten the screw down like this.

Okay, we’ll let this sit for a minute.

We’re now going to apply some lattice strips to the back of the frame.  It’s going to have two purposes:  It’s going to help reinforce those joints that we just glued together, and it’s also going to give us a way to keep our mirror in place which we’ll put on in a little while here.  We have some very tiny nails right here and these can be a little tough to hold in your fingers.  So here’s a neat trick, take my comb; put the nail between the teeth like that.  And we’ll let the comb hold the nail while I give it a tap…pull the comb away…tap those in.

Now these strips that we’ve put on the back are going to form a recess into which eventually we’re going to set the mirror.  We’re not going to put the mirror in quite yet though, but I am going to put the backing for the mirror on, so let me tack this into position with just a few small nails right here.

We’ll now flip this over to the front side, and you can see that that back that I’ve just put on here extends down below the front of the frame.  That’s where we’re going to attach the planter box, which is the next thing we want to build.  That’s also going to be made of pine, here’s the lumber, and the first thing I want to do is take this piece of 1 by 6 right here, and cut out the ends to the planter box.

Well here are the ends to our flower box; I’ve actually got them bottom side up right now, because I’m going to start by putting the bottom of the flower box onto the ends.  I’m actually going to glue this on and nail it.
 
(SOT: HAMMER)

Now this is the bottom, I’m going to turn it 90 degrees, and this will be the front, go right on here, just like that.  And we’ll nail this in with those same finishing nails.

(SOT: HAMMER)

Well there’s the front, and there’s the bottom.  Now we’re not going to put a full back on this, just a strip actually, so we can use it to attach this to the rest of the mirror.

(SOT: HAMMER)

But before we put that on, I want to add some trim strips around the edge, to cover up the edge of the backing and to make this a little bit more decorative.  So I’ve already got these cut to size, and we’re just going to nail these in place.

(SOT: HAMMER)

MUSIC

What I want to do now is take off that backing that we put on earlier, remember that was just tacked in.   We’ll set that aside, and we’re going to begin to paint this.

MUSIC

(SOT: HAMMER)

We’re going to flip this over now, and drop it down here, because now comes time to actually put the mirror in.  Going to drop that right in, you see how it nestles into that little recess that we created with those strips?  And then on top of that, we’re going to put ¼ inch plywood backing.  Now I’m going to screw this back on.  Why?  Because if the mirror were to break or get damaged you could always take the backing off, and replace the mirror.  And we’ll start by doing some counter-sink holes here.

(SOT: DRILL)

Well now, we’re going to have some fun.  We’re going to turn a plain window like this into a divided window like this one, by gluing on these strips of wood.  And I’m going to stick them on with some hot melt glue. So let’s just put a few dots on.  I don’t want this to show, so we’re just going to make some small dots here.

And now, we’re just going to drop this right onto the glass, just like that.

Well, here it is.  A window that doesn’t put a hole in your wall.  And believe me, this can bring more light into a room, and actually make a room look larger.