Wednesday 29 September 2010

Egon, the door mounted mirror


Materials: Stave, Grundtal, Fixa, Esab smashweld, aluminum frame, drill, screws, glue, tape, washers

Description: I live in a 30 square meter apartment with large windows, many doors and little free wall space. And like any girl, I'd love a huge full-size mirror. The only problem is that I don't have the required wall space available.

I asked my dad if it's possible to hang 10 kg on a door without breaking it, and if he thought we could figure something out for my door. Since I have to use every space possible I already have a bunch of GRUNDTAL hanging around over my doors and my dad took one home for examination.

After removing the protective rubberplasticthingy on the back side he found out that the hooks were pressed into holes in the main part of GRUNDTAL and it was really easy to remove them!

My dad had some screws and washers that fit perfectly in the holes and the holders on the mirror. We decided to try welding them together to make a new hanger out of GRUNDTAL.


It was very successful so we mounted the holders on the short side of the frame around the mirror. I also taped some protective plastic on the back side of GRUNDTAL to avoid marking the door.


The holders were originally mounted along the longer sides of the frame so after a few days the frame started to break apart. I was quick enough to notice it and was able to save the mirror from breaking.

We went to a hardware store and purchased an L-shaped aluminum frame and glued it to the wooden frame, drilled holes and mounted the holders through both the aluminum and the wood. We put some glue in the holes just to be sure it would hold. We used contact cement and the original screws for the holders, they were long enough to be usable even when we added the aluminum piece.

Before mounting the holders we put some more hot melt along the edges on the back side of the mirror.


I let the contact cement dry before hanging EGON back on my door. I also put FIXA on the door handle and some scrap-booking tape between the door and STAVE to avoid marks.

The hack cost me less than 700 SEK (about $95 or €75).
STAVE: 549 SEK
GRUNDTAL: 45 SEK
Aluminum frame: 70 SEK
Since the screws, washers, tape, glue and protective plastic were something we had lying around I don't know the prices, but I doubt it will add up to more than a total of 700 SEK (unless you have to buy glue and tape etc).


Happy hacking!

See instructions and more of the Egon door mirror.

~ Therese, Stockholm, Sweden

No comments:

Post a Comment