Make a large mirror for dance

Materials: Stave Mirror (2), various metal brackets, glue, exacto-knife, hacksaw, sander, screws

Description: My daughter has recently taken up dance and for her birthday, we wanted to get her a mirror to practice in. However, mirror sold by dance companies are over the top expensive. In this hack, I attempted to reconfigure 2 Ikea Stave mirrors to become one big dance worth mirror.

Step 1 - remove backing. The mirrors come with a piece of balsa wood (2 each). Remove those by simply pulling them off.

Step 2 - remove one of the long sides of the mirror frame by carefully pulling out the "staple." Once removed, I used an exacto knife to open up the seam and eventually carefully was able to pull it apart. Once one side is off, simply pull back the wood and the other side will just come off easily. Do this again for the other mirror.

Step 3 - I used a hacksaw and sander to smooth out the edges and was careful to not damage the mirror. The key here is to get the wood and mirror flush so that when you assemble the final piece, the seam is as minimized as possible.

Step 4 - I used 4 metal brackets and glue to put the 2 mirrors together (see pictures). Also, glue the seams of the mirror to be safe. Let it dry for a few hours - I was anxious and didn't let it try and it messed up my hack a bit.

Step 5 - Once the 2 mirrors are attached, I used metal brackets to secure it to a wall in the basement.

Step 6 - Clean mirror

Notes:
- I knew the seam would be imperfect even possibly very bad. I think it turned out OK for initial dance needs.

- I considered not using the frame at all and just mounting the mirror directly to the wall, but think it looks a bit nicer this way

~ Marc Sirkin, CT

Mirror to Bulletin Board

Materials: Stave mirror

Description:
1. Removed the mirror from the Stave frame.
2. Sanded and spray painted the frame in high gloss green paint.
3. Upholstered a board covered in foam and inserted into the frame.
4. The result is a beautiful bulletin board to complete my family command centre.

This can be done with any Ikea mirror.

~ Oksana @ Order Matters

Simple stylish vanity table

Materials: Stave Mirror, Vika Furuskog table top + legs, Folded Chair

Description: This is actually more to mix and match Ikea items to build the vanity table for my dear wife. She wanted something like the one used by many makeup artist backstage and constructed at most make up stores but somehow has some kind of English style to it.. She likes it in white and looks very simple.We already owned a working table ( VIKA FURUSKOG table top + two legs) and it is simply just attached to the wall. I didn't do anything to it, just left it as it was coz the original pine texture and colour just matched the white frame.

I custom made the frame for the mirror (STAVE mirror) and for placing the light bulbs all around it and painted it white. Since Ikea bulbs are quite expensive, I just used bulbs sold at local hardware stores and managed to do the wiring myself. The frame is attached separately to the wall but just above the table and to complete the set, I just use a simple folding chairs also bought from IKEA for easy storage.

See more of Suffian's vanity table.

~ Suffian Hussain, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia