Workaround

Last night my objective was to get the mirror frame installed in the guest bathroom, despite missing the dovetail keys that are supposed to be used to secure the corners. I first went to Michael’s since they do custom framing. I thought there was an off chance they sold these keys, they did not. I did however buy some Gorilla wood glue as that is required.

I then went next door to Home Depot knowing the odds of them having dovetail keys was very slim, they did not either. However what they did have were slim corner L brackets. My thought was I could use them as replacements for the dovetails to lock the corners together. It was worth a shot.

When I got home I covered the dining room table with the bubble wrap the frame came in and grabbed the glue. I carefully applied it and then did my best to press the corners together as cleanly as possible. I knew this was risky as without the dovetails the pieces had the ability to move. After I glued the last joint I went around one last time to square everything up.

The Gorilla glue sets up pretty quick. By the time I finished off an episode of Narcos Mexico it felt solid enough for me to install the L brackets. I drilled small pilot holes for the wood screws and carefully turned them in by hand, making sure to not disturb the joint. It seemed to work well.

When I took the assembled frame into the guest bathroom I quickly discovered that the medicine cabinet would need to be pulled to slide the frame in. After doing so I carefully was able to position the frame over the faucet and onto it’s resting place on the rear backsplash.

The only remaining task was to pull the paper off the 15 or so pieces of double sided tape that are used to adhere the frame to the mirror. I then pressed the frame against the glass and applied pressure at various spots to make sure it stayed put. After reinstalling the medicine cabinet you can see the final product . It makes the plain and degraded mirror look modern and new once again. It looked good and felt good to once again find my way around an obstacle to a favorable outcome.