Jessica Alba's Entryway Mirror with Shelf - Create the Look

Build Jessica Albas Entryway Mirror Shelf

This illustration shows all of the pieces you'll need to cut and where they'll go when you assemble the unit.

Start by cutting all the pieces for the frame using 2 of the 1-x-6-inch pieces. Cut a top (60 inches long) and one side piece (19 inches) from the first 8-foot board, then cut the bottom and the other side piece from a second 8-foot board. No fancy angles are necessary; just "butt" cut (that's a straight cut) each end.

With the third 1-x-6-inch board, cut the shelf 58 inches long. Then, cut 2 corbels 4 1/2 inches long; corbels are the small vertical members that will support the shelf from underneath.

Build Jessica Albas Entryway Mirror Shelf

Now you want to assemble the shelf and corbels before adhering them to the frame.

Use a fast-acting glue (like 2P-10) or carpenters glue to glue the corbels to the shelf. Position each corbels 12" from the each end of the shelf, then draw pencil lines on both sides of each corbel to make sure you glue them in their precise spots. If you're using a fast-acting glue, remember that it dries with lightening speed, so measure twice, glue once. If you're using carpenters' glue, use bar clamps, like these Quick-Grip clamps, to hold the corbels in place until the glue dries.

Build Jessica Albas Entryway Mirror Shelf

To attach the frame pieces without unsightly nails or screws, you're going to use a pocket-hole screw kit. A pocket-hole jig is really just a miniature drill press that helps guide a drill bit at a precise angle. Because the drill bit enters the wood at an acute angle, it cuts a neat little "pocket" for a screw. Using pocket holes and pocket-hole clamps is a slick way of jointing picture frames, whether the corners are mitered or have butt joints, like this mirror frame. (If you're not familiar with pocket screws, you should buy the inexpensive kit and practice on some scrap pieces of lumber.)

When you're ready, drill two or three pocket holes in both ends of the mirror frame sides (in the rear of the frame, as pictured), then assemble the frame with glue and 1 1/2-in. pocket screws. Use a clamp to make sure the joints are flush!

Build Jessica Albas Entryway Mirror Shelf

You can use a little carpenter's glue on the back edge of the shelf for added strength and hold it together with clamps while you prepare to put in the screws.

Build Jessica Albas Entryway Mirror Shelf

Now for mounting the mirror. When you mount a mirror to the back of a frame, you need to create a ledge or notch to set the mirror in so that the glass is secure. One way to make that ledge is by installing a light frame of 1/4-in. strips of wood all the way around the back of the mirror frame. However, making and attaching a frame from such thin material isn't a lot of fun. And, most of all, the results are not attractive.

A much more pleasing method -because it's clean, neat, easy, and fun - is cutting a "rabbet" or a notch all the way around the inside of the wooden frame for the mirror to sit in. A rabbet is extremely easy to cut with a router. If you have a router sitting around that you never used because you didn't know how, or if you've wanted to buy one but didn't know what you'd do with it, now is your chance to learn.

Set the bit so that it cuts 1/4 in. deep, then run the router around the inside of the frame. See a video on this.

Build Jessica Albas Entryway Mirror Shelf

Mount the shelf and corbels on the frame with pan-head screws from the back of the frame. Drill pilot holes for each screw! Be sure to measure to the center of the shelf and the center of the corbels. If you installed the corbels 12" from the ends of the shelf, these measurements should work to help you center the mounting screws. But check to be sure they do! And use a little carpenter's glue on the back edge of the shelf for added strength.

Build Jessica Albas Entryway Mirror Shelf

When the mirror arrives, set it inside your handy routed notches, and install 1/2" x 1 1/2" mirror stops around it, attaching the mirror stops with 3/4-in. pan-head screws.

Now, prepare the mirror for hanging. Most picture frames are hung on the wall using wire and picture-frame hooks. That would work for this frame, too, but then the top of the frame would lean out from the wall, while the bottom would touch the wall. To prevent the mirror from tilting, install a 1-x-2-in. band around the back of the frame. here's a slick way to install the frame so that it sits flat on the wall.

Using glue and small nails, position it about an inch or so inside the edge of the frame. Use 2-inch pan-head screws to fasten the backband to the frame.

Build Jessica Albas Entryway Mirror Shelf

Now that you have a backband, you can install a "cleat" that fits inside the of the backband and makes it easy to install the frame on the wall. br/>
To make the cleat, cut another piece of 1-x-2 in. wood to fit inside the top of the backband, but don't fasten that piece in place just yet. First, locate where the mirror will hang and find out where the studs are inside the wall. You can use a stud finder device or use the time-tested method of tapping on the wall and listening for the solid sound of a stud. Then, cut a notch in the cleat to correspond with each wall stud so that the notches will ultimately slip over the mounting screws you'll put in the wall. (Here, you see two notches cut into the cleat.) Then fasten the cleat inside the backband using 1 3/4-in. pan-head screws.

Build Jessica Albas Entryway Mirror Shelf

The final step: Drive two long, pan-head hardened-steel screws into the wall studs, and stop driving the screws when the heads are 1 in. from the wall (in carpenter-speak, this is called leaving the screws 1 in. proud"). Hang the mirror by slipping the notches in the cleat over the screws.

Build Jessica Albas Entryway Mirror Shelf