How can I mount a mirror tight to vertical shelf standards?

Question

I have a closet full of these shelving standards that let you place adjustable height shelves. The vertical support bars have two columns of holes, which the shelves lock into with some prongs on the end.

But rather than mounting more shelves, I actually want to mount a full length mirror. And when I talk about vertical support bars, here's a photo to better describe what I mean:

The mirror is 6' tall and wider than the gap between any two bars. So I can't mount it directly on the wall; I have to use the bars. (The reason I can't mount the mirror to the wall is because those bars protrude maybe an inch from the wall, meaning they would create that much of gap between the mirror and the wall.)

So I'm wondering if there is any kind of hardware that can mount into these support bars, but also screw into the back of the mirror frame? I'm picturing maybe a metal plate with screw holes, but also with double prongs sticking out on one side that would have to look very similar to the same type of prongs circled here:

Does any such hardware exist? I'm having a really difficult time searching for it.

Answer 1

Here's what I would do:

1. Remove all the shelf supports from the pair of stanchions where you want the mirror to be.
2. Place two supports down low and set the mirror on top of them. Adjust the bracket height to be within a suitable range for viewing yourself in the mirror.
   • Your mirror is now supported, but could easily be knocked off or the bottom slide out so you see a reflection of the ceiling.
3. Get a pair (they seem to come in packages of 4 or 6, you'll have some left over) of "mirror mounting clips".
   • A quick search of my favorite big-box store's web site indicates that there are a wide variety of metal and plastic types.
   • A clip like one of these two would probably be best because they have an amount of vertical adjustment that will be important later in the process:
     
4. Remove 2 of the mounting screws holding the stanchions to the wall near the top of where the mirror is, one from each stanchion.
5. Hold a mirror mounting clip's mounting hole over the stanchion's mounting hole and reinsert the screw through both holes, holding the clip and stanchion to the wall. Do this for both stanchions.
6. Slide the mirror up the wall until the top is held under the clips.
7. Move the shelf supports up the stanchions until the bottom of the mirror is supported by the support and the top is still held by the clip, trapping the mirror in place.
   • This will likely involve moving the mirror's height from where you'd originally placed it, however, on a tall mirror, the precise height usually isn't too critical.

The mirror won't have to be firmly held in place, so exact adjustment isn't necessary. The shelf support will hold the mirror up and so long as the top of the mirror frame is retained by the clip, that will keep it from falling off. If you can't get it adjusted quite as precisely as you'd like due to the height of the mirror and location of holes & bracket mounts in relation, and you find that the mirror bottom can slip, a layer or two of tape across the top of the bracket will provide a bit of a lip to keep the bottom from sliding. Tape is made in 10000 colors & patterns (I believe my wife has them all) so finding something that will blend into your bracket and not be noticeable shouldn't be too difficult. Of course, with the white brackets in the bronze stanchions, you may not be as concerned with the color match as my wife would be (she'd be appalled by that but I couldn't care less).

*_{All images courtesy of lowes.com. No endorsement implied or intended}

Answer 2

I'm familiar with the shelving system under the "Elfa" brand name. Lots of accessories are available to hook into the standards.

If you want to hang a 6-foot tall mirror, is anything else going to be on the standards? Can't you just remove or move them? (If you wanted to leave a shelf above above the mirror but nothing below it, you could get shorter standards, but that would probably be more expensive than necessary)

How do you attach the mirror to the wall normally? If I couldn't move the standards, then I'd just ignore them for hanging. There's lots of accessories, but none of them seem really designed for this. There is a "storage track", but I'm not sure what hooks you'd put on it. And if you did hook the track into the standards, it would be even more proud of them.

Instead, I'd hope the standards aren't covering the studs and just put hooks into them and hang the frame. It would sit proud on the standards, but that shouldn't matter too much.

Or, if the attachment is too difficult that way, just cut down a 2x4 and use that as a "spacer". Screw into the stud between the standards and put your hanging equipment into that. When you lift the mirror, it'll be easier to hang.