Skip to content

Smart mirror

2017

My fiancée Kimberly and I were long distance. I turned an old monitor lying around into a mirror that showed the time, the weather and messages from me, and gave it to her. Looking back it's a simple project, but it was the first thing I built end to end, hardware and all.

My smart mirror in 3D: a deep frame of dark stained pine round a two-way mirror, the time and the weather at its top and a message at its foot.

Drawn from the model

A line drawing of my smart mirror taken apart: the two-way glass out in front of the frame, the monitor's panel behind it, and the Raspberry Pi with its cable off to the side.
Taken apart

Parts

    1. 1Two-way glass
    2. 2An old Dell monitor, out of its case
    3. 3A Raspberry Pi in a clear case
    4. 4Pine, cut, glued up and stained dark

Build log

  1. An old monitor, out of its case

    A Dell monitor lying face up on a table.
    The monitor's panel out of its case, the bezel beside it.

  2. A Raspberry Pi to run it

    It drives the screen and connects the mirror to the internet, so I could send her messages.

    The Raspberry Pi's terminal on the bare monitor.
    A Raspberry Pi in a clear case.
    The mirror's config, open on the screen.

  3. Two-way glass

    In front of the screen: a mirror where it's dark, words where it's lit.

    Peeling the film off the two-way glass.
    Me reflected in the two-way glass.

  4. A wooden frame, cut and stained

    The frame's four sides glued up on the table.
    Cut pieces of pine for the frame.
    The frame stained dark, drying on newspaper.

  5. All together

    The back of the mirror: the monitor's insides and the Raspberry Pi, fitted in the frame.
    Me holding up the finished mirror.
What it said to Kimberly