Hey guys! I don’t know about you, but I HATE the big slab mirrors builders always seem to put into new homes. We’ve been here about 4 1/2 years now and I couldn’t take it anymore! I decided I had to do something to improve the look of the mirror in my boys bathroom.
This is a picture of my boy’s bathroom BEFORE: .……………..
I’ve been working on giving it a little facelift and thought the mirror would be a great, quick project to help it along in it’s renovation.
I went to Lowes to find some molding. (have I mentioned that Lowes is my favorite store on planet earth?…guess I’ve said that a few times huh?!) Well, while at my favorite store, I found this molding…….
I believe, in the store, it was called Howe and it was $18.80 for an 8 ft long section…I had to buy two, but I sure couldn’t buy a huge framed mirror for that price, so it was still economical, but you could do this with any molding. (so you could go cheaper if you’d like)
First I measured my mirror, it was 36” wide, by 42” tall…I actually cut my wood a little bigger so you wouldn’t be able to see the mirrors edge when I installed the wood. I decided to make it 37” x 43”…..that gave me 1/2” all the way around to hide the edge of the mirror.
I set up my handy dandy miter saw………….
and put the setting to 45degrees, like this…
Then, with the thickest part of the molding (that will be your outside edge) to the back of the saw, you make a 45 degree cut toward the middle, like this…….
Then from the point of that cut, you measure the width (or height, depending on which piece you’re working on) and mark the back edge and make another 45 degree cut in the opposite direction.
You’ll end up with four pieces that look like this….
Pay close attention to the fact that you cut the ends at a 45 degree angle slanted in, so each piece is in the shape of a trapezoid. :0)
It really is that easy….just measure twice and cut once! You can always make another cut, but you can’t add the wood back on once it’s been cut off. :0) (also make sure your measurement are from point to point..that will be the measurement of your width or height of your mirror)
Ok….now this is an important thing to know…when you paint your pieces of wood, make SURE you paint the back of the edges, because they WILL reflect in the mirror and will show if they’re not painted. My wood came pre-primed, so all I had to do was give each piece a couple of coats of paint………including the backs!
To install the wood, use this……….
If you’ve never used a caulk gun before, I’m including a vlog of myself at the end of this post that shows you exactly how to use the gun…I promise it’s not hard. :0) (oh, and don’t make fun of my accent……I can’t help that I’m a southern girl!…and for some reason my lips look funny…ignore the lighting and just try to learn something! ) lol :0)
Apply the Loctite Power Grab to the back pieces of your wood like this….
A squiggly line works better than a straight line, but make sure not to get too close to either edge so it doesn’t ooze out the edges when you install it on the mirror.
I started by installing the bottom piece of wood first, then added each side piece…and finally the top. I made sure the cuts were lining up and everything was straight…
Then I used some painters tape to hold it in place while it dried….
After it dried, I caulked any cracks where the mitered edges came together and just touched up the paint.
This pictures is the reflection of the back of the piece of the molding in the mirror….this is why I said you need to paint the back edges of the molding. They REFLECT! :0)
Here’s the finished mirror! I still have to put in all the new things I bought, but you can at least see the after pic of the mirror.
MUCH better, don’t ya think?!
I’m going to be doing something with that vanity soon….I’m not sure whether to paint it, just buy new knobs or what. Any suggestions or ideas?
Okay..here’s my VLOG if you’d like to learn how to use a caulking gun.
How to use a caulking gun
Missy
