Saturday, February 18, 2012

Weekend Warrior

I'm a weekend warrior, or at least a weekend warrior according to Home Depot. I have a 5 day weekend due to parent teacher conferences plus President's Day. So, I've put the time off to good use. I've wanted to frame my bathroom mirror for the past year. So.... I started. This is the before photo. A large (as in 6 feet long) plain, boring mirror.

I also tackled the ceramic floor. I had sealed it with grout paint last year, but the sealer doesn't fix the cracking. Some of the tiles were loose underneath. So, I started to dig out the old grout on about 10 of the tiles.

Now back to the mirror and how to frame one. I got some 3 1/2" square corner blocks that were already primed and painted them white. I did put a coat of paint on the back side, as just a hint of the edge shows in the mirror. I started with the far corner block, as it is against the wall. Used some clear Liquid Nails and stuck it to the mirror. I then measured how long the fluted board (the cheap, already primed board) should be if I left 1/2 of the other block over the edge. It helps hide the edge of the mirror. I used a mitre box and saw, and cut 2 pieces the exact same size (one for the bottom, and one for the top). I glued the fluted molding in place and then put on the other bottom corner piece. Since the molding is 1/4" smaller than the corner block, I stuck a quarter and a dime under the molding to hold it up 1/8", so that it's centered on the corner piece.

I then cut the side pieces, so that the top block would go over the mirror by 1/2" or so. I glued these pieces on. I then glued on the far corner block, the one that goes against the wall. The long top piece was next, leaving the upper left corner piece for last. Some painter's tape is holding the pieces in place while the adhesive dries. I was surprised how easily the pieces adhered to the mirror. Since I used the clear Liquid Nails, so glue shows in the reflection.

Here is it drying. Can't wait to take the tape off tomorrow! The floor grout is also drying. I'm hoping my repair job will hold and that the grout won't crack.

I've worked a little on the rug this week, filling in the background. As I'm working on it, I'm finding I want to re-work certain outlining that I've done. I hope to get more done tomorrow afternoon, as I'm going to try a rug hooking group that I found.

I"m off to finally relax this evening!

~*~ Laura ~*~

2 comments:

Unknown said...

It is amazing how framing the mirrow changes the bathroom...We did ours about 4 years ago..Why we didn't do it sooner I don't know..But I love it and ours is white to.. We put square thingys in the corners that are decorative...Your mirror looks great...Lisa

Patty Sumner said...

It looks beautiful and you did it all by yourself.....Great job! Blessings!