Picture Perfect Cooking

C & I moved into our newly built home in February of 2006 and we were so happy to be here.  The building process had taken right at a year so we were anxious to be in our new space.  When we went to purchase the last minute things we would need like towel holders and bathroom mirrors, we did it pretty quickly.

Don’t get me wrong, we were very pleased with what we purchased and wouldn’t change much at all, but I was never completely satisfied with the mirrors over our vanities.  Yes, they were big; yes, they were inexpensive, but they were boring!  We installed plain old “contractor mirrors” complete with the not-so-lovely plastic clips.  Ugh.  Here they are in all of their glory…

The size of the mirrors was perfect so I really did not want to replace them, just make them more attractive.  I started searching the internet for ways to “frame” them and came up with a few ideas.  Some people used wood trim and made their own frames while some others had used a product called Mirror Mate.  Hmmm, this looked promising.

C & I are usually pretty handy at DIY projects, but the fact that Mirror Mate will cut your pieces for you pushed me in that direction.  It is quite a bit cheaper to do this yourself with trim, but since the frames came pre-cut and pre-finished, I was sold!  We ordered two frames in the Permaquid Slim Dark Cherry and received them in the mail just a week or so later, nicely packaged in bubble wrap.

The directions sound so simple and they are to a point.  Just glue the pieces together and insert the plastic “joiners” in the pre-cut holes.

The glue needs to dry for at least an hour, but we didn’t have time to finish so ours dried for a couple of days.  One of the frames must not have gotten a good seal because two corners came apart but I just re-glued them.

Next you have to replace the plastic clips from your mirrors with the replacements Mirror Mate will send you with your order.  This is where it got a little interesting for us.  The edges of our mirrors were beveled so the replacement clips didn’t fit tight against the glass.  C had to use a little (according to him) redneck engineering for the new clips to work, but they did. 

We replaced the ones we had to then cleaned the mirrors with rubbing alcohol according to the instructions.

Next put together the cardboard corner guides they send with the order to help hang the frame.  Take the frame to the mirror and level it where you want it.  Have a friend put the corner guides onto the mirror.

Take the frame down and removed the paper off the back that cover the adhesive strips.

Next, very carefully let the frame hang over the corner guides stuck to the mirror and make sure that it is level.  If it is, slowly press the top of the frame to the mirror and then down the sides and bottom.  It should stick tightly and not come off.  The bottom of one of ours is a little loose but I think it is because of the hanging clips, but you really can’t tell it so we are leaving it alone.

Installing these frames was not quite as easy as it first seemed it would be, but I think the results are worth it.  What do you think?

Read Full Post »