Master Bath Redo: Post 2 – Framing a Mirror

First, let me take you back to February 11, 2009 when I was doing my happy dance because my large bathroom mirror was not glued to the wall. That meant I could easily remove it and replace it with two smaller oval mirrors.

Fast forward to 10 months later. The big mirror’s back up. What? Have I gone completely crazy…ha…well, I suppose that’s all relative. My defense is that A) I’m a woman and I have the right to change my mind, and B) I’m a Gemini…’nuff said. Furthermore, members of the jury, the oval mirrors were just too small for the space, and the larger mirror lets a lot more light into the space. I hereby rest my case :-).

So I’ve been admiring the cabinet displays at Restoration Hardware for a while (see the sneaky picture I took with my Blackberry…yes, I could totally be a spy). 

I’ve also loved the mirror in this BHG bathroom that I’ve had in my favorites file forevah.

Soooo, it was pretty easy to figure out what I wanted to do. I even made a super technical, ultra fancy drawing…

Uh huh…I know you’re impressed.

So here’s what I did to make my own version of this mirror. I had the friendly guy at Lowes cut 4 pieces of 1x4 for me…two short for the vertical pieces and two long for the horizontal pieces. I put a coat of paint on the backsides of the strips of wood because I knew they would be reflected in the mirror. I then adhered the 1x4’s to the mirror with my new best friend, liquid nails…

 

I then cut some rounded trim and adhered that onto the horizontal 1x4’s.

Finally, I used my new new best friend, miter saw, to cut some crown molding to adhere onto the upper edge of the top 1x4.

Since my mirror is secured to the wall with brackets, I made sure I didn’t glue wood over the brackets so the mirror can be easily removed in the future. 

And that’s it. I’ll do a tutorial in the future about cutting crown molding (once I got the hang of it, it really wasn’t that bad…I’m serious).

And here’s a top secret photo of the finished project (I’ve grayed out the image in the mirror because A) I’m mean, and B) I can’t reveal ALL of my plans for the bathroom yet, and the reflection would give away waaay too much). Sorry…

Have a great week!

Sneak Peak: Bathroom Woodwork

I just remembered why I try to avoid announcing that I’ll post a project before it’s actually finished. Ha…it’s that little thing called life that always manages to get in the way.

You know what I mean? Suddenly I’m stuck at work until 7pm and then my son has a basketball game, and then before I know it I’m sprinting out of bed the next morning for carpool.

I’m not complaining (even though I really wanted to declare today a "Saturday”), I’m just sayin’ my best intentions have been obviated by that sneaky little moving target called life.

Soooo, here’s a peak at the project I’m planning on showing you as soon as I can get a paintbrush in my hand to finish it.

Stay tuned for the full reveal and details about what exactly this is a photo of, and how I did it.

Have a great Wednesday!

Master Bath Redo: Post 1 - Changing a Faucet

Raise your hand if you’ve changed a faucet before. Okay – yeah, that’s a lot of you (did you know I can see you through your computer?...just kidding...uncomfortable silence). But for those of you who haven’t, this post is for you.

I bought two faucets on Ebay last May (for a steal)…and then they sat in my closet staring at me for 6 months. Why didn’t I install them right away? Because I was skeered. Yep, Ms. Go-Get-‘Um was afraid to change faucets herself.

So, over the weekend I decided to woman-up and face my fears head on. And you know what? It wasn’t that hard. Now I feel silly for waiting so long.

There are lots of great tutorials on changing faucets on Google or Bing or whatever, so feel free to refer to those. They might be written by actual plumbers and expert-types. I’ll give you a rough overview of the process, though.

Step 1

Turn off the water by turning the water valves beneath the cabinet (I believe turning them to the right closes the valve...at least that's how mine were...and I'm guessing all valves are created equal...am I sounding like a blonde or what?). It might help to put a bowl beneath the valves to catch any dripping water.

Run the sink faucet to drain any remaining water.

Step 2

Use an adjustable wrench to disconnect the hot and cold water lines from the water valves.

Step 3

Use an adjustable wrench to remove the mounting nuts on the underside of the faucet (beneath the sink). I had to lay on my back inside the cabinet to do this...not entirely comfortable, but I think it was a good ab workout.

Step 4

There’s a little screw that’s attached to the (oh geez, what’s it called)…you know the thing you lift if you want to close the drain. It’s beneath the sink. Just loosen the screw and the drain opening closing thing will be loose.

Step 5

Remove the old faucet. You may need to use a putty knife to loosen it.

(Isn't the old faucet a beauty?)

Step 6

Clean the faucet area of the sink to remove any dust or grime.

Step 7

I don’t know if this is necessary, but the Lowe’s guy told me to do it…and I chose to believe him. Make a snake out of plumber’s putty and place it on the inside edge of the faucet (see photos below).

Then put faucet in place.

Step 8

Attach new mounting nuts on the underside of the faucet. And tighten the screw on drain opening/closing thing.

Step 9

Attach hot and cold water lines to the new faucet and to the water valves (make sure the right line goes to the right water valve). And you’re done!

See?…it’s a lot of steps, but it’s pretty simple. The only hitch I ran into was that my old faucet’s hot and cold water lines were copper and completely attached to the faucet. So I couldn’t reattach them to the new faucet. I took the old faucet (with the long copper lines attached) to Lowe’s and asked what to do.

The helpful man pulled out an inexpensive and easy to use water line (see photo below), so I just used those. Easy peasy.


I hope this helps those of you who haven’t changed a faucet before. I promise, if I can do it you can do it. Seriously.

Don't Hate Me Because I'm a Smidge Nuts

Okay, I’m a little nervous here. I’ve been trying to figure out how to break this to you for…oh, a few months now. Here goes….

Remember my master bathroom reveal from last June? Well, I liked a lot of things about it, but (gulp)...I never loved it. Never. I would like it in someone else’s house, but it just wasn’t me. It was just too shabby chic for my taste. I like a little of that, but I knew I needed something “crisper” and more classic (um, you still there?).

I also realized that I was trying to avoid tackling some of the hard things that I KNEW needed to be done (like getting rid of that nasty carpet and facing my fear of installing tile myself). Sometimes all a room needs is some paint and accessories. But sometimes you have to do just a little more.

Soooo…want to follow me as I do a redesign? I have an amazing plan that I’m so excited about, and, as always, it will be done on a dime. I’ve already begun a few things and I’ll show you the first project tomorrow.

Have a great Monday!