...who is the fairest of them all?

Black semi-gloss paint is the fairest of them all!

Can you believe I’m back with my mirror follow-up less than a week later?!  I know!  Somebody has been getting some alone-time at home and she’s loving it.

Here’s where we left off last week on my frame-the-mirror project:

After building the frame out of pre-primed moulding and spray painting it silver, I decided the end result just wasn’t doing it for me.  I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why (perhaps it was the “tin man” effect Liz brought to light), but I knew something had to change for me to love it.  Enter:  my trusty black spray paint.  I did decide to go ahead and give it a new coat of primer just so the black would have something better to adhere to.

Here she is after a coat of primer and 2 coats of semi-gloss spray paint

Is it just me or does this feel better already?

Next step:  stick that sucker to the wall!  A few of you were curious how I was going to accomplish this, and I hate to disappoint you with the ease at which I planned to do this….

Liquid Nails. Yep:  I was just gunna glue that sucker on.  Note:  this is only an option if you plan on never removing the frame from the mirror (i.e. when you sell your house and move, etc.)

Unfortunately this is not the same Liquid Nails I used in the assembly of the frame.  The original tube I bought was white and also dried white.  If you have a dark frame you’ll definitely want to purchase the clear version (which could of course be used for both steps).  Trust me.  I tried the white color and about peed my pants when I stuck the frame to the mirror and could see the white goo in the reflection of the mirror.  I might have had a small panic attack while I ripped the frame off and frantically wiped the white liquid nails off of the mirror.  Unfortunately there are no pictures of this freak-out step, OR of me re-spray painting the back of the mirror to cover the dried white goo.

(Side note:  does it make you guys feel better to know that I make a lot of mistakes during these projects?!  Because I usually don’t want to fess up, but then I decide that maybe, just maybe by sharing them it will encourage some of you to embark on your own projects!)

Anyhoo, back to the sticky situation at hand.  haha.

I headed to Ace looking for “something like Liquid Nails but dries clear.”  Well whaddoyaknow?  They make a clear version.   I was back in business.

All you need to do is put a bit a lot of adhesive on the back of the frame and on the mirror, then stick together.  Afterwards, I secured the frame to the wall with some masking tape while it dried overnight.

And the next morning:

Voila!  A vase of peonies appeared.  Oh, and the frame was sticking to the mirror.  On it’s own.  With no white goo in the reflection.  I just love it when things work the way they’re supposed to!

I also decided to change-up a few other things in the bathroom while I was at it….most obvious was ditching the behind-the-toilet cabinet I’ve had since moving out the dorm years ago (you can kind of see it in the very first picture….I got too excited when taking it out and forgot to snap a “before” pic!).  Besides being super old, the cabinet really wasn’t necessary; the few things that were stored in it were easily transferred to the vanity.  In addition, the bathroom is extremely small (and hard to photography btw), so it felt good to get rid of the furniture and make the room feel just a little bit bigger.

Buh-bye cheapo toilet thingy from Target!  I hope you make another twenty-something very happy.  This thirty-something is moving on.

Obviously the space needed something, so I picked up two black frames (on clearance from Michaels) and put a couple fun pieces of scrapbook paper inside.

I figure when I get tired of looking at these, Ill just do a quick swap-a-roo with something new!

I like the repetition of the black picture frames with the black mirror frame.

So there you go.  A super cheap, easy and quick way to make a big difference.  I love it!

And for those of you (?) who are wondering…..here’s a quick cost breakdown:

• Silver spray paint:  $3.44
• Black semi-gloss spray paint:  4.99
• Masking tape:  $2.97
• Liquid Nails (white):  $3.47
• Liquid Nails (clear):  $3.47
• Spackling:  $3.77
• Moulding:  $12.34
• (2) 8×10 frames:  $20

Total cost of mini-bathroom makeover:  $54.45

And the best news?  If I would have had all of the supplies on hand (like the liquid nails, spackling, tape, etc.) the cost would have only been $12.34 (the cost of the moulding).  Ok wait…the best news is actually that now I have all of those supplies on hand…so it makes framing our master bathroom mirror and our guest bathroom mirror that much easier (and cheaper).

Next time I think I’ll experiment with some bigger, chunkier moulding.  Just to spice it up.  Because you know I won’t be messing with the color.

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