Bathroom Facelift Phase 2: Mirror & Light!

My bathroom facelift project is creeping along at a snail's pace...sorry about that! If you missed Phase 1, you can find it here.

Phase 2 consisted of building a frame for the mirror, and replacing the ugly (and crooked) racetrack light fixture!

There was absolutely nothing wrong with our builder-grade bathroom mirror. Not much that can be wrong with a big flat mirror glued to the wall--unless you count the "glued to the wall" part, which I do. I "googled" how-to-remove-a-mirror-glued-to-the-wall, and it really didn't look like a DIY-type project, unless I was interested in 1,294 years of bad luck! (I'm not!)

So the alternative was to embrace the glue concept, and build a frame which I could GLUE to the mirror! Oh boy!

I purchased two different pieces of molding to construct my mirror frame. The first piece was a plain rectangular board, and the second was a chair rail. Placed together, they made a nice wide frame.

I cut all the pieces to size, then used Liquid Nails to adhere the molding to the mirror. I used my thirteen-year-old daughter...and some Frog Tape...to hold the molding in place while the glue dried.


My cutting isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and the boards aren't perfectly flat. So there are gaps to be filled, and I used a caulk on the little cracks, and wood filler on the big ones.

Next I replaced the "racetrack" style light fixture. I never noticed it was installed crooked until I painted the stripes! I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a new fixture; I found one that was nice enough for around $50.

Changing out a light fixture is really pretty easy. Just make sure you turn the power off FIRST!


Here's what the light box looked like after I removed the old fixture. There are three wires: white, black, and ground (usually copper colored).

These match up with the three wires on the new fixture.


Match up your wires and twist the ends together. Then you screw on the handy-dandy little plastic wire nuts.

Your new fixture will come with a mounting plate that screws on to your light box; there are usually no new holes to drill. Bolt your fixture to the mounting plate, and you're done!

See? New light! (I'm pretty sure it's the picture that is crooked, not the light.)


And here's the big picture...




I haven't yet replaced the towel or toilet paper holders because....well, I'm cheap. I haven't been in the mood to spend $30 (minimum) to replace something that is really still OK. Hopefully I'll either a.) win the lottery, or b.) find a great sale!

Nothing is on the walls yet, either. Still waiting to be inspired for that one.

And then there's the cabinet. To paint or not to paint? What do you think?