This poor mirror. Naked as the day it rolled off the assembly line, with its exposed edges, cracked with age, right out there in plain daylight for all the world to see! Something must be done about this!
Faced with naked, builder-grade mirrors in her bathroom, Amanda over at The Ivy Cottage Blog, did what any adventurous DIYer would do — she made frames for them! So, yes, it was actually a lot of work – and Amanda and her husband definitely have some mad woodworking and construction skills! – but there is no denying that this before and after is an incredible improvement.
The original mirror was giving off all sorts of mid-1980s, cheap motel vibes. By framing off the mirror with painted MDF and moulding, the couple brought the existing mirror into 2011 – and with a touch of sophistication, too! Including the existing light fixture in the frame's design was an especially nice touch. The bathroom sink area feels more like a proper vanity now.
I love that Amanda was able to improve on the mirror that was already in place instead of ditching it for something new. And I love it even more because she saved a few hundred bucks by DIYing it!
To see the full post, complete with step by step tutorial, check it out on Amanda's blog: Builder's Grade to Beautiful: Bathroom Mirror.
Images: The Ivy Cottage Blog
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Great. Now I've got anxiety about the mid-80s, cheap hotel vibes of my unframed bathroom mirror.
Wow, that really makes an amazing difference! Looks great
Oh!! That's fantastic! Come do woodwork for me!!
Now that's a before and after.
Massive Improvement!
It looks great, but I was disappointed to see that it's a makeover that I could never pull off...So I still don't see any solution for my ginormous unframed bathroom mirror other than tearing it down and replacing it. Sigh.
I was about to write "oh, now if only they'd made the sink into a double sink"... when I looked in the mirror & saw that they have another sink already in the bathroom.
So I'm writing instead: I have bathroom envy! And, job well done framing the mirrors!
Yayyy!
Oh my. Very smart.
@pheebs79: Don't fret, there is a commercial solution to this problem for those of us who can't do the woodwork. Believe me, I tried. I had molding cut to size and painted it, but in the end, my effort looked homemade. But because my master bath mirror is 6'x4', replacing it with another long mirror or two big mirrors was too costly.
But MirrorMate (mirrormate.com) has wonderful solutions. They sell cut-to-order mirror frames in numerous styles and finishes. My mirror looks as if it was always framed--for about $200. It's the first thing people compliment me on when they see my bathroom. MirrorMate frames look high-end, and do not have those cheesy looking corner pieces that mirror frames sold at big box stores have. Very easy to install (no tools needed).
Impressive! Thanks to LorraineS for the tip about mirrormate.
I second the recommendation for MirrorMate. Looks great and super easy to install.
Fabulous!
looks great! makes the cabinets and lighting look new and better too -- at first i thought they replaced it all, but then realized it just looked so much more tied together with the frame.
While it looks good and is an improvement, I wouldn't say that any of the bathroom really looks like 2011 ...
Love it! Very impressive. My first thought was Pottery Barn--it seems to have some of that style going on.
looks great.
In Soviet Russia, naked mirror dresses you!
Makes the room look totally different, in a good way
@ saucefiend... Probably a little cost prohibitive making a large bathroom look 2011. And what happens when 2012 rolls around? Anybody with a real world budget should probably probably shoot for timeless... Like the craftsman inspired trim around this mirror which blends with the rest of the bathroom.
I agree with HeritageWoodworks. In rooms with expensive and difficult to replace fixtures, like bathrooms and kitchens, timeless design is the way to go. You can always use paint, accessories, art, lighting, etc. to bring decor up-to-the-minute. I cringe a bit when I see extremely trendy baths and kitchens, because I know that no matter how great they look now, they will be very dated in a few years.
These people have a winner with their bathroom update, and it was a simple fix too.
I am googling MirrorMate right now!
Love, love, love. Bookmarking!
What a differnce some framing does. Looks great now
I was just commenting on what it said in the piece, that "the couple brought the existing mirror into 2011" - I don't think there's any thing wrong with the style
Spectacular, are there also kits available for sprucing up an old bathroom vanity mirror?
Brad Thomas
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