Remember me telling you I had to take the vanity out of our bedroom to make a spot for Baby’s bassinet? Well, because the vanity was 50+ years old and in baaaaad shape (think: badly peeling veneer that would require professional help to make it look nice again), we ended up donating it. We couldn’t, however, find it in our bones to part with the vanity mirror:
The mirror measures 36×38 inches, and since the part that actually attached it to the back of the vanity busted about ten years ago, we didn’t feel bad separating the two. Space being at a premium here in the high rise, there was really only one place to put this awesome guy… right smack in the middle of the living room.
Hey! Someone put a vanity mirror in the living room!
The good news: we can now see the planes at Reagan National taking off from a whole new angle.
The bad news: it looked like we took the mirror out of our bedroom and put it in the middle of the living room. <sigh>
The interesting news: my moM came for a visit to help me get the nursery set up and suggested…
Tiles!
I’ll admit I was skeptical, especially when we priced out said tiles and estimated the cost of upgrading the mirror to be around $50. THEN we found these tiles in shades of blues, whites, and creams. They weren’t tagged, so we asked a lovely man named Raaj how much they were. He took one look at us – my giant belly and I, my moM, and my godMother, and said, “For you? One penny!”
SCHWHAT?!?! Turns out we’d inadvertently chosen a discontinued style of which there were only four slates left. Turns out Raaj actually walked us to the check-out, then handed the cashier a nickel out of his own pocket, saying, “Who says a nickel doesn’t go far today?” Turns out Raaj is the nicest Home Depot Guy in the universe! Hooray, Raaj!
Thanks, Raaj!
After we thanked Raaj about a zillion times he wished us luck and we were on our way. Wherever you are, Raaj, you have excellent karma! =)
So, for the price of some gas and a few swollen limbs (which calmed themselves down after a few large glasses of water and some rest), we were in business!
The original plan was to glue each tile to the mirror individually to avoid grout, BUT…all those teeny glass tiles are actually connected to each other via a mesh backing, so instead of having to place and attach each tile individually, I just cut the mesh to the size “frame” I wanted, which ended up being 3×3.
The up side of this strategy: it only took a few minutes to arrange and attach the tiles (versus what I predicted to be HOURS had I glued each tile individually)
The down side of this strategy: My next choice was to either live with visible mesh backing or invest in some grout, which I doubted Raaj was going to donate to the cause.
Simple White Grout.
Turns out grouting tile is fast, easy, and super fun. I had a bit of trouble with the edges, which I’m still tweaking, but after watching a few You Tube videos I was a grouting champ! The most difficult part was the timing – I had to be careful to wait long enough for the grout to set between the tiles, but not so long that the grout would set ON TOP of the tiles. It made me nervous to see all those pretty tiles covered in drying grout, but as you can see they cleaned up nicely with just some hot water & a rag.
Here’s what the finished project looks like:
Would you look at that?! Instead of a bedroom mirror, Husband and I now have a living room mirror! I wish we had a fire place mantle to rest it on, but until then it looks pretty good to me. The best part is that the tiles not only match the living room, but they also match our bedroom colors, so if I ever decide to put it back in the bedroom it’ll still work! Yay! There’s a small, nagging voice in the back of my mind telling me I’ve traded my bedroom mirror for a swimming pool mirror, but I think that’ll pass once I get used to looking at it. All in all I’m happy with how it turned out, and I’d do it again!
Total investment: $15 for the grout, a few days of a giant mess on the dining room table, and some cranky cats who got banished to the back room during the grouting process. Worth it? Definitely! (Plus, when a girl’s fingers are so swollen she can’t crochet she’s got to do SOMETHING, right?)
And one more time, THANK YOU, RAAJ, WHEREVER YOU ARE!
What Not To Crochet
A Happy One 