Final Project Post 6

     The project progress took a hiatus for Thanksgiving break.  There was just too much happening.  I had kids' parties to attend, a 19 lb turkey to roast, and then had to pack up our family of 6 to head to Schaumburg, Illinois for my eldest daughter's dance competition.  Talk about a whirlwind weekend.

He loves helping! 

   I also had to take a break because I hit a couple snags in my plan:

    First, I tried to order a new vanity counter top at Lowe's, but it was ridiculously expensive (roughly $50-$80 / sq. ft/) and I waited too long.  It was going to take 10-15 days to come in.  There was no way my project would be finished by the Thursday following Thanksgiving.

    Second, I didn't cut the baseboard I was using to create a mirror frame exact enough.  I measured twice, but was somehow off by about a 1/2 cm on two sides.  My plan to glue the pieces around the mirror was not going to work.  I didn't realize this until after I glued the mirror up and one side of the planned frame.

I used Gorilla Glue to attach the mirror.

and tried to use it on the frame...

 I quickly removed the piece of wood from the wall.  Then, I panicked a bit, and found a way to "make it work"(thanks for the words Tim Gunn).

     The countertop solution was a happy accident.  My husband happened to get a business card from the owner of a shop that builds countertops.  This owner also just happened to have a piece of solid surface material that was damaged during shipment, so he gave me a great deal on building me a top!  Luck?  Yep, and I will take it!

      The framing solution took a bit more effort on my part.  I didn't want to spend more money on more baseboards.  And I didn't have time to stain and topcoat new boards either.  I realized after researching how other people framed mirrors that I could trim the boards a bit to make the corners match and hang the new frame like a picture OVER the mirror.  I just needed to create an actual frame.  This is a little tricky even when the boards meet up perfectly.  I recut the boards trimming them a half inch shorter than what I was originally going for.

        Then, I used wood glue and staples to create the frame and then let it set overnight.  I still needed to use some paintable wood filler to fill the cracks in two corners.  I will need to dab some stain over that later, but right now I am just concerned with getting the frame made and hung on the wall.

    The rest of the vanity has been reassembled with new knobs and new top.  The top was attached with the Gorilla Glue as well.  It looks great so far, but I want to save the photos of the final product for my final post tomorrow!