Tutorial: Adding Molding to a Builder Grade Mirror

This isn't my bathroom but is exactly how my master bathroom used to look ... only instead of vinyl we still have lovely carpet.

When we bought our townhome, there were lots of features we really loved: open floorplan, large bedrooms, upper-floor laundry, good-sized closets and such. But we didn't love all of the brass fixtures and seen-better-days oak cabinets. I swore that as soon as I moved in, I would banish the brass. Four years later, there is still some brass kicking around. But this year is the year. 

For a while now, I've wanted to hide the brass trim on our bathroom mirrors by adding molding around the frame. During the holidays, I finally convinced my husband that it would look good — thanks to lots of pictures on Pinterest. He is a hard sell on most home improvement projects but always helps out and always ends up loving it in the end. 

Kids bathroom mirror before.

With his help, this project came together really quickly.

Step 1: Measure your mirror. Of course.

Step 2: Purchase molding. We bought ours at our local ReStore. It cost $8 for enough molding to cover the mirror in the master bathroom and in the kids bathroom. We lucked out in finding thicker molding, which I really wanted because the mirrors are big and I wanted the frame to seem intentional and substantial. I would recommend preprimed molding for this project.

Step 3: Set up a paintworkstation. We did this in our unfinished basement, where food storage buckets served as a makeshift sawhorse.

Step 4: Using the measurements from your mirror, cut 45 degree angles at the end of the molding. We planned on using a mitre box cutter, but the molding we bought ended up being too big for the box. However, it was easy enough to get the angle from the box and use that as a template to cut the molding. Tip: Cut from the front of the molding. That way, if your saw doesn't cut clean or causes chips, they won't be visible on the front.

Step 5: Paint. We used a sample pot I had in my paint stash (what, doesn't everyone have one?) to paint the master bedroom moldings a deep brown. For the kids bathroom, we went with same white as the cabinets.

Waiting for the paint to dry. I use semi-gloss in bathrooms for better durability.

 

Step 6: Paint the back of the molding. You'll be able to see a reflection of at least the top third of the molding.

 

Step 7:  Use Liquid Nails for mirrors to adhere to mirror. Notice that I forgot to paint the back of this one ... oops! I had to quickly slap on some paint before the adhesive cured. Align the molding in the corners as best as you can, but don't stress if it doesn't look perfectly perfect. Liquid Nails isn't an instant-cure so you can play around with it a bit to make sure it looks nice.

Tip: Don't put adhesive all the way to the top of the molding. Unless you want to see a reflection of that, too. About two-thirds of the way up was enough to hold it in place without it being visible.

 
Step 8: Use painters tape to hold the frame in place until your adhesive is cured. (For Liquid Nails, the instructions said 72-hours. However, it seemed pretty secure after only a few hours).

The best part of this picture is that you can see my ghetto point-and-shoot ... currently held together by duct tape!

Step 9: Use paintable caulk to fill in corners.

Step 10: Touch-up caulk with paint. I used a Q-tip but you could use a paintbrush. I just didn't want to walk downstairs to get one.

After: Master Bathroom mirror in progress

After: Kids bathroom mirror. Still a lot of work in here: new shower curtain, add beadboard below towel hooks, paint walls.

Step 11: Enjoy your beautiful new mirror. 

This was a super inexpensive and easy upgrade. Let me know if you have any questions!