Group 6 1 minute Read

mirror, mirror on the door

Lauren Zerbey

Even though the sliding barn doors were installed several months ago, we still had a few tasks to complete.

First, door stops. A day or two before our big party we installed a stop inside the track above the bathroom door. This prevents the door from sliding too far in one direction, blocking access to the handle from inside the bathroom. In other words, it keeps people from getting trapped.

[Side note: what we should have done before the party was install a stop at the end of the flex room track. Rumor has it that in a moment of dance party exuberance, the door was accidentally pushed too far and almost flew off the track and into the stairwell below. I didn’t find out about the potential party foul until the next morning. Probably a good thing. We still haven’t added the stop yet.]

Anyhow, back to the bathroom door. We had the idea early on to add a full length mirror to the back of the door. Our house is small and we have so little wall space that the back of the door was the only place large enough for a mirror to go. Originally we thought about having a large mirror custom cut and even considered routering out the door so the mirror would be flush. Well, other tasks soon became a higher priority and we never got around to it.

Then, when Kyle’s family was in town in July they did some sightseeing at IKEA and Kyle came home with this $10 mirror.

First, we cleared off the island and covered it with an old sheet. Then we removed the bathroom door from the track and laid it down on the island.

Kyle used Liquid Nails as his glue of choice to adhere the mirror to the door.

A plastic lid was used to smooth out the adhesive and make sure the surface was evenly coated.

Before flipping it over, we measured and marked the four corners lightly with a pencil.  A rolling-pin was used to ensure both surfaces were in contact with each other. After a quick wipe down, we were done. About 15 minutes total. I like those kind of projects.

Sure, it’s not as large as we originally imagined, but it gets the job done and is still plenty big for the space. Also, because the door has to clear the 1/2″ base trim at the bottom of the wall (on the kitchen side), the thickness of the mirror isn’t an issue.

So the moral of the story? Sometimes you can over think a design problem. Sometimes you just need to step back and wait for the $10 mirror.