Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Hubby gave me a wall mirror a few years ago.  I didn't know what to do with it, so it has been leaning against the wall in the den.  When I was working last September and had some disposable income, I bought grown-up furniture for the living room I had just painted.  By grown-up furniture, I mean stuff that I picked out to match and paid for instead of the hodge podge of hand-me-downs and garage sale leftovers.  I finally found an arrangement in my living room that I like and now I have a place for the mirror.

I needed a way to decide how high I wanted the mirror, so I taped newspaper together in the size of the mirror and taped it to the wall.  I think this idea came from my parents who needed to make sure their new home had room for the piano.  Maybe it also came from my grandmother who once had me measure a room and all her furniture and cut out scaled down paper pieces of all the footprints so she could arrange her furniture with them without moving anything heavy. 

When I had that where I wanted it, I brought out the laser level which I gave Hubby for Father's day as hopeful reminder to hang the mirror for me.  He has accused me of buying him gifts that serve my own interests for years, though I never bought him a bowling ball in my size (from a Simpson's episode).  I thought it was about time to actually be guilty of the accusation, but it didn't work because Hubby can't read my mind on where and how I want the mirror placed.  He still thinks the laser level is cool though, more than other things I've attempted to give him.

It has a suction cup for sticking to surfaces and a little air pump to hold the suction.  It also came with this little plastic piece for when the surface is still too irregular for the suction to hold.  I tacked this piece up where I wanted the level.  The little slip of newspaper shows the level of the hooks on the back of the frame, and where I want to put the screws.

It works perfectly!

I used 50 lb drywall anchors.  I had to do some digging in the garage to find them, but at least I knew they were there and in one of three places.  I reduced those three placed to two places and left them a bit more organized for the next time I need to find something.

I measured the distance from the edge of the frame to the two hooks and marked these along the laser line, then screwed in the anchors and the screws.

It worked beautifully, except that once I cleaned the mirror, I discovered that someone had been scratching it with a toy.  It isn't awful, but I wish...well, to quote Jeff Foxworthy...I remember when my brother and I were playin' in the livin' room and knocked over the table and broke Daddy's Jack Daniels Elvis decanter... shoulda seen Mama. "WE JUST CAIN'T HAVE NICE THANGS!!!!". 

After my wheelbarrow post, my dad sent me a couple of links to YouTube videos on how to seal a tubeless tire to the rim enough to inflate it.  One involved lighting WD-40 on fire and looked like a lot of fun.  The other looked a bit more prudent, especially on a small scale, and that's what I did for our hand truck that needed air in one tire.

Wrap a rope around the tire and a rod.  I used the star out of the trunk.  Twist until the tire is pressed tightly against the rim. 

Inflate until you see the tire pressing the rope out and then loosen the rope as the tire inflates all the way.  I have an air compressor that plugs into the lighter in my car.  It has been very handy sometimes.

I need to put my daughter's bedroom door back on the list.  It is creaking and sticking badly again.  My attempts to adjust it aren't working.  I seem to have issues with door geometry.

Day 83, Score: -16 (2 new fixed, 1 new broken, total fixed=67, list total 123), Funds: -137.76