The upstairs hall bathroom had been mostly ignored for the past nine months — aside from hanging a shower curtain after we moved in and the occasional toilet cleaning. From day one, those builder-basic mirrors were on our list to replace.
We took nearly two years to update the mirror in our last hall bathroom by framing it out, so we weren’t going to wait that long here. This time we didn’t want to frame the mirrors — Sherry wanted something with a more interesting shape (round? quatrefoil?), so we started looking at ready-made options at thrift stores, HomeGoods and Ikea. We found one mirror quickly for another bathroom, but this room needed two matching ones, which took a little longer. Eventually we found a pair at HomeGoods (they were $69 each) and Clara instantly approved, announcing, “I like it because it’s like a shiny necklace!”
Removing the old mirror was straightforward: we unscrewed the top clips and carefully slid it out. The new mirrors had two D-hooks on the back, so to hang them I followed three simple steps:
- I used tape to temporarily mark the side of the mirror to show where the screw would land on the back.
- I measured the distance from the mirror’s edge to the D-hook.
- I measured the distance between the two D-hooks.
I held the first mirror in place while Sherry checked that it was centered and at the right height. She marked the wall where the tape indicated while I kept holding the mirror. Because the screw was inset from the mirror’s edge, my measurement allowed me to adjust the mark so the D-ring would catch properly.
Next I used a yardstick and a level to mark the second screw so both screws sat at the same height and the spacing matched the D-hooks. The level ensured alignment and the yardstick helped place the mark at the exact distance needed.
After drilling anchors and driving screws into both marks, I hung the first mirror by slipping the D-hooks over the screws. Then I repeated the process for the second mirror, making sure it was centered and matched the height relative to the countertop.
One thing we like about these mirrors is that they appear heavy and metallic, but they’re actually quite light — likely plaster or wood with a metallic paint finish — which made installation easier.
The final step was simply seating the D-hooks onto the screws and confirming the mirrors were secure. Clara treated the update like it was all for her; she’s been spending a lot of time playing at the sink lately and loved checking out her reflection in the new shiny frames.
There’s still more to do in this bathroom — new lights, updated faucets, replacing the shell-shaped sinks, and a future tile project or a fully tiled wall behind the mirrors — but swapping the mirrors was a meaningful, visible improvement.
Clara barely noticed the old mirrors, but now that they’re gold and “necklace-y,” she keeps getting distracted by her reflection. If you look back at a couple of the photos, the arrangement even creates a face-like composition: the lights read as eyes and the mirror as a mouth, which actually suits a kids’ bathroom. Those lights are on the list to be replaced eventually, but for now the new mirrors have already brightened the space and made it feel more finished.
