Mirror, mirror, on the wall

24Jan/090

I'm not one who's mad on DIY, but am quite a perfectionist when it comes to any project I get started. Whether this be building furniture from flat packs or painting and decorating a room, I expect the finest quality and finish.

To the point of making sure pictures are equal distance from the walls, or centred correctly in a room, I must admit that when you invest into making your house a home, you only want it to look its best.

There is one thing that I do find slightly time consuming, but repays you with huge satisafaction. Drilling the holes into the wall for a picture frame and knowing it's spot on and doesn't require filling and doing again.

But drilling into the outside wall for my very heavy and large lounge mirror, has been now prolonged for too many weekends. It's a huge commitment and strikes me with fear. It's an all or nothing piece of DIY, make or break.

Unlike internal walls made of plasterboard, pictures generally are not that heavy. Either a small picture hook or nail is enough to do the job, or a small rawlplug and screw. But this mirror is a whole another beast.

With two fixings on the back of the wooden frame, one each side, it will require double accuracy in the drilling. Unlike making a single hole in the wall and then balancing the string so that the mirror hangs straight, this had fixings that meant any slight difference in height between them when drilling, will result in a wonky mirror.

A lot of time was spent measuring the distance above the mantle, from the ceiling, to each side if the mirror, and even the height of other picture frames in the room. Then it was a simple case of reaching for the electric drill and getting tooled up.

To give you an idea of the size of the holes I needed to drill, I had to use a 8mm drill bit. That alone doesn't leave much allowance for error. Once committed, the steel bit touched the wall and then disappeared at the touch if a button. That was it. First hole drilled and I do hope it was bang on the marker.

The second hole was going to be the test. If this didn't go in straight, or be exactly the right height on the wall, I would be faced with having to sit on the sofa and look at the mirror at a slant. I just couldn't have that happen. So the measuring tape and pencil came out again for a second opinion.

Once the second hole was made, and i had checked the distance between the holes matched that on the back of the mirror, it was almost time to breathe the sigh of relief. A helping hand was needed to get the mirror onto the wall, and then the moment of truth. Out came the spirit level to check that it was straight.

It was. Straighter than a Roman road. This mirror is now hanging perfectly, and goes to show that a job well prepared, is a job well done.