Monday 17 November 2008

On reflection

There has not been much to report on the renovation front recently. This is because we try to concentrate on the cottage in the winter and the garden in the summer. Also the small jobs, which we do ourselves, tend to be straight forward and incident free, but in the last few weeks not everything has gone to plan. We have been without a full length mirror in the bedroom since the old bedroom was taken out, about 18 months ago, if not longer. Well, one wet Saturday my husband decided that we would rectify this issue. So off we went to purchase a new mirror, which would need to be fixed inside one of the wardrobe doors. By the time we returned home with our new mirror and tube of mirror glue it was no longer wet and an afternoon in the garden beckoned. The mirror then hung around in a corner of the bedroom for a few weeks whilst we gardened.

Fast forward to last weekend, when it was wet and I charmed (threatened really) my husband into gluing the mirror onto the wardrobe door. This involved removing the wardrobe door and lying it flat on the carpet until the mirror glue had dried and it was safe to re fix the wardrobe door. My husband had applied the glue when he realised that the instructions did not state how long it took for the glue to dry and I noticed that the glue was ten days out of date. Yes, even glue has an expiry date these days! Too late, now, to take it back and complain. We left the mirror for an hour or so, to dry, which was probably not long enough, but my husband can be impatient. I helped him screw the wardrobe door back into place and we carefully shut it. He collected up his tools and I headed into another room. As my husband descended the stairs the was a thump. 'What could that be?' we both thought. Really it could only be one thing. I gently opened the wardrobe door to find that the mirror had slid off the door. There are advantages to having a wardrobe stuffed full of clothes. Luckily the mirror was unharmed. I then had to spend, I don't know how long, removing the glue from the inside of the wardrobe door and the back of he mirror. We now have another tube of mirror glue and will be repeating this exercise, with I hope more success, the next time we have a wet weekend. What is really annoying is that my husband has done this before, in our previous house, without any problems.

19 comments:

French Fancy... said...

blimey, what a nuisance! I didn't even know there was such a thing as mirror glue. We've not got a full-length mirror here - I want to get one because whenever we stay in hotels it's always a bit of a shock to see oneself properly :)

Akelamalu said...

It's so annoying when the most simple of tasks doesn't go to plan isn't it? Second time lucky hopefully. :(

Maggie May said...

I didn't know there was such a thing as mirror glue. We usually have those little metal corners that the mirror slides into.
Hope the next time is successful.

imbeingheldhostage said...

How fun, you really didn't want all of that extra time to talk a walk or read a book anyway, did you? I have some friends dealing with a terrible wood stain on their custom built wardrobes and they've had to bin most of their clothing-- so when you said the mirror had fallen, all I could think of was glue on your clothes!

Sandi McBride said...

Go to the ironmongers and see if you can find some mirror brackets to screw into the door and hold the mirror...much safer...now I'll worry about you till you get properly up!
Sandi

Ladybird World Mother said...

Isn't it so maddening when that kind of thing happens. I really hope you get the damned thing up second time round.
We have a curtain rail which has come off the wall so many times that I want to scream!! Plus a bannister rail. The joys of house holding.

david mcmahon said...

Mirror, mirror, on (er, off) the wall!

Anonymous said...

Good job JP isn't reading this, he'd have a lot of solutions that would involve overalls,six helpers, that glue which sticks so well you can be suspended on a board to which you have been stuck and a lot of Gallic swearing.

Good luck for the next time.

Sandi McBride said...

Hope that mirror is properly in place! Congrats on the Post of the Day mention from David!
Sandi

Hilary said...

Ack frustrating for sure. Might be a good idea to let it dry overnight before hanging on the next go-round. Here from David's.

Tim Atkinson said...

Expiry date? Really? Are you sure that was glue?

Strawberry Jam Anne said...

So frustrating to have to do it all again. Good job it was raining, you would have been furious to waste all your gardening time. Thanks for the tip about glue having an expiry date - wouldn't have thought of that.


A

cheshire wife said...

imbeingheldhostage - luckily the glue did not get onto the clothes in the wardrobe. Would have been a good excuse to buy some new clothes!

sandi - the doors are too slim for screws.

Louise said...

Really, if it worked once, why shouldn't it work the second time. I like how you "charmed" him!

Working Mum said...

How annoying! My husband just had to hang two wardrobe doors this summer, but managed to hang one back to front - can't change it as it has holes now where he screwed brackets in - forever have to live looking at the back of a door. aaaaaargh!

French Fancy... said...

Is it up yet?

cheshire wife said...

working mum - I can imagine your frustration. Can you not cover up the holes with something decorative? I try to supervise him as much as I can to try to prevent mistakes.

French Fancy - no it is not up yet. Husband works away during the week. Fingers crossed for the weekend.

Suburbia said...

Good luck with the mirror. Sorry I haven't posted my award yet, I'm about to do it now!

DeniseinVA said...

Ah the joys of.....going to have to start doing that kind fo thing around here pretty soon. I'll be taking notes :) Have a great weekend. Hope you get that mirror hung pretty soon.