When I got home from work yesterday, I had a plan.
I was going to install the big mirror in the front entryway. It’s been sitting there for a couple of years now. It actually doesn’t look too bad, because it fits the space perfectly, but it needs to be a bit higher on the wall. So I stopped at a building centre and picked up some heavy duty mirror holder clips with screws and drywall sinks and I was off to the races.
Or so I thought.
After a half hour of my effort there’s now a gouge in the wall exactly a foot and a half above the floor (I measured it well!) and the mirror is leaning against the front door where I left it. It turns out that it’s too heavy for me to lift up onto the bottom clips and hold while I affix the top ones. There’s no way I could finish this task on my own without seven years of bad luck and likely a bit of crying! Part of the fun of being somewhat handy on one’s own is being able to stand back later and admire one’s accomplishment. Instead, I’m leaving a bit of a mess for DB to clean up! I think I’ll stick to smaller jobs like painting baseboards and furniture from now on.
One can always appreciate ones accomplishments even if they didn’t manage to do it all themselves. Often some of the best accomplishments aren’t those you do yourself, but those you inspire or initiate through your vision and creativity.
That’s your story and your sticking to it!
Lisa here, attempting to post reader Brenda’s suggestion:
. On Cityline earlier in the summer, Ramsin showed hanging a mirror and used wood screwed to the wall and wood attached to the back of the mirror. It formed some kind of bracket thingy and it was ingenius. Try Cityline archives, perhaps it is posted. It would solve your problem. Good luck, Brenda (p.s. you can do it yourself too without another pair of hands)
Thanks Brenda – great suggestion!!
The wood thingys are French Cleats and are easily made using a single piece of wood slight;y shorter than the width of the item to be hung. The wood thickness depends of the weight of the item but I have sucessfully hung kitchen cabinets using French cleats.
A video showing how to make and use them is at:
http://www.askthebuilder.com/French_Cleat_Video.shtml
Tim Carter is a profesional builder and his website is full of useful stuff like that. Good luck!