>Kids’ Bathroom Mirror – One Project A Weekend

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This will be a really quick post….we finished another small detail for our boys’ bathroom, so I wanted to share the results.  We’ve been working on little projects here and there for this bathroom, and although there’s still quite a bit on the “to-do” and “wish” lists, it’s coming together!  Here are links to the other posts related to this bathroom: cabinets and walls.

Here’s the bathroom before we started:

BORING white walls and cabinets…and I can’t stand the light fixture.

My husband changed out the light fixture and framed the mirror with hardwood planks.  Originally, we wanted to take down the huge mirror and put up two framed mirrors (I was thinking of making the frames out of distressed gray driftwood).  But taking down the mirror would have been a chore in itself…and I wanted a quick fix.  So, in keeping with the black, white, dark gray and chartreuse color scheme….I thought a black frame would look cool.  I envisioned a modern-rustic black frame with a ceruse finish.  A ceruse wood finish is rather time-consuming and uses many steps to achieve. There are different methods similar to pickling and white-washing, but the traditional technique requires wire brushing the wood to open the grain, staining the wood (usually a dark color), and then applying a white wax to highlight the grain.  Grainy woods like oak most often have the best results for cerusing,

Ceruse oak sample from Bausman & Company

I didn’t really have the time to perform all the steps of a traditional ceruse finish, and the planks we used for the frame were chosen because they were cheap and the right width/thickness (not for the type of wood), so I decided to “faux” a ceruse.  I applied a couple of coats of Minwax oil-based wood stain in Ebony, then after it cured completely, my husband used Liquid Nails to glue the wood pieces onto the mirror.  After the glue dried, I simply used the flat side of a white wood filler touch-up crayon and “shaded” it over the wood where the raised areas of grain would pick up the white wax.  

My “faux” ceruse finish took just a few minutes.

The grain is more subtle than the Bausman & Co. sample, but I think it still looks really cool.

The finished mirror and new light fixture…and yes, the boys’ toads (Jelly & Belly) have a pretty woodland scene background that I found online and printed for the terrarium.

The frame goes perfectly with the resin frames I picked up from the 99 Cents Only store.  Those little frames have a rustic-looking, distressed charcoal gray finish.

They don’t match the woodland theme of the rest of the decor, but Mason’s robot drawings look adorable in these white matted frames from Dollar Tree.

I couldn’t resist bringing home this wise old owl from HomeGoods!

 This bathroom is so much fun!  The boys love it, and working on it has been a “hoot”!