Mirror, Mirror on the &@%#*! Wall
Wherein Our
Heroine is Glad She Doesn't Have to Go Through it Again.
Our friends Maria and Pat are moving
into a new home. They are using us as expert consultants on a truly sticky
problem, one I like to call "Mirror
Abatement."
Why are we experts
on this? Because we had the godawfulest mirrors we could imagine when we moved
into this house two years ago. In the dining room there is a bay window, dentil
molding, and a chair rail with wainscoting. Stretching between the chair rail
and the molding on the biggest wall were (according to the realtor's listing)
"fashionable beveled mirrors." Fashionable in that ever-popular
Federal-meets-Flashdance sort of way, I guess. In the bedroom, there are two
generously sized closets. When we bought the house, they came complete with
mirrored sliding doors. The little roller mechanisms in sliding doors tend to
be poorly designed and prone to failure at the best of times. When they support
(or fail to support) the weight of an 8' x 2.5' mirror, moving them becomes a
modern labor of Sisyphus.
So,
we had the mirrors ripped out and John spent much time and effort smoothing the
ragged patches in the drywall in the dining room (well, in every room of the
house. The previous owner had a thing about adhesives and walls - best that I
don't go into it. My blood pressure may go up). Our bedroom closets are still
cloaked in curtains rather than trying to go through the ordeal of getting
custom bi-fold millwork done (our first attempt at this is another wretched
story - one replete with failure and
frustration).
But I can tell
you - it's better than the mirrors.
Posted: Friday - October 15, 2004 at 08:50 AM
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