As some of you already know, our snowbird nest is a one bedroom condo with less than 600 square feet of living space inside. (Take a tour HERE.) Two walls in our home are totally covered with a floor to ceiling mirror. Those mirrored walls make our tiny place feel so much larger than it really is.
When we returned to Florida this winter, one of the wall mirrors had developed a HUGE crack. I thought we should simply remove that glass and paint the wall so I could hang more photos and artwork, but Peepaw had his heart set on replacing the cracked mirror with a new one since it fills our living room with a light and airy feeling. (It’s a happy place!)
The first step was to find a company to remove the huge cracked mirror. Thankfully I didn’t have to convince my handyman husband not to tackle that job! It’s dangerous business to remove a 6 x 8 foot sheet of razor sharp mirror. And who knows HOW much bad luck you would get by breaking THAT thing!
So thanks to “Stella” (my smartphone Google app) we found Dean Glass and Mirror Company in Pompano Beach. The company sent Steve and Daniel, two talented guys who made short work of removing the broken mirror and beginning the complicated process of measuring the wall EXACTLY so the new one would fit perfectly. I had no idea what a complicated process those measurements would be!
First…down with the old.
Those guys know what they’re doing. They scored the mirror in various places to make smaller pieces and they attached suction cup handles to each piece to lift it down from the wall. It was certainly safer to take down smaller sections one at a time.
We were surprised to see how those huge mirrors are attached to the wall. Those globs of mastic must pretty darn strong! The guys scraped off the big chunks before they began to carefully measure the wall.
Steve told us every mirror has the date it was installed written on the back. (I had no idea!) He was right about that. Our old one was installed in 1984.
After the old mirror was removed Steve used a tape measure to measure various spots on the wall to ensure that the new one would fit.
Now…about that measuring part. I am NOT a fan of measuring. In fact, I don’t even like to measure when I’m baking! And Peepaw gives me crazy looks when I DO use a tape measure and tell him I need a piece of wood that is three little marks past the four inch mark. So to watch Steve whip that tape measure around and jot down his many discoveries was foreign to me! I always assumed walls were exactly square, but now I know otherwise. And a giant mirror can’t be “squeezed’ to fit.
Steve and Daniel cleaned up their mess perfectly that day and they headed back to their company headquarters to turn in their precise measurements. Several weeks later our new mirror had been created and they returned with it…firmly attached to the side of their truck.
Before they brought it inside, Steve added new “globs” of mastic to the wall.
And since each mirror is a time capsule with the installation date on the back, I decided to leave a time capsule of my own. I wrote my website address on the wall for any future explorers!
Steve jokingly said whoever discovers that address will probably say “Oh…that’s back in the old days when people used the Internet!” (We all had a good laugh about that!)
Then it was time for the delicate task at hand.
I held my breath as they began the installation.
Everything was perfect…until Daniel realized that the ceiling was a fraction of an inch lower in one spot which prevented the huge sheet of glass from clearing that small spot on the ceiling!
But…Peepaw to the rescue! With one extra pair of hands those guys were able to RAISE THE ROOF…LITERALLY!
That huge piece of glass slid into place and it fit like a glove.
Steve added a bead of caulk down the edge…
And Daniel made sure the mirror was spotless.
Then Steve added a chrome strip to cover the edge between the two mirrored walls…and the job was finished.
Yes…these wonderful guys did an amazing job.
And yes…there are definitely some jobs that are better left to the professionals.
We go to Florida every year and rent a place but now need to buy a small condo. We love your posts and now think we should take the plunge & buy a place. Your place with 600 sq feet sounds good to us. Do you feel ok sharing where you bought in Florida and how you like your area.
Hi Mary! Thanks for your comment. We live in Fort Lauderdale and we love it! My advice? Spend some time in an area before you buy. That will help you to decide if the area is right for you. Do you drive everywhere you go or do you like to walk to restaurants and attractions? That is an important part of spending time exploring the area you may want to call home. 🙂 Good luck with your search!
XOXO
Meemaw