Bathroom Mirror Re-Do

I found this nice oval mirror in a thrift shop in December of last year. It's destined for the bathroom of Lovely Daughter #2, so I gave it to her as a holiday present and promised to paint it glossy white.

But I'm not a DIY-er, so I dragged my feet about repainting it,. Honestly? I didn't know how to begin. This past week, my terrific house painter was here, fixing this-'n'-that, so I picked his brain. He gave me the confidence to jump in and just do it.

First, I sanded the whole thing with 100-grit sandpaper, then wiped off all the dust with a tack cloth.

Then I ripped off short pieces of painter's tape and pushed them gently into the edge where the frame meets the mirror.

After I taped all around the inside edge of the frame and pressed it into place, I cut some newspaper to cover up the mirror's surface, then taped that down just slightly inside the margin of the mirror.

Using a regular ol' X-Acto knife, I cut into the channel formed where the frame meets the mirror:

...and then I peeled off the tape that rode up the inside edge of the mirror:

Here's the mirror,with the glass surface all covered up:

Since I used spray primer and paint, I set up in my garage to cut down on the breeze. I set down an old utility cloth:

And placed the mirror face up on some polystyrene cups. That way, the spray could reach the parts of the frame that are slightly exposed on the back side of the mirror:

My painter gave me one of these to wear when I used the spray. He said it's really important to protect your lungs. No argument from me, there!

This is the primer. It really does a good job:

Here's what the mirror looked like after the first coat of primer (it's okay that it is spotty looking; there are three more coats to come):

I switched to 220-grit, sanded and tack-clothed it again, and sprayed a second coat of primer. After two coats, the bleedthrough is less noticeable:

Another sanding with the finer paper, another wipedown with a tack cloth, and then I did two coats of glossy white spray paint. After a thorough drying, I changed the wire on the back so the mirror hangs horizontally, not vertically. Luckily, it had the hooks already in place to do this switcheroo:

And here it is, (sort of) in the place it will hang, above the Lovely Daughter #2's towel bar. I propped the mirror on the towel bar to give you the idea of how it will look when hung by the handy man.:

When hung, the mirror should look very handsome against the bathroom's dramatic gray walls and dark wood storage pieces. It will also bounce some extra, needed light around the small, fairly dark room:

And yes, that toilet is situated on an angle in the corner. It would've cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars to fix it, the contractor told me.

This is the Funny-Looking House, after all.