I just fired my 40 year old ugly medicine cabinet. It's got two weeks to
leave. A quick measurement: Approx 16" wide, outside dimension, and 13" wide
inside the cabinet. That first dimension suggests life will be easy - a
"standard" replacement might fit inside the existing beams. I shouldn't have
to jack up the house, or hire a wrecking crane, bulldozer or construction
helicopter.

What are the odds against things working out this easily? I don't mind doing
a little plaster patching around the edges. I'm talking about unknowns that
are like something out of the movie "Predator". As in "Hey look - this
medicine cabinet originally supported the entire......" CRASH!

In article ,
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:

I just fired my 40 year old ugly medicine cabinet. It's got two weeks to
leave. A quick measurement: Approx 16" wide, outside dimension, and 13" wide
inside the cabinet. That first dimension suggests life will be easy - a
"standard" replacement might fit inside the existing beams. I shouldn't have
to jack up the house, or hire a wrecking crane, bulldozer or construction
helicopter.

What are the odds against things working out this easily? I don't mind doing
a little plaster patching around the edges. I'm talking about unknowns that
are like something out of the movie "Predator". As in "Hey look - this
medicine cabinet originally supported the entire......" CRASH!



You don't have to fit the cabinet between the studs, I have a much
larger one with a tri-fold mirror that mounts on top of the finished
wall and my wife is VERY happy with it.

"Nick Hull" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:

I just fired my 40 year old ugly medicine cabinet. It's got two weeks to
leave. A quick measurement: Approx 16" wide, outside dimension, and 13"
wide
inside the cabinet. That first dimension suggests life will be easy - a
"standard" replacement might fit inside the existing beams. I shouldn't
have
to jack up the house, or hire a wrecking crane, bulldozer or construction
helicopter.

What are the odds against things working out this easily? I don't mind
doing
a little plaster patching around the edges. I'm talking about unknowns
that
are like something out of the movie "Predator". As in "Hey look - this
medicine cabinet originally supported the entire......" CRASH!



You don't have to fit the cabinet between the studs, I have a much
larger one with a tri-fold mirror that mounts on top of the finished
wall and my wife is VERY happy with it.

I'll check that idea when I start shopping tonight. It might actually save
some work on another issue. On either side of the medicine cabinet, there
are these stupid Hollywood makeup lights - the kind with the bare bulbs, 4
on each side. Everyone hates them. I'm thinking of moving one of them above
the medicine cabinet, and building something out of wood to hold a piece of
frosted glass to diffuse the light. Then, for the electrical boxes I'm left
with, have a slim, vertical mirror made to cover each side. But, if I can
find a medicine cabinet wide enough to cover those boxes....

I'll check that idea when I start shopping tonight. It might actually save
some work on another issue. On either side of the medicine cabinet, there
are these stupid Hollywood makeup lights - the kind with the bare bulbs, 4
on each side. Everyone hates them. I'm thinking of moving one of them above
the medicine cabinet, and building something out of wood to hold a piece of
frosted glass to diffuse the light. Then, for the electrical boxes I'm left
with, have a slim, vertical mirror made to cover each side. But, if I can
find a medicine cabinet wide enough to cover those boxes....


If anyone uses that mirror for grooming, having only overhead light
makes it really hard to see your neck. Not an issue if you
shave with an electric, but...

"Goedjn" wrote in message
news


I'll check that idea when I start shopping tonight. It might actually save
some work on another issue. On either side of the medicine cabinet, there
are these stupid Hollywood makeup lights - the kind with the bare bulbs, 4
on each side. Everyone hates them. I'm thinking of moving one of them
above
the medicine cabinet, and building something out of wood to hold a piece
of
frosted glass to diffuse the light. Then, for the electrical boxes I'm
left
with, have a slim, vertical mirror made to cover each side. But, if I can
find a medicine cabinet wide enough to cover those boxes....


If anyone uses that mirror for grooming, having only overhead light
makes it really hard to see your neck. Not an issue if you
shave with an electric, but...


I know what you mean, but the voters here say "No lights directly in front
of our eyes". So, I'm going to keep one of the mongo light strips (400 watts
worth of bulbs), move them up, diffuse them, and paint the ceiling pure
white. Should be plenty of diffused light. The way they are now, it's like
looking into headlights - the pupils contract and we're blinded to
under-the-neck details.

On 29 Jan, 14:43, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
I just fired my 40 year old ugly medicine cabinet. It's got two weeks to
leave. A quick measurement: Approx 16" wide, outside dimension, and 13" wide
inside the cabinet. That first dimension suggests life will be easy - a
"standard" replacement might fit inside the existing beams. I shouldn't have
to jack up the house, or hire a wrecking crane, bulldozer or construction
helicopter.

What are the odds against things working out this easily? I don't mind doing
a little plaster patching around the edges. I'm talking about unknowns that
are like something out of the movie "Predator". As in "Hey look - this
medicine cabinet originally supported the entire......" CRASH!

When we redid our bathroom, instead of replacing the in-the-wall
medicine cabinet with another one, we did this:

1- I hung a surface mount medicine cabinet on a side wall next to the
sink.

2 -In the "hole" where the old medicine cabinet was, I recessed a
mirror and then trimmed the hole to create a niche. Nothing fancy,
just some luan for the side walls and some edge molding. I used caulk
to fill all the seams and painted it so it looks like a single unit. I
bullnosed some 1/2 poplar for the bottom shelf and cut it about an
inch "deeper" then the hole so it extends into the bathroom. My wife
puts her little bottles of stuff on the shelf.

Something like this, but with a mirror on the back wall: http://
images.scrippsweb.com/DIY/2004/01/29/dttr205_4fb_e.jpg