Discovering the molding aisle has been one of my greatest discoveries since begining my DIY journies. It’s super affordable and can be used in so many different ways. The first time I used molding was when I framed our builder grade bathroom mirrors, which took our mirrors from drab to this:

In my post, I mentioned that I ended up with a gap at the bottom between the molding and the counter. I decided to paint that part of the mirror to hide it, but I was still left with a messy paint line.

I headed down to Lowes to find the perfect molding. There are so many beautiful designs to choose from…

I reeeeeally loved this twirled one, but it didn’t have a flat edge to sit against the mirror. It could be used to dress up an old furniture piece or even used to make a picture frame. Oh the possibilities haha…

There are also ones with pretty intricate designs. I thought that the basket weave one was way awesome and am still trying to think of somewhere or something I could use it on.

This ridged one caught my eye as well.

Then there are my favorites–the pre-painted ones.

Did I mention how affordable these are? These are the prices for an 8ft piece–crazy right?

I ultimately went for simplicity and picked out a small flat piece. I measured out how much I needed and then made the cuts with my miter box (me and this thing have become best friends over the last few months!)

I painted them the same espresso that I used on the vanity. It only took two quick coats.

I finished them off with my favorite top coat, Miniwax Polycrylic in clear satin.

It goes on kind of milky, which freaked me out the first time I used it. But it dries completely clear and it works great on white or lighter colors because it won’t yellow over time like polyutherane does.

I first tried to just use hot glue to apply it to the counter so that I could easily change it up later on. But the hot glue pretty much refused. I don’t think I’ve ever seen hot glue refuse a surface that way before!

Then I was faced with a new problem. Since the mirror stuck out on the countertop, I was left with a small gap on either side.

One the caulk dried I just painted it to match the walls and it blends together so well that your eye totally doesn’t even notice.

I feel like it really finished the vanity off and adds that little bit of character that I was looking for.

Isn’t molding great? I used it to enhance my DIY entry table and my DIY Plank wall!

What amazing things have you done with molding? I’d love to hear about them 🙂

Linking up to these awesome parties!