Decorating With Mirrors

Coastal Living Designer Jill Johnson; Photographer Grey Crawford

Mirrors can be a great way to expand a space, add interest, make a statement, reflect light or a great view and generally add sparkle. Here are some ideas for incorporating mirrors into your space...

Designer Jeffrey Billhuber layered an antique mirror over the window for use with this floating dressing table.

Architectural Digest Photo: Peter Vanderwarker

Stylist and designer Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo of ABCD Design created this huge dramatic wall with black paint and 48 rectangular mirrors (via Canadian House and Home)

Framed mirrors also make a dramatic statement in this bedroom...

Coastal Living Photo: Jean-Philippe Piter

House Beautiful photo credit: Lisa Cregan

Designer Vincent Wolf likes using massive, over-scaled mirrors leaning against walls, as you can see in the bedrooms he designed above and below. This is some of what he told House Beautiful about that. "It's taking an architectural approach to a decorative object — like cutting open a wall onto a space beyond. It's also more casual and interesting to lean something than to hang it. Once a mirror is hung, it's isolated on the wall. But when it leans, the floor runs right into the glass."

I love the idea of layering mirrors like designer Mary McGee did in her living room. You could also just layer a great frame over a mirror and it would work just as well.

House Beautiful Photo: Miguel Flores Vianna

The mirror used in this bedroom designed by Gary McBourne (House Beautiful - Photo: James Merrell) was too small so they added what Gary calls a "sash" to give it scale. I'll admit that, even though this room is beautifully designed, it isn't my style but that doesn't matter. The basic idea can be used in any room from casual to formal and contemporary to traditional and there are a variety of items (fabric, ribbon, rope, etc.) you could use to make your "sash". Just hang the mirror on the wall and then attach the "sash" to the back of the mirror and the hook.

In this Coastal Living idea house they mirrored the doors of this dual vanity which draws your eye to the detail. (Photo: Tria Giovan)

This is much more subtle but these vanity doors and drawers are also mirrored.

Coastal Living Photo Dominique Vorillon

Mirrored night stands are so pretty, aren't they?

BHG.com

The next four images are from Homes and Gardens. You can see the rest of their slideshow, How to Decorate Using Mirrors, on their site. (Photos: Carolyn Barber)

Displaying a variety of mirrors on ledges is a creative and fun idea to punch up your space.

Adding mirrors to an armoire in a bedroom is a great idea, especially if you're short on space to add one anywhere else.

Reflective drum shades could be stunning in the right space!

Using a mercury glass mat for a centerpiece. I've used a framed mirror in the same way in the past, which also works well.

Just for fun... Can you tell what this frame is made from? I'm sure you probably can. Colored plastic spoons! :-) Country Living

Cute tennis racket mirrors from Country Living. Imagine how many different things you could repurpose as mirrors once you start thinking outside the box...

Hmmm... Any ideas on how I can get my mirror to reflect the same view that this mirror is reflecting? :-)