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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

I love mirrors.

When I lived in Australia, I moved around a lot. But there's a common denominator for all the bedrooms I lived in: they all had built-in wardrobes with sliding mirrored doors. I loved how much larger the space looked with the mirrors. Plus it was lots of fun when I brought home a cute little kitten, who kept trying to pick a fight with its identical twin in the mirror.

Because we live in such a small space, I'd love to use many, many mirrors to create the illusion of a larger place. Vee is worried about overkill, though. So I went on a quest (online) to ask the oracle (Google) for some much-needed advice regarding The Appropriate Number of Mirrors. How many mirrors is too many?

Sadly, there seems to be no guidelines on the matter. Does this mean we can just place mirrors anywhere, willy-nilly?

HGTV apparently thinks so: "Designer Jennifer Duneier believes you can never have enough mirrors in a home."

And Jonathan Adler seems to agree: "You can never go overboard (or wrong) with reflective surfaces. They add twinkly glamour, light and the illusion of space."

So, seriously? We can place as many mirrors as we want? Really? REALLY?

Then explain this:

For a wacky hotel experience, try the Propeller Island City Lodge in Germany.

To be fair, the mirrors do add light and illusion of space. And glamour, really, is subjective. But I don't want our home to look like that.

Currently, we have a total of four mirrors. One in the bathroom, obviously.

Ugh, can't wait to renovate the bathroom!
One over the fireplace. I love this mirror; I think it's so sexy and masculine with its chiseled angular features. And I got it from Craigslist for like $30! (Hmmm... somehow I feel like I'm describing a cheap, beautiful man-slut...)

It bothers me that this awesome mirror reflects the hell out of the outdated light fixture and textured ceiling.

One in the entryway... This curvy girl I snatched on sale for $20 at Ikea.


And this one in the bedroom behind the bedside table. It's a plain mirror with no backing and no frame. I got it from a garage sale held by a nearby 55-years-and-older condo community. A grey-haired gentleman volunteered to wheel the mirror down the street on his cart and in the process, chipped a corner. When it happened, all these seniors had already made a big fuss over how they would transport this mirror...so I didn't have the heart to cancel the purchase.

Chipped bevel! Tragic :'(
My Google search did help give me ideas on how to add more reflective surfaces. I particularly like this Apartment Therapy article, which has some serious eye candy.

We could group the mirrors together for some variation...
via Apartment Therapy
...use them as backsplash in the kitchen to help reflect light in the dark corners underneath the top cabinets...
via Apartment Therapy
...or even stick them onto cabinet faces for a truly unexpected twist!
via Apartment Therapy