How to Decorate with Mirrors: Types, Rooms and Light
Five types of mirrors, ideas for the living room, bedroom, bathroom, walls and garden, and where to hang a mirror so it adds light and space.
Your hallway is narrow and dark, and the bathroom has no window at all. A mirror can fix both, if you choose the right type and hang it in the right place. This guide shows how to decorate with mirrors in each room, and even in the garden.
What are the main types of mirrors for home decor?
The five most common are plane, LED, decorative, antique and standalone mirrors. Designers have used mirrors for centuries, and the homes of the past and the modern homes of today have that in common. What has changed is the choice: the shapes, sizes and jobs of mirrors keep growing.
Plane mirror. The basic mirror. It comes in many shapes, but it is usually square, rectangular, round or oval. The frame can be thin and plain, or elaborate and detailed.
LED mirror. LED lights are built into the mirror, usually along its edges. It works well in a bedroom, where it is a great help when you get dressed.
Decorative mirror. Usually a set of several small mirrors that you arrange into a shape or a pattern. You will not check your hair in it. Its job is the pattern on the wall, and it works when the arrangement is creative.
Antique mirror. It may or may not be really old: authentic antiques can be very expensive. The frame is usually elaborate. A vintage-style frame may be brass, or painted to look like brass.
Standalone mirror. It has its own stand and is almost always full length. People choose it for the bedroom, to get dressed, but its size and design can work in any room.
An elaborate gold frame turns a plain oval mirror into the main piece on the wall.
Using mirrors in different areas of the home
A mirror can work in every room, and outside as well. The trick is to give it one clear job in each place.
What are good mirror ideas for the living room?
Pick up a shape that is already in the room. The living room usually holds the most interesting decor in the home, so the mirror should support the theme and the patterns you already have. For example, a hexagonal mirror suits zig-zag upholstery, cubic modern art or a table with a similar angular shape.
Bedroom mirror ideas
A full-length standalone mirror is close to essential here. It helps you get dressed, and its large surface spreads a lot of light. A large mirror can also be used in an unusual way: hang a long mirror on its side above the headboard of the bed.
Bathroom mirror ideas
Bathrooms often have no window. A mirror there has to make the most of the light and the space, so choose one as large as the wall allows. An LED mirror above the washbasin gives you good light for grooming at any time of day.
Home interior wall mirrors
Treat a wall as a blank canvas and the mirror as the paint. A large Victorian-style mirror can look like a window. In a cramped room or a hallway, it adds a sense of space and a view. For a stronger effect, cover a whole wall with mirror. The room can look much larger, it gets brighter, and the reflections create symmetry.
Home exterior mirror ideas
A garden can use a mirror too. In a small garden, a mirror makes the space feel bigger and repeats the colours of the plants and flowers. It can also send light into corners that get too little sun.
How do you use a mirror to make a room look bigger?
Hang it where it can catch the light that the room already has, and angle it so the light spreads. A mirror brings in light and multiplies it, and a brighter room looks bigger and more welcoming. Placement makes most of the difference.
- Find the light sources in the room: a window for daylight, or a lamp or ceiling light.
- Choose the size. A larger mirror reflects more light.
- Set the angle. A mirror that faces the light source directly can send the light straight back. Turn it slightly, and the light goes into the rest of the room.
Worth knowing: mirrored interior doors change the light each time you open them. The angle of the open door decides where the reflected light falls.
Which wall mirror ideas give unusual results?
Most of these ideas use a wall, a window or a lamp that you already have.
- Opposite a window or a lamp. The mirror catches the light that is already there and multiplies it.
- Opposite something worth seeing. Reflect a beautiful work of art, and you see it twice.
- Close to objects. Objects placed near a mirror form new, symmetrical shapes with their reflections.
- From wall to ceiling. Let a wall mirror continue onto the ceiling. The reflections repeat each other in unusual ways.
- In a series. Hang several mirrors in a straight line or in a shape, to make a small scene of reflections.
- Between two large windows. The mirror links the two light sources and adds a strong effect between them.
- Shaped like a window. Use it where the room has no window, to suggest one.
- A frame that fits the room. A heavy, elaborate frame suits some rooms. In a minimalist space, a thin, dark frame may work better.
- A frame as a talking point. Like a painting, a mirror can be noticed for its frame as much as for what it shows. Look at sunburst, fabric and textile frames that match your decor.
Try the idea on your own plan first
There is a lot to think about: the size, the frame, the wall, the window and the angle. It is hard to picture all of it at once. In the Home Planner App you build your own rooms virtually and test ideas there before you buy or hang anything. It is free to start.
Home Planner helps you measure your space, draw 2D and 3D floor plans, furnish your rooms with products from well-known brands, create realistic visualizations, and borrow ideas from ready-made layouts for the bedroom, bathroom, living room and more.
Try it on your own project
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