Every other object on a wall shows you itself. A mirror shows you the wall behind you, which is why styling one goes wrong so often. People arrange the objects on the shelf below, step back, and discover the mirror is mostly filled with a doorway, a light switch and the corner of a wardrobe.
So the order is different to a picture. Decide what it reflects, then set the proportions, then style what sits underneath. Only the last of those three is decoration.
Key Takeaways
- Stand where people stand and look at the reflection before you commit to the position.
- A wall mirror should be 60 to 75 per cent of the width of the furniture below it.
- Leave 15cm to 25cm between the top of the chest and the bottom of the mirror.
- Nothing on the surface should rise past the bottom third of the mirror, or it starts reading as clutter.
- A round mirror softens a room of straight lines. A square one reinforces the architecture. Pick the one the room lacks.
First Decide What It Reflects
A mirror is a second window into whatever is opposite it, so the wall you hang it on is really a choice about the wall you are duplicating. Three rules save most rooms.
Reflect light, not glare. A mirror on the wall adjacent to a window pushes daylight deeper into the room. A mirror directly opposite a west facing window gives you the afternoon sun twice, which is not a gift in an Australian summer.
Reflect something worth seeing. A framed picture, a plant, a run of joinery, a view. Stand in the doorway, hold your phone camera flat against the wall where the mirror will go, and look at what it captures. Ten seconds of that beats an hour of adjusting the objects underneath.
Do not reflect a ceiling. Hung too high, a mirror shows nothing but cornice and light fitting. That is the most common mistake and the easiest to avoid, because it is entirely a height problem.
The Proportion That Does the Work
Mirror width should land between 60 and 75 per cent of the width of the piece below it. Under 60 per cent and the mirror looks stranded on the wall. Over 75 per cent and it starts to look like a cupboard door.
The Cedora numbers make this easy, because the case pieces come in two widths only. Every six drawer chest is 140cm and every tallboy is 100cm wide.
| Mirror | Width | Over a 140cm chest | Over a 100cm tallboy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square timber framed | 100cm | 71 per cent, correct | 100 per cent, too wide |
| Liverpool round | 90cm | 64 per cent, correct | 90 per cent, too wide |
Which answers a question people ask a lot: the mirror belongs over the chest, not over the tallboy. A 100cm mirror on a 100cm tallboy has no wall showing on either side, and the pair reads as one tall slab rather than two objects. If a tallboy is all you have on that wall, hang the mirror off centre and let it overlap the wall beside the tallboy instead.
Height is the other half. Every Cedora chest is 85cm high. Leave 15cm to 25cm of wall between the chest top and the bottom of the mirror, which puts the base of the glass at 100cm to 110cm from the floor and the centre near eye level. We covered the sizing and height relationship in more depth in bedroom mirror size and hanging height above a chest.
What Goes on the Surface Underneath
The surface under a mirror is not a shelf to fill. It is a base the mirror sits on, and everything on it competes with the reflection. A formula that works on a 140cm chest:
- One tall object at 35cm to 45cm, placed off to one side, usually a lamp or a vase with stems
- One low group in the middle third: a stack of two or three books with something small on top
- One low object on the opposite side at 10cm to 15cm, a bowl or a small tray
- Roughly 40 per cent of the surface left empty
The single rule that keeps it clean: nothing should rise past the bottom third of the mirror. The moment an object crosses the middle of the glass it stops being an object and starts being an obstruction, and the mirror stops working.
Odd numbers, varied heights, and a repeated material help. Two ceramics and one timber board will look composed. Five unrelated things will not, however carefully they are spaced.
Shop Cedora Mirrors
Oak Top & Solid Pine Structure
Solid Pine & Acacia Structure
Solid Pine Structure
Solid Pine Frame with Oak Veneer
Solid Pine Structure
Liverpool Pine Mirror - Natural
Solid Pine Frame with Oak Veneer
Round or Square, and Why It Is Not a Taste Question
Choose the shape the room does not already have. A bedroom is a box of straight lines: a rectangular bed, a rectangular chest, a rectangular window, skirting boards running horizontally around all of it. A 90cm round mirror is often the only curve in the room, and that is exactly why it lifts the wall.
The reverse is true in a room that already has arches, curved bedheads or rounded case pieces. There a 100cm square mirror does the structural work instead, echoing the window and squaring the composition back up.
Depth is worth a glance too. These frames run 4cm to 5.5cm, which is enough to throw a shadow line down the wall in raking light. That shadow is part of the effect, so do not hang a deep framed mirror in a spot that never gets directional light and expect it to have presence.
Three Mistakes Worth Naming
Art hung next to a mirror at the same height. Two rectangles on one wall at one height cancel each other out. Put the art on a different wall, or hang it well above or below the mirror line so the eye reads a sequence rather than a pair.
A lamp whose bulb lands in the reflection. A lamp beside a mirror doubles the light in the room, which is the reason to put it there. Set it far enough to the side that what you see in the glass is the glow, not the globe.
Leaning a mirror without a restraint. Leaning a 100cm mirror on an 85cm chest is a good look and a real hazard. The chest is 45cm deep so the base sits safely inside the front edge, but the top still needs a strap or eye screw into the wall so it cannot walk forward. Anchor the chest too.
If you would rather skip the decision entirely, several ranges pair the two as one piece. The Newcastle Acacia 6 Drawer Chest with Mirror and the London Pine 6 Drawer Chest with Mirror arrive with the proportions already settled.
Liverpool Pine Mirror - Natural
Frequently Asked Questions
How big should a mirror be above a chest of drawers?
Between 60 and 75 per cent of the width of the chest. On a 140cm chest that means an 85cm to 105cm mirror, which is why the 100cm square and 90cm round options both work well there.
What do you put under a wall mirror?
One tall object at 35cm to 45cm off to one side, a low group of two or three items in the middle, and one low object opposite. Leave around 40 per cent of the surface empty, and keep everything below the bottom third of the glass.
Should a mirror go above a tallboy?
Usually not. A tallboy is 100cm wide, the same as a square mirror, so there is no wall showing either side and the two read as one slab. Mirrors belong over the 140cm chest, or hung off centre so they overlap the wall beside the tallboy.
Round mirror or square mirror?
Pick the shape the room is missing. Most bedrooms are all straight lines, so a round mirror is the only curve and lifts the wall. In a room with arches or a curved bedhead, a square mirror does the structural work instead.
Where should you not hang a mirror?
Directly opposite a west facing window, where it doubles the afternoon glare. Too high, where it reflects only cornice and ceiling. And immediately beside a framed picture at the same height, where the two rectangles cancel each other out.
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