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Good Reflections

cheryll gillespie

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS:

Mirror, mirror on the wall, create the fairest rooms of all! Cheryll Gillespie, casaGURU's home design guru, lets homeowners know they don't have to be an evil stepmother to love mirrors. When looking to decorate and add accessories to any room in your house, keep mirrors in mind and how they can compliment and play with reflections from windows and doorways.

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Mirrors reflect, multiply and energize light. Good placement and the effective use of a mirror in a room can make a space more:

Visually interesting
More esthetically appealing
Livelier
Larger
Brighter

To increase the apparent size of a your living space or to bring more light into a room, turn to mirrors to help you achieve your goal. Today, we are using everything from a full wall of un-seamed mirror to oversized framed mirrors to groupings of smaller individually framed mirrors to add sparkle and achieve the illusion of grandeur in a home.

Smoke & Mirrors

If you have a room in which you wish to create the reflection of a larger space, or if your room simply needs more light, try these designer tricks with mirror:

When positioning a mirror on a wall, be sure that the mirror will reflect something interesting, such as a window, chandelier, doorway, wall art, sculpture or a garden view. Mirrors placed where they reflect an outdoor view are especially attractive.
Over sized (5x7) mirrors looked terrific simply leaning on a wall in any room.
To super-size a small room, mirror an entire wall from floor to ceiling. The mirrored wall will create the illusion of twice the living space.
In a narrow hallway hang a group of three framed mirrors instead of framed wall art. Treat the placement of your framed mirrors the same as you would your framed art. Look for mirrors with elegant lines, beveled edges and styles with interesting shapes.
In a bathroom, mount an elegant framed mirror directly onto the existing wall mirror in front of your sink using double sided tape to attach the framed mirror to wall mirror.
To add a window to a room without renovating, flank a mirror with a pair of old shutters or replace the glass from an old window frame salvaged from an architectural clearing centre with mirror.
Instead of glass, use a mirror to top a table.
Always hang a mirror near every entryway for last minute lipstick checks.
Use a framed mirror as a serving tray on a dining room sideboard. Attach two handles and tiny wooden feet to the mirror to create an elegant serving tray. These mirror trays also look great on a dresser or vanity counter.