Mirrors (Home Decor)

Glass thickness, not the frame and not the silver backing, decides whether a mirror is any good. Thin float glass, the ordinary flat glass used in windows, flexes inside its frame and bends the reflection. Some inexpensive full-length mirrors make you look narrow in one spot and wide six inches lower. Thicker stock stays flat and reflects true.

Behind the glass sits a coating of silver or aluminum sealed under paint. Where that seal breaks, usually at the edges after repeated contact with liquid cleaner, black spots creep inward and cannot be repaired. Weight climbs fast with size: a framed mirror around 30 by 40 inches often runs 25 to 40 pounds, well past what a plain drywall nail holds. Fix it into a stud or use toggle bolts rated far above the real weight, and use two hanging points rather than one so the mirror cannot swing crooked every time a door shuts.

Compare it with the two things it is usually confused for. Framed art fixes an image on the wall and asks the room to look at it. Meanwhile, a mirror shows the room back, so its content changes with everything you own and placement becomes the entire decision. Facing a window, a mirror pushes daylight deeper into the room and doubles the view. Facing a cluttered counter, it doubles the clutter. A lamp makes light that was never there. A mirror only moves light that already exists, which is why one hung in a windowless hall brightens far less than people expect.

Narrow hallways, small entries and single-window rooms gain the most, because the depth is fake but reads as real. Leaning beats hanging in a rental: a floor mirror 60 inches or taller resting against the wall needs no holes, though it must be strapped back to the wall in any home with young children, since a leaning mirror walks forward on hard floors. Avoid a large mirror opposite a bed if broken sleep bothers you, and avoid one on a wall that takes direct afternoon sun, since the glare is really painful.

Stand about 6 feet back and step slowly side to side while watching a straight line in the reflection, such as a door frame. Ripple in that line means the glass is too thin, and no frame fixes it. Beveled edges, where the glass is ground back around the perimeter, signal thicker stock and catch light at the border. Never spray cleaner onto the glass itself, because the liquid runs down and wicks under the edge into the backing. Spray a cloth, wipe, then dry the perimeter last.