Writing an interiors column centred around mirrors being on-trend is a little like that scene in The Devil Wears Prada where a lowly staffer pitches Runway magazine editor Miranda Priestly her highly basic ideas for the next issue. It’s all a bit, ‘florals for spring? Ground-breaking.’
You know about mirrors. I’m guessing you have one. Or gosh, possibly three, or maybe even four of them in your home. Mirrors are not new or different. They are very, very normal things to own. Work with me here, though. They’re having a bit of a moment.
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For most of us with regular, non-palace of Versailles-style budgets, mirrors have been fairly boring and generally functional things to own. We use them for make-up application, over the bathroom sink, we might have one in the hallway, above the living room mantle. But we don’t tend to think about them much more than that, in the main.
As a design tool however, they are far more than incidental. “I specialise in staging and show home design and mirrors are a key aspect in most of my projects,” says interior designer Natasha Rocca Devine. “They open up a room, they can bring more light into a room by reflection, and they are also a cheaper alternative to a piece of art and can be just as beautiful.”
And these days, the mirrors available are just a lot better, especially those on the high street. From a vastly improved range of frame choices to gorgeously-tinted surfaces (yes, you can look at yourself in rose-colour these days) to fabulous finishes such as vintage mottling or ‘foxing’ on the glass, there’s a lot of choice to suit every interior.
In bathrooms, things are happening as well. “Exposed bulbs around [mirrors] are very fashionable at the moment. And there are lots of ones with backlights too,” says Rocca Devine. New are Bluetooth-enabled pieces that offer connectivity to your phone so you can Spotify while you shower. Smart.
Elsewhere in the home, we’re using more mirror than ever. Perhaps, thanks to the popularity of Art Deco, reflective finishes on furniture are trending. “I use a lot of mirrored furniture such as bedside lockers and drawers because they don’t date too quickly and they are easy to clean,” points out Rocca Devine. It’s a good point – these smooth surfaces do gather dust, but it’s wipeable in seconds.
So where don’t mirrors work? The obvious place to avoid using them is the bedroom ceiling – very hard to get a feather duster up there for dust removal. And, don’t make the rookie mistake I did and install mirrored bathroom cabinets directly across from the loo, unless you want every house guest ever to comment on it. Ouch.
The takeaway here is that mirrors are your mates for almost all pretty purposes. “They are a key component of every home,” agrees Rocca Devine, “and something I use in each of my projects”.
- Kirstie McDermott is editorial director of ‘House and Home’ magazine
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