Through the (Very Big) Looking Glass

An apartment I’m remodeling has large mirror panels on one of the living room walls. The mirrors cover the entire surface of the 12-foot-wide wall and are trimmed with a narrow aluminum angle.

These mirrors do a fantastic job of bouncing light around \ and enlarging the sense of space, but they have an early 70’s feeling that might not feel right with the reduced, modern feeling of the finished apartment, which will have dark oak floors and white walls. I’d like to replace these panels with one or more large framed mirrors.

We could use mirrors with a minimal frame, like these floor mirrors from West Elm. But we’d definitely want to hang them on the wall horizontally.

On the other hand, it would be nice to use an antique mirror for contrast. This
squarish white mirror has a nice heft to it, although it feels a bit shabby.

I love this door-shaped mirror with a plaster frame at Trouver Antiques. It would look pretty on the wall, and also slightly mysterious. Is there a door behind there, and what does it lead to?

This beaded Venetian-style mirror from Restoration Hardware has clean lines and proportions, but I wonder if it’s wide enough to make an impact on the large wall.

How about a shaped mirror? I like the restraint and geometry of this oval mirror from Restoration Hardware.

And I like the deep wood frame at this round, modern mirror from West Elm.

I’m still worried that all of these mirrors are too small and will be swallowed by that huge wall. The best approach might be to determine how large the mirror needs to be first. Then we could ask the carpenters to fabricate a wood-framed mirror similar to this Ikea mirror, with similar proportions and a simple profile.