Decorating with mirrors emphasizes the natural light in your home, making it appear larger and cleaner. This cornerstone of interior design adds an essential focal point or decorative touch to your living space. Finding the right mirror is crucial when you want to elevate your living room instantly. This blog covers 20 ways to improve your living room with mirror design.
Explore our ideas for how mirrors can be just the thing your home needs to shine.
One excellent way to use mirrors in your living room is to place a full-length mirror as a focal point on a plain wall. A floor-to-ceiling mirror can bounce light around the space, making a small lounge look larger and effortlessly brighter. This style is especially good-looking in long, slim rooms, elongating the area seamlessly.
The floor-length mirror is perfect if you have windows that are also tall and slim. Placing a full-length mirror directly across from the window maximizes the light reflecting around the room. You can enhance the beauty of the mirror by using a frame with molding and colors that complement your living area.
For this decorative style, take our previous idea and put it on its side - literally. Hang a rectangular mirror horizontally to broaden your space and make the room feel bigger. This technique is ideal for houses with low ceilings, like bungalows and mid-century modern builds. Horizontal mirrors are the perfect way to reflect light around a tight space, like a small living room.
For the most impactful reflection, hang two horizontal mirrors on the wall, one on top of the other, to fill an entire wall. Decorating with mirrors is an easy way to make the most of natural light and create interesting texture in your space.
Expanding on using more than one mirror, creating a gallery wall of mirrors enhances a small room with the illusion of more space. Rather than choosing an oversized mirror and overwhelming the room, numerous small mirrors often work better in a small area. You can choose different shapes and sizes to create the perfect collage for your living room.
Gallery wall mirrors are perfect for a living room designed around creating a cozy, family atmosphere. They're informal and inviting, creating bright spots in your living room like a kaleidoscope. Experiment with different frame styles and colors to reflect your personal decor tastes.
If your living room has outdoor access with sliding or bifold doors, consider using mirrors near them to blur the lines between indoor and outdoor space. You can even experiment with hanging a wall mirror outside to create cohesion between the areas.
If you live in an area with a warm climate, you could create an outdoor living space with the mirror as the focal point. Hanging mirrors strategically near the doors visually extends the indoor and outdoor spaces, making each appear larger. Bring the serenity of nature into your living room by reflecting sunlight and greenery with mirrors.
Use a large mirror directly across from a stunning art piece or bold wall color to accentuate the feature and make the space more eye-catching. This style is perfect if you have a statement wall that's a bright color or a distinctive, patterned wallpaper. Reflecting a section of the statement wall on the opposite side of the room creates a cohesion that elevates the space and makes the mirror a decorative piece.
Choose a round mirror if your statement wall has rounded accents or an angular mirror if not. Matching the mirror shape and frame color to those on your feature wall helps tie the room together. Decorating with mirrors is about marrying the different elements of your living room together to increase the light and create the illusion of more space.
Buying a mirror in the same finish as your living room windows or doors creates the illusion that your mirror is another window, adding to the size perception of your home. Choose a mirror with a frame the same color and style as your window frames to achieve this effect. Hang the mirror in the direct line of where light comes in through the window to get the most out of the faux window effect.
You can also look for a mirror design that replicates window panes. Arched mirrors combine the look of a window mirror with a piece of statement decor. Using faux window mirrors integrates your decor with the room's architectural features, making them look like an extension of the building itself.
The classic style of mounting a mirror over your fireplace looks effortless and chic. New mirror ideas are fun and exciting, but sometimes, a timeless look is what you want. Decorating with mirrors over the fireplace requires getting the perfect balance of shape and size. Choose a mirror that suits your fireplace, with features that complement the design and era of the fireplace.
For example, if you live in a period home like a Victorian build, consider an antique or vintage mirror that reflects the era's aesthetics. Equally, avoid a mirror that's small enough to leave empty wall space around it. With this style, the mirror should hold as much visual space as the fireplace.
An excellent way to add the reflective power of mirrors to a small living room is to use small mirrors on mantels and shelves. You can place a decorative desk mirror on the mantelpiece, a wall shelf, or a bookshelf to easily brighten enclosed areas. If you don't have room for a large mirror, using multiple small mirrors in the nooks and crannies keeps light moving around your room.
A circular mirror is more cozy and playful, while a square or rectangular one looks better in a modern living room with sleek decor. Rather than hanging a mirror over your fireplace, you can place it on the mantle and lean it against the wall for a more relaxed aesthetic in a boho-chic living room.
Place a floor mirror in the corners of your living room to help create the illusion of a more open space. Bouncing light away from darkened corners gives the impression that your living room's square footage is much larger. You can also lean large mirrors against the wall to create a floor mirror. This is excellent for creating a relaxed, effortless atmosphere in your living space.
Putting a large, oversized mirror on the floor is also an excellent choice if you have limited wall space. One mirror leaning prominently against the wall casts light around your living area and gives you a full-body reflection in case you need to check your outfit before heading out.
Statement mirrors are perfect for decorating areas with lots of wall space. You can choose a distinctive shape, style, or pure size to cast a stunning reflection through your living room. Using a statement wall mirror gives you plenty of creative freedom to find the perfect piece for your living room's style and aesthetic.
Play with different forms beyond a typical round mirror or a rectangular mirror. Oval, hexagonal, asymmetrical, and custom mirrors can all accent your lounge perfectly. Equally, the frame might be what makes it a beautiful mirror. A plain round mirror can be a statement if it has a large, intricate frame or a distinctive, fractured surface.
If you have a bar console table or a bar trolley, placing a mirror on the wall above it highlights it as a focal point in the room. Decorating with mirrors around your bar trolley also makes it easy to put it back in the right spot at the end of a relaxing night or a house party. Hand a mirror over your console table or bar area to bring shine and add glamor to your living room - perfect for mixing a great drink.
Furthermore, including a mirror makes your bar a focal point in the room rather than an afterthought. This styling idea is perfect if you like to entertain. Radiating light around your living room from the bar area invites guests to unwind and enjoy a great night.
The day after a great night at your place, your guests will want to freshen up before starting the day. If your living room has a sofa bed or a daybed, placing a mirror above it gives guests a chance to check themselves out and ensure they're ready for the day without leaving the room.
Decorating with mirrors is about practicality as much as it's about aesthetics. A large, round mirror above your sofa bed or daybed is perfect for any make-up touch-ups or hairdo fixes you may need. If your home is cozy and small, giving guests a mirror for getting ready in the living room also saves space in other busy areas like the bathroom.
Textured mirror frames are great for creating contrast against stark, plain walls and completing a space in your living room. If your living room features many neutrals or whites, textured mirror frames are perfect for creating visual interest. Look for materials that suit your decor style, like metal frames for sleek, modern living rooms and wicker or rattan mirrors for boho-style living spaces.
You can use a mirror with a textured frame to complete your living room by choosing the right size. If you have lots of rattan furniture, a single large rattan mirror could be the finishing touch you need. Equally, busy rooms might look better with a smaller mirror on the wall, particularly if you already have a feature like a photo gallery.
Suppose you've crafted a living room designed to represent a specific look, like the popular Japandi aesthetic that combines Scandinavian and Asian design archetypes. In that case, you can use a mirror to complete the look. Lean hard into the style, find a mirror that exemplifies your living room decor, and use your mirror as an anchor for the look.
Decorating with mirrors for a specific interior design style allows you to choose something bold. Highly ornate, decorative options are perfect for embodying your aesthetics, whether you like the grandiose Rococo or the structure of Chinoiserie.
If you have an open-plan home or your living room connects to another space, use a pair of wall mirrors to join the spaces together. Hanging them at staggered heights blends the areas more smoothly and maximizes the light bounce effect between them. You can use the paired mirrors to harmonize the different spaces and create a cohesive space between them.
Whether your living room links directly with an entryway, a hallway, or a kitchen, decorating with mirrors unites the areas like art. You can achieve a natural flow to your decor when you hang a wall mirror pair in your open-plan home living space.
You can use mirrors with engraved surfaces in your living room for a highly decorative mirror. Something special about using etched mirrors in the living room is the way they reflect light. Because of the engravings and individual sections on the mirror's surface, light simultaneously scatters around the room in many directions.
There's an elegance to an engraved mirror that adds texture to your room and makes your walls more visually stimulating. Choosing the right etching design depends on your living room design and personal preferences. For example, popular etching designs include geometric patterns that would look perfect in an Art Deco lounge room.
Using mirrored accessories or furniture items can revolutionize how you decorate with mirrors. For example, disco balls are perfect for small, cute spaces. You can hang them in the window as a decorative feature, and they'll cast light around your living room, sending brightness into every corner.
You can also use mirrored trays or picture frames to brighten up the area. Small details like these are perfect for lighting up areas like coffee tables, bookshelves, or side tables in shady corners of the living room. Using mirrored objects in place of a standard wall mirror adds texture to your living room and makes the light more dynamic in the space.
Rather than practically using mirrors to reflect light, consider finding one just for looks. For example, round mirrors don't elongate rooms or reflect as much light as rectangular mirrors, but their beautiful appearance can complete a space easily. Your lounge is one of the best places to choose beauty over practicality, especially compared to areas like a bedroom where you want a clear, full reflection for getting ready for the day.
Rather than a typical bedroom mirror, the wall mirror for your lounge can be anything you want. Choose the colors and styles that speak to you and ensure you love how your mirror makes you feel when you're relaxing at the end of the day. That's how you know you have the perfect home mirror.2528
You can use a mirror to create a contrast with your walls. For example, if you have slatted walls, a round mirror breaks up the visual and makes it more interesting to look at. Equally, wallpaper with soft, rounded patterns is even more striking if you hang an angular mirror.
Hanging a mirror on a solid block color wall also creates a beautiful contrast. It adds depth to the room and complements the simplicity of the monochromatic setting. Round mirrors add to the contrasting aesthetic by opposing the shape of the wall itself, furthering the visual appeal of decorating with mirrors in this way.
Finally, step away from traditional shapes and experiment with how mirrors can work in your living room. Asymmetrical mirrors, oversized mirrors, and organic pebble-shaped mirrors are perfect for making your living room a unique space that's light and bright without conforming to traditional aesthetics.
Push the boundaries of your creative design process and go beyond what's expected to find the perfect mirror for your home. You can use unique, organic mirror forms to make your home feel more in balance with nature. Equally, more quirky designs add whimsy to your home that can match your personality perfectly.
Ultimately, your living room mirror can say a lot about the type of home you have and how you like to spend your time. Regardless of your square footage, you can find the perfect statement mirrors that complete your home seamlessly. If you're looking for a beautiful mirror that brings your love of nature to life, explore our range of handwoven rattan mirrors to find the perfect piece for you.
