Dan's Papers - December 7, 2007 - Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

For inanimate objects, mirrors sure do have a lot of responsibility. They have their obvious functional characteristic of being reflective, which is enough of a job. When we look into mirrors, we expect to see something that we sometimes don't see. The mirror can't lie for you (unless it's warped) and therefore, mirrors are sometimes despised. But on top of that, if a mirror, as delicate as glass happens to break, it is now responsible for the fact that we will suffer bad luck for the next seven years. Seven years!? That's a heavier sentence than petty theft, drug dealing and attempted murder. So I like to see when mirrors are given a little slack. And this was shown to me by a dear friend and creative spirit who knew how to make the most of mirrors, in all their forms.

When I was a freshman in college, we were all moving into the dorms. Excitement buzzed through the corridors as we unloaded our plastic drawers, white boards and mini fridges. Of course, every eighteen-year-old girl got a mirror for her wall. But after the parents bid goodbye and we were left to our own devices, most of us haphazardly hung our mirrors, allowing them to dangle from one poorly affixed nail. That first night in the dorms, sixteen mirrors broke. That's sixteen girls who won't have a good day until they're 25 years old. That simply would not due. So my friend decided to get creative and save the broken mirrors.

She took the larger shards (wearing heavy rubber gloves, of course, because safety is paramount) and fastened them to the wall with double-sided sticky foam tape in a spiral pattern. Then, as the spiral widened, she used progressively smaller shards until the pieces sort of vanished into nothingness. Her whole wall was covered in broken mirrors, and it was not only beautiful, it was a strong statement of support for broken mirrors everywhere.

If you're lucky enough to not have broken mirrors just lying around, there are more traditional ways to get creative when asking, "Who's the fairest?" West Elm has a wide selection of fabulous mirrors that make for functional and fashionable accents to your home. Another friend of mine decorated her stairway with an entire wall of convex star mirrors from this store. The way the light reflects off each mirror makes the whole apartment dance. These mirrors are only $49 each, which is a bargain at West Elm.

Ikea, as always, has a variety of classic selections for great prices. The Malm mirror ($99) has adjustable sides so you can look at yourself from various angles. The Levanger mirror ($79) has a classic oval shape and you can hang it either horizontal or vertical.

Pottery Barn has a mirror that will dominate your whole house if you're not careful. It's exquisite, and if you have a wall that can handle it, it will open up your whole space. It's called the Eagan Multipanel mirror, and with its separate panels, it actually consists of 25 smaller mirrors. Originally $699, it's currently on sale for $599, so act fast before the price shoots up again.

Another creative option when it comes to mirrors is to expand on the classic medicine cabinet. Why relegate that fabulous mirrored cabinet to the bathroom? A friend of mine displays his mirrored medicine cabinet right next to his bed, so he can simply lean over and grab the aspirin on those particularly rough mornings. Only a couple of inches deep, you can store a lot of necessities in there without taking up any floor space at all. And it's always cool to take something with a very traditional use and use it in some other way.

I have the longest hallway in the history of the world, and mirrors have become integral to open up my space. By lining the hall with mirrors, people don't feel like they're walking to the end of the earth to get to the bathroom. The hallway seems wider and brighter, as mirrors maximize the natural light.

Since we put the responsibility of our self-image as well as our future luck on the well-being of these mirrors, make sure you anchor them well when hanging them on the wall. The last thing you need is to cover your walls in mirrors and then have 77 years of bad luck to make up for.