Words Hoard & Heath
Photography Max Vakhtbovych
At the end of this dark hallway, the pale floor seems to carry on. Three tall mirror panels repeat the doors and ceiling lights, suggesting another stretch of passage beyond the wall. The seams give the trick away.
The mirror takes almost the whole end wall in Max Vakhtbovych’s photograph. It gives a view back down the hall, so the same doors appear twice. We like the long reflection here: there is little else in the passage competing for attention. Put a crowded coat rack in front of the same glass and the effect would be quite different.
Before borrowing the idea, look down your own hall from that end. A mirror will repeat whatever is in its view, including coats, an open cupboard or a pile of shoes. Move sideways as well: the reflection changes as you pass. Choose a position for what it shows from the doorway and from the place you will use it.
A side wall may catch a view into the next room instead. Test the position with the nearby doors open and closed, and with the hall lights on. An end-wall mirror can make the passage appear to continue; a side-wall mirror can give you a view across it. Neither changes the room available for walking or standing.
Somewhere to stand
For a last look before going out, choose somewhere you can stop and button a coat without being in a door’s swing. Try it with the door open. If the mirror sits above a console, stand where its front edge will let you stand and check whether you can see what you need from there.
The mirror above the narrow console reflects a white door. Its elaborate border makes it an object on the wall as much as a useful piece of glass. We like it for a quick look at your face. To check a whole outfit, try the available standing position before buying: the table prevents you getting right up to the wall, and the reflected view will depend on both the glass and where you stand.
Mark the proposed frame size on the wall with paper. From the place you would stand, look into a small hand mirror held flat against the wall at several points within that outline. This gives a rough check of what the larger mirror would catch. Try it at the eye heights of the people who will use it, before shifting the whole outline upwards to make room for a vase.
If the console gets in the way, try the mirror on a clear stretch of wall. Our small-hallway storage guide looks at furniture access in more detail. A mirror can be useful there without a table beneath it.
The edge of the reflection
The hexagonal frame leaves less glass near the top and bottom than a rectangle with the same overall height. It cuts across the reflected door and wall controls, turning an ordinary view into a more unusual shape. If you want to see beyond your face, those cut-away corners belong in the size decision.
For a mirror used to check a whole outfit, mark the candidate sizes and test the reflection from the position the hall allows. Include the coat hem or shoes if those are what you want to see. A broad decorative border takes space within the overall dimensions; compare the glass area as well as the size of the frame.
Once you have chosen the position, follow the mirror’s own hanging instructions. IKEA’s UK guidance notes that different wall materials need different fasteners. If the mirror is designed to lean, use the anchoring arrangement its maker specifies.
In the console photograph, the frame is the decoration and the white door is simply what happens to face it. We would keep that arrangement for a quick check on the way out. For a view of a whole outfit, we would choose a clear stretch of wall with room to stand back, and leave the table out of it.
