Mirrors add the finishing touch to any home, and with specialist mirrors available for nearly every space in the house there is no shortage of choice. When choosing a mirror, you should first consider what you want the mirror to do for the room it is going it. While most people just want a mirror to check their appearance in, it is important to remember the impact a mirror can have on a room, and make sure you are getting the most out of whatever mirror you choose.
Firstly look at the room the mirror is going to go in, hallways for instance are often dark and sometimes quite small spaces which can benefit greatly from long slim mirrors being hung in a place where they will reflect light, creating a brighter space. Living rooms with fireplaces can be made to seem much grander rooms with a beautiful ornate mirror placed over the mantelpiece, likewise living rooms with awkward alcoves that look small and dark can be opened up by putting a mirror in the alcoves to reflect light and create the illusion of space.
Small bedrooms can be made to look and feel up to twice as big with mirrored wardrobe doors, making use of potentially dead space to create light and the illusion of more space. Bathrooms tend to need more specialist mirrors as they are going to be subjected to moisture and heat, which is where anti-mist coatings come into their own. If your bathroom is short on space then consider a mirrored bathroom cabinet which works along pretty much the same principle as mirrored wardrobe doors, making one piece of furniture work twice as hard to make a small space more functional. Similarly if your bathroom has very little or no natural light, then a backlit bathroom mirror comes into it's own.
If you don't have the room for a big mirror then consider investing in a few small stylised mirrors that will still give the illusion of light and space without demanding a large area of wall space to hang. There are fantastic ranges of "novelty" mirrors that come in all shapes and sizes, meaning that any dark nook or cranny in a home can benefit from them. It is always worth looking at areas where you may have plants or ornaments too, as placing a mirror behind a plant makes the plant seem bigger and more spectacular as the light reflects back onto it. Candles also look amazing with a mirror carefully placed behind them, with the reflection of the flame throwing fabulous shadows across the room. Anywhere in a room you may consider to be dead space is in fact space where a mirror will come into its own.
Of course cost is always going to be a factor when buying a new mirror, however many stores now stock extensive ranges of reasonably priced mirrors for the home. It should be possible to buy the perfect mirror for your home on a budget that won't break the bank. It is always worth looking out for ex-display mirrors in bigger stores as they can be deeply discounted, and really all they need is a good clean to get rid of a few months worth of fingerprints on the glass.
Large Bathroom MirrorsI write regularly about interior design, especially the use of mirrors [http://mirrors-direct.co.uk] to create space and light, with a particular interest in illuminated bathroom mirrors [http://mirrors-direct.co.uk/bathroom-mirrors.htm].