Decorating
Here's Looking at You: The Glamour of Antiqued Mirrors
From high-end to budget style, distressed mirrors can give your home some serious Hollywood allure
Thanks to decorating doyens such as London’s Kelly Hoppen and the queen of new-Hollywood glamour, Kelly Wearstler, walls of antiqued mirrors are no longer considered ’70s and ’80s decorating jokes. While a straight wall of mirrors might feel too confronting for some people, a distressed, antiqued finish is contemporary enough to work with schemes from shabby industrial to mid-century modern.
A mirror in the entry bounces light around, not to mention helping you and your visitors do a quick hair or lippy check. Top-quality antiqued glass does not come cheap, particularly when it’s in bevelled panels, as in this entry, but it’s the perfect backdrop for antique chairs and a slim console.
Or comb op-shops and vintage stores for old mirrors that have genuinely begun to distress around the edges, and arrange them on the entry wall.
See our favourite ways to work this look
See our favourite ways to work this look
Living room loveliness
A classic look in grand sitting rooms is a whole wall of mirror wrapping the fireplace. But the more modern version is a casually leaning mirror that works with your mid-century pieces. Look for mirrors that have some added interest, such as panels or engraving, to give them more architectural heft.
A classic look in grand sitting rooms is a whole wall of mirror wrapping the fireplace. But the more modern version is a casually leaning mirror that works with your mid-century pieces. Look for mirrors that have some added interest, such as panels or engraving, to give them more architectural heft.
GET THE LOOK: Use a shaped mirror to create architecture in a small sitting area where you don’t have a fireplace or, indeed, any strong focal point. Keep the look fresh with a soft bronzed distressing on both the mirror and the frame, echoed with soft furnishing in similar tones.
Browse traditional-style living room photos
Browse traditional-style living room photos
Kitchen sparkle
Up the ante on a small benchtop or built-in wine fridge with the cool bar vibe of a mirrored splashback. Breaking up the space with tiles and a little distressing makes it more modern, less Bewitched.
Up the ante on a small benchtop or built-in wine fridge with the cool bar vibe of a mirrored splashback. Breaking up the space with tiles and a little distressing makes it more modern, less Bewitched.
You can really up the glamour factor by disguising the fridge with panels of textured mirror. It’s not mirror on the actual fridge: the integrated fridge-freezer sits behind cupboard doors covered with antiqued mirror panels.
Use panels of mirror to create architecture in a room. Here the aged mirrors reflect a single potted tree to create a year-round garden-room ambience.
GET THE LOOK: Expand the tiniest guest room with a wall of mirror behind the bedhead – enough to expand the room, but not too much to make guests feel self-conscious. In this London home, a padded bedhead and light-bouncing frosted glass at bed level feel cosy, leaving the mirror to do its space-expanding trick above eye level.
Powder-room panache
In the bathroom and powder room, you’ll want real mirrors for the actual jobs of hair, make-up or shaving. But around that, have some fun with a wall of light-reflecting tiles. Make sure there’s enough distressing or distortion so you don’t feel weird using the loo itself, but there’s still impact and light.
In the bathroom and powder room, you’ll want real mirrors for the actual jobs of hair, make-up or shaving. But around that, have some fun with a wall of light-reflecting tiles. Make sure there’s enough distressing or distortion so you don’t feel weird using the loo itself, but there’s still impact and light.
For a gruntier, industrial-style interpretation, look for antique finishes with steel or nickel frames.
Or repeat the cluster of antique and vintage-finish mirrors in a powder-room vignette.
Dressed for success
Naturally, Kelly Wearstler does it with the biggest bang: here the dressing room of 930-square-metre Bellagio residence in California is classic Wearstler daredevil.
Naturally, Kelly Wearstler does it with the biggest bang: here the dressing room of 930-square-metre Bellagio residence in California is classic Wearstler daredevil.
GET THE LOOK: Tone it down – but not too much – with a wall of mirrors in your dressing nook. Or if you have a wall of wardrobes, have the doors sheathed in antiqued mirror for a Hollywood-style upgrade on standard mirror doors.
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TELL US
What are your favourite looks from the ’70s and ’80s that you’re happy to see on repeat? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
MORE
Browse more stories about decorating style
In her own Notting Hill townhouse, designer Kelly Hoppen creates drama in her entry hall with a pair of urn-shaped mirrors. By placing the mirrors in line with the double opening of the dining room (in the foreground), Hoppen has opened up a tight space. Spotlights create a magical glow when the rest of the hall lights are dimmed.