Just look at all that glow coming off the mirror in our dining room. It's reflected from our Christmas tree, but when I finally get around to taking down said tree...
(WOW again, the difference an artificial tree makes on holiday stress levels and scheduling) I will move our floor lamp back to its spot and maybe we will still have a glow.
This shapely mirror is on a wall that faces, but is not directly opposite, a second mirror I do not seem to have a proper picture of. Here is the frame, at least, taken from one of its many journeys around the house looking for a wall that would use it to best advantage:
Both mirrors are framed with the same colour - a sort of warm metallic hue that matches polished nickel bathroom fixtures perfectly. Online they were listed as 'silver' so I bought them to go in two bathrooms but... our fixtures are chrome, and no matter how long I tried to pretend otherwise, the difference between polished nickel and chrome is MARKED. Completely dissimilar animals. I can promise you it's true because Restoration Hardware shipped me a few things in polished nickel by accident and I just handed the boxes to Ray without checking. So, now we have a polished nickel faucet and chrome everything else in the master bath. (too late to exchange now, as the faucet's been discontinued, so we are living with it.)
So: Both the same colour but different materials (one distressed metal, one wood) and shapes (one looks like a crest, the other is a plain ol' rectangle with beading.)
And they look fantastic together. One is opposite the window and reflects daylight back into the room at one end of the day; and the other contributes either lamplight or daylight from the other end of the horizon.
Both also reflect the ceiling light in the dining room and that is less of a success because I bought two chandeliers to hang over our long narrow dining table. You are crafty so I know you know why: you need bright light for cutting fabric and knitting with friends and doing meticulous needlework! and what else is a dining table for anyway? But it is kind of overkill and technically, I should do something about it.
I could get a dimmer on the chandeliers. I could also put in 40-watt bulbs. I admit it was a little crazy, the desperation of a person who has gone years without ceiling lights, to buy 60 watt bulbs for two fixtures with six faux candelsticks each. Pete was squinting when I tested this out the other day, and he's the one who wanted bright lighting everywhere. Still! When the curtains are open and we have natural light, we don't need the chandeliers. And when we are actually dining and want softer lighting, the piano mirror can reflect back the light from the sconce lamp there, and we can supplement with candles.
Digression:
I've been seeing artfully melted faux pillar candles with waving faux flames triggered by LED lights that work on a timer. I am SO into this concept. A trio of them near the bathtub would make such a soothing soak after snow shoveling don't you think? And also, obviously, another trio would be an asset during an elegant meal in a dining room when placed on a mantelpiece or ranged down the middle of the table, with no wax to clean off the tablecloth later.
Back to my point: our dining room was nice enough once the furniture was in and the drapes hung, but after the mirrors went up it was a space I want to be in.
I put a chair into the front hall to help with boots going on or coming off, and now I find myself drifting there to sit with the phone during a chat, or to catch up on the news, because when I look up I will be looking into that dining room.
I find myself obsessing about treating it as a conservatory full of plants. Me! Who can't grow anything!
And all because of a pair of semi matching mirrors I should really have returned to the store but didn't, as I am far too lazy.
(Or do I mean, brilliant and resourceful?)
Mirrors, people. They are amazing.
Also we finally chose mirrors for the two bathrooms that have been mirror free this whole time, and they actually got installed. I LOVE THEM. and they were the cheapest things we bought for the whole house. I think I paid more for wastebaskets. Which means I overpaid for the wastebaskets, obviously, but let's focus on the mirrors instead.
Ray says they will be okay as long as we don't expose them to steam. Good thing he put a serious ceiling fan into the master bath, huh? There's a shower in there.
(isn't it marvelous how there is absolutely no difference between the taps in here and the tissue box cover? I should look at this bathroom through my phone camera every day.)
(probably if I got rid of the tissue box cover I really wouldn't notice. but I soooo love that thing.)
(have a great day, and I'll see you tomorrow - really!)
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