How to Use Mirrors to Increase the Sunlight in Your Home

When it comes to decorating, mirrors are a wonderful addition to any small space. A single mirror can make a room look bigger and brighter, and mirrors can range widely in price, making them an inexpensive fix or even a rich fixture. When decorating with mirrors, one of the things to consider is the use of mirrors to increase the amount of natural sunlight in your home.

Things You'll Need

• Small or medium-size mirror
• Push-pin

Instructions

Increasing natural sunlight with mirrors

1. Assess your natural light and look for rooms you'd like to brighten. Look at the windows and doors (if you keep your doors open a lot) and note where the light naturally strikes. You'll want to place your mirrors somewhere in or near those spaces.

2. Look for often-neglected sources of natural light. One overlooked mirror placement is on a wall that is near a skylight. The ambient light will reflect gently and add a warm glow to your space. Be sure to take notes of these light sources too.

3. Try out your placements with a mirror in your home. Hang a medium-size makeup mirror, or other mirror you have around your home, with a pushpin temporarily to see what works and what doesn't.

4. Assess your natural light again. Light quality changes in a room throughout the day and through the seasons, looking different in the mornings and late afternoons, the summer and winter. Take notes of your natural light throughout the day, and if you're really ambitious, again in six months from now.

5. Select mirrors. When you go mirror shopping, consider the size of your space and the current decor in the room. One large mirror may be overpowering while a too-small mirror may not do enough to add light. One solution is using many small mirrors of different shapes and sizes to add light and a little sparkle.

6. Be ready for trial and error. Try as you may to asses your different light situations, you may still want to make adjustments later, like when you notice a blinding glare in your dining room at 5 p.m. every day. Even small adjustments, like changing the angle of a mirror, will make an amazing difference.

Tips & Warnings

• --Mirrors can also be used to increase the visual depth of a room. A small room, for example, will look bigger with one dark wall and a mirror on the opposite wall.

• --In addition to increasing light, mirrors can add pleasant images in your home; for example, putting a mirror in a corner that adds a glimpse of your garden to your living room would be nice. It may be helpful to use a small mirror (like a makeup mirror) to see what will reflect where.

• Remember that there can be too much of a good thing. Too many surfaces covered in mirrors can look tacky, as can mirrors in unbecoming places. A mirror on the ceiling above a bed, or directly facing the toilet, are two examples of mirrors gone wrong. Be sure to consider what else may be reflected in addition to light.

References

• "How mirrors spread light and add space"
• "Quality of light"