8 Creative Ways to Use Mirrors in Your Home

Walk into most Aussie homes and you'll find the same two mirrors. One by the front door. One over the bathroom sink.

Nothing wrong with that. It just undersells them, because a mirror changes how a whole room looks, not only the patch of wall it hangs on.

So here are 8 creative ways to use mirrors in your home. Some take five minutes. A few need a drill.

Want the basics first, like how high to hang one? Our guide on how to style a wall mirror covers height and which window to face. This post is the fun part.

What Are the Best Ways to Use Mirrors in Your Home?

Put one at the centre of a gallery wall, lean a tall one in a bedroom corner, or hang one behind a lamp so the light doubles at night. Mirrored side tables, matching pairs and mirror panels work well too. Start with the room you use most.

Which Mirror Shape Works Best for Each Idea?

Short answer: round for gallery walls and behind lamps, tall and skinny for leaning or hanging in pairs. The rest is taste.

Mirror Shape	Best For	Why It Works
Round	Gallery walls, behind a lamp	Breaks up square frames and boxy furniture
Tall rectangle	Leaning, matching pairs	Pulls your eye up, so ceilings feel higher
Arched	Over a sideboard or buffet	Reads like a window. A bit classic, a bit grand
Diamond or geometric	On its own as a feature	It's art first, mirror second
Mirror panels or 3D tiles	Wall art	Catch the light from every angle as the sun moves
Mirrored furniture and accents	Side tables, shelves, dressing tables	Sparkle at table height without taking over

8 Creative Ways to Use Mirrors in Your Home

You don't need all eight. Pick the one that made you think "oh, I could do that" and start there.

1. Make a mirror the heart of a gallery wall

A gallery wall full of frames can look a little flat. Prints don't change. A mirror does, every time you walk past it.

Hang it a bit off-centre, then build the rest of the wall around it. Our favourite pairing is a gold mirror beside an Arabic calligraphy frame, where the gold in one picks up the gold in the other. Lay the whole lot out on the floor before a single hook goes in. Our guide to mixing and matching wall décor walks you through it.

2. Turn mirror panels into wall art

Think of these as art that happens to reflect. Mirror panels and 3D tiles catch light at different angles, so a plain wall looks different at 9am than it does at 5pm.

A row above a bedhead works well. So does a narrow hallway. Keep everything around them plain and let the panels do the talking.

3. Bring a mirror down to table height

A mirror doesn't have to hang on a wall at all.

Mirrored furniture and accents bounce light up from below, which makes a nice change from everything coming from the ceiling. A pair of mirrored side tables beside a sofa or bed does it at knee height. Smaller pieces work on any surface: a mirrored trinket box on a dressing table, a mirrored candle holder on a shelf, a glass tray on the coffee table.

Keep what sits on top simple. A candle, a little vase, a box to hide the remotes. The mirror doubles whatever you put there, clutter included.

4. Hang a matching pair for balance

Two of the same mirror make a room look planned. Even if it wasn't.

Above each bedside table is the classic spot. Either side of a doorway works, and so does flanking a sideboard. Add two matching lamps and you've more or less got a hotel room. Our bedroom ideas guide goes deeper on that five-star look.

5. Lean a floor mirror, but anchor it

We love a big leaning mirror. It fills an empty corner, looks relaxed, and gives you a full-length check on the way out the door.

Don't skip this bit, though. The ACCC reports that 28 people have died from toppling furniture in Australia since 2000, 17 of them children under five, and more than 900 Australians a year need medical help after furniture tips. The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne lists free-standing mirrors among the unsecured items most likely to topple.

One anti-tip strap screwed into a wall stud fixes it. Ten minutes, tops. Renting? Consumer Affairs Victoria says Victorian renters can fit furniture wall anchors without asking on most walls. In NSW, ask your landlord or agent first and get the OK in writing.

6. Put a mirror behind lamps and candles

This one's a bit of a cheat, and it works every time. Put a lamp in front of a mirror and you get two pools of light for the price of one.

After dark, that's the difference between a room that feels cosy and one that feels dim. Hotels do it all the time, usually with a table lamp on a sideboard and a mirror right behind it. Prefer candles? Our guide to candle holder decor covers where to put them.

7. Reflect flowers and greenery

Whatever sits in front of a mirror, you get twice. Might as well make it something nice.

A tall vase of flowers in front of the glass turns one arrangement into two. A pot plant does the same job and lasts longer. Pick a vase tall enough that the stems show up in the reflection, not just the pot.

8. Bring a mirror into the dining room

Dining rooms get ignored. People spend months getting the living room right and leave the dining wall bare.

A big mirror over the buffet fixes that. It catches the pendant light, the table and the people sitting at it, and suddenly dinner feels like more of an occasion. Set the table with a couple of serving platters and some candles and you'll see what we mean.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you put a mirror in a gallery wall?

Yes, and it's one of the best ways to stop a gallery wall looking flat. Hang it slightly off-centre and pick a frame colour that matches at least one other piece on the wall. Stick to one mirror per gallery wall. Two or more and they start fighting with the art.

How do you stop a floor mirror from tipping over?

Screw an anti-tip strap or small L-bracket from the back of the frame into a wall stud, using the right fixing for your wall. Victorian renters can fit furniture anchors without permission except on exposed brick, concrete or heritage-listed homes. In NSW, get written approval from your landlord first.

What can you put on a mirrored tray?

Three things is about right. A candle, a small vase, maybe a perfume bottle or a trinket box. Any more and it looks cluttered, and the mirror doubles the clutter. Coffee tables, dressing tables and bathroom vanities all suit a mirrored or glass tray.

How many mirrors is too many in one room?

For most rooms, one big mirror plus one small accent, like a mirrored side table or tray, is the sweet spot. A matching pair counts as one idea, so that's fine too. Go past that and the reflections start bouncing off each other. It gets busy fast.

Where Should You Start?

Pick one idea. Just one. Try it this weekend and live with it for a week before you add anything else.

Our wall mirrors are between restocks right now. Get in touch and we'll let you know when they land. In the meantime, our mirrored side tables bring the same sparkle in at table height, and you can see them in person at our Revesby showroom, open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 2:30pm.