Photo courtesy of Dawid Zawila / Unsplash

Always position a mirror to reflect something worth seeing twice.

I don’t recall where I read that sage advice, but it has stuck with me. As mentioned in a prior post, I collect beautiful and original mirrors. They are strategically placed around my home to reflect lovely or interesting views.

Some reflect long diagonal views within the house; others bring the outside in by showing trees and sky.

Some of my mirrors can be found in unexpected spots. A small rectangular mirror perches on the edge of my cabinet-type exhaust hood and from one angle reflects a set of French doors with a transom. See below:

Another small hand-painted mirror hangs beside a guest room shower, reflecting light where normally a blank wall would be.

Inside my front door hangs a huge vertical mirror. To me, seeing the outside that I left behind reminds me where I came from. HOWEVER, this is a SERIOUS VIOLATION of Feng Shui rules. (Please don’t report me.) The tradition has it that a mirror opposite a door pushes the energy of your arrival back out the door. But really, I have never had a visitor come in the front door and then pass out from exhaustion. I think my home’s energy is just fine.

I just like the concept of remembering where we came from…both literally and figuratively.

You know, sometimes when I’m writing I’ll remember something relating to my childhood. When I was around eleven, I became frightened of mirrors.

There was a series by Boris Karloff from 1960-1962 called Thriller. Even though the shows scared me, like most kids that age, I watched them anyhow.

There was this one episode (and don’t you know that I just found it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt6-YcIjTz8) called The Hungry Glass. It was about people living an alternate existence within mirrors. They could reach out and pull you in if you got too close.

That frightened me so fiercely that I wouldn’t stand within five feet of a mirror for about six months.

So the next time you’re looking for an accent piece for a wall, try using a mirror. I think you’ll be amazed at just how much one brightens up a dark space.

Just be sure your mirror is certified as “people free” glass.