Floor Mirror Guide

Antique Floor Mirror

I am a somewhat traditional person. I love vintage items and modern or contemporary ones don’t hold much appeal for me. Some of my friends even say I’m someone looking forward to the past. Don’t get me wrong, I’m perfectly in tune with the world today, but when it comes to home items, I love antique!

I decided to redecorate my house with floor mirrors and as you can guess, only antique floor mirrors will do. My decision was due to the stylishness mirrors add to any place where they are found. Additionally, I live in a small apartment and I found out that getting floor mirrors will be a great way of making my house look great. Simple enough, right? But it was no easy task shopping for antique floor mirrors for my home. Do people loathe the past that much!

Eventually, I was able to find a couple that were still in good condition, but after much stress. To save you from stressing yourself like I did, I’ve decided to help you by guiding you through the best ways to go about purchasing an antique floor mirror.

The first step is to determine the type of antique mirror you are after. By this, I mean the period in which the mirror you are after fits into. A good way of doing this is to check libraries, catalogs and magazines. Or just save yourself the trouble and use the internet to study up on it.

Once you’ve determined the type of floor mirror you want, you need to ascertain the available space in your home for the mirror. This will help you determine the size of mirror you need. You definitely don’t want to go through the trouble of finding an antique floor mirror only to discover that it won’t fit into your home after buying it.

A good place to start looking for your mirror type and size is on the internet. There are several websites you can start from but I found ebay and alibaba useful. There are several others with detailed information about their antique mirrors.

Another good place to look is our neighborhood antique stores. I found these helpful in my search. Even if you don’t get the type you want in a particular store, you’ll gain a wealth of experience that will further guide you in your search. Additionally they can even direct you to other stores where you can get your desired floor mirror.

Dressing Floor Mirror

Floor length mirrors are tasteful additions to any home. They bring about a unique transformation to any place where they are found. They are a great way of adding style to the home, whether dining room, living room, or bedroom.

Floor mirrors are generally used for functional and artistic purposes. The functional purposes include: their use in the bedroom as an aid to dressing up, as a viewing medium in the bathroom and also for lighting up dark places. The artistic objectives of floor mirrors include: decoration of a room and, space management through the use of optical illusions. To put this in simple words, it means if your living room, dining room, or bedroom is small, you can make it appear bigger by using floor mirrors.

Just like any other item, there are different types of floor mirrors and selecting the right one requires you to consider some factors. Some of these factors include:

• Theme of your home: by theme, I mean the style of decoration that you have adopted in your home. For example, if the theme of the room is contemporary, then you should consider a modern floor mirror that will fit into this. Likewise, if your theme is colonial, an antique floor mirror would be more appropriate. Of course, you can always decide to match different themes together, but be sure to do this tastefully.

• Size of your home: the size of your home or more specifically, the room you intend putting the mirror will ultimately determine the mirror size to go for. If the room is small sized, you shouldn’t go for a large floor mirror. Conversely, a small mirror will not befit an expansive room. As stated earlier, a small sized room can be made to appear bigger by using the appropriate combination of mirrors.

• Use for the mirror: this will determine what type of floor mirror to go for. Do you want to illuminate the dark areas in your home? Or would you like to make your dining room appear bigger? Do you need a floor length mirror to try out your dresses or just to decorate your entryway? Indeed, there are numerous reasons, so you should keep yours in mind to find and purchase the most suitable one.

Thin Frame Floor Mirror

Mirrors are found in every home due to the important functions they perform. Can you imagine brushing your teeth in the morning or dressing up for a party without a mirror? These are just two examples. Apart from their functional uses, mirrors also have aesthetic advantages. They are a great way of adding elegance to the home, whether dining room, living room, or bedroom. Floor mirrors are especially stylish and they make any home look great. There are several types and two common ones are black, and white floor mirrors.

A common problem that arises with floor mirrors is how to keep them clean and sparkling. A dirty, scratched or streaked mirror is unsightly and detracts from the decorative ambience of the home, while a well maintained one promotes it. A large number of people who have floor mirrors in their homes don’t know how to properly keep them clean. The good news however, is that it is actually cheap and quite easy to do this.

There are a lot of commercially manufactured cleaners for floor mirrors, but most of them end up doing a shoddy job. A simple way of making your own cleaner is to mix two pints of water with a cup of distilled vinegar. It will do a better job than a lot of these cleaners sold in stores. However, the best way to keep your floor mirror clean is with warm water and a soft lint-free cloth or old newspapers. The following should guide you in cleaning your mirrors:

• Pour your warm water in a small bowl. Dip the cloth in the bowl and totally drain out all the water. Wipe the whole surface of the floor mirror to remove all grime and stains. This is the first cleaning.

• If you are using a commercial or homemade cleaner, do not spray directly on the mirror. Rather, spray it on the lint-free cloth and then proceed to wipe the surface of the mirror again. This is the second cleaning.

• Use a dry soft cloth to wipe the wet areas and prevent drip streaks from forming on the surface of the floor mirror.

Precautions

• Avoid using alkaline or acidic cleaners to prevent the surface and edges of your mirror from flaking.

• Do not use any coarse cleaner on the surface of your mirror.

• To prevent blackening, ensure that water does not seep into the back and edges of your floor mirror.