Strong modern colours mixed with traditional French Louis design; sensational visuals conveyed through a variety of mirror styles. No French style bedroom is complete without including a beautiful French mirror. Chic and elegant, as a centrepiece to a bedroom or a subtle aid to the whole, French mirrors have the potential to really provide some essential wow factor. If chosen well and positioned well within a room full of matching and complementary furniture, a mirror or mirrors will have a positive effect on your décor. They also offer plenty of practical uses too.
French Mirrors
A well placed mirror is able to set the mood of a room. It is also able to offer a little magic, drama in reflection as well as light and depth. Early in man’s development we were fascinated by our reflections in ponds and then again when we first began making polished metals like gold and copper. Metallic mirrors were the first to be developed and the first glass ones in about 100 AD. Venice, as shown by our Venetian Overmantle Mirror and the picturesque Venetian Iris Mirror, became the first country in Europe to mass produce glass mirrors in the middle ages.
Venetian Overmantle Mirror: £295. Venetian Iris Mirror: £245
Venetian mirror making techniques and ideas quickly flowed to France, where at Versailles and other palaces, artisans such as Bernard Perot developed some of the most beautiful and elegant French mirrors. The epitome of these mirrored grandeur was the Gallerie de Glaces, better known in English as the Hall of Mirrors. This was a beautiful space containing 357 mirrors that drew gasps of joy and admiration from crowds who had never seen such a sight before. Since then a well appointed mirror or two has become essential in any French bedroom.
Adding Space
Small rooms benefit from mirrors because the reflection of the room's interior through a medium to large mirror increases the size of the room in the mind's eye. This simple optical illusion works best in small apartments or flats and small bedrooms. The optical illusion works best if viewed as the observer walks into the room, so there is less chance for the mind to calculate the actual size of the room first. Mirrors placed at the end of hallways perform a similar function by appearing to double the length of the hall.
Similarly, mirrors positioned opposite the window wall will multiply not only the views from outside your home, but will also reflect the light in the room, giving the feeling of spaciousness and light, that may not be readily apparent without a mirror.
Le Combination
A mirror is rarely placed into an empty room and left there. Even if it is, the mirror must combine well with the internal architecture, the walls with or without wallpaper, the windows and the floors. The best chosen mirrors are not always the ones that look good by themselves, though a room can be built around a mirror, but the ones that complement and work well with the rest of the room.
Well chosen mirrors stand out and draw the eye, but they should neither distract nor jar the viewer's feelings towards the whole room. In a French bedroom, think about which of our luxury French beds combines well with the mirror. Also consider where the mirror will be situated, will it be above the headboard? Or perhaps opposite the window wall? Or even across the room from the bed itself?
If you don't want your upholstered beds to be crowned with a mirror, all good French dressing tables will require a well chosen mirror. With the exception of our Venetian dressing table, all our French dressing tables come with their own oval or rectangular mirror. In addition to this, consider one of our French dressing screens in combination with a free-standing full length mirror.
In the living room, our French mirrors combine well with French chaise sectionals, coffee tables, storage space, chairs and armchairs to produce a living room that is not only comfortable for living in, but also provides an elegant reception room for hosting friends and families alike. Dress your room to impress with a French mirror.
Author: Georgia Metcalfe, Managing Director, The French Bedroom Company
