Wednesday, May 4, 2005

Function, luxury shine with use of mirrored accents

By STACY DOWNS
Knight Ridder Newspapers

You can fix your hair and check your lipstick looking at the newest end tables. Mirrored furniture and accessories are sparkling in stores and showrooms, reflecting silver screen glamour.

“Mirror creates fun, elegant light,” says interior designer Marie Bertholet Smith, owner of MLB Designs in Kansas City, Mo. “Even as small pieces, mirrors make a room appear bigger.”

Smith and her employees spotted a wide range of mirrored accents recently at markets in New York and Atlanta: sconces, desks, tables of all types. Sometimes a wooden chest contained mirrored panels on just the doors and drawers. But often the entire piece — from the legs up — was covered in mirrored surfaces. She was wowed by black-and-white botanicals with mirrored frames, buying them for her store.

Flip through a Horchow catalog and you’ll spot more than a dozen examples of mirrored furniture: nesting tables, a console, an armoire, a bench, pedestals and a bed. And superstar California designer Barbara Barry created a line of luxury mirrored bathroom surroundings for Kallista, including a wastebasket and tub.

Z Gallerie expanded its line of mirrored furniture this spring because the pieces have sold so well. The store’s collection includes a mirrored side table, a chest of drawers and a divider screen. The furniture has a wooden base but is paneled in mirror that covers the entire piece.

Customers typically are using mirrored furnishings as romantic accents for the boudoir, says Z Gallerie buyer Craig Rogers. But people are also using mirrored chests and armoires in living rooms and entryways.

“Mirrored pieces reflect color and movement from activity in the room,” Rogers says, adding that the interaction helps personalize a space.

Mirrored furniture can trace its roots to French King Louis XIV, who liked the opulent way mirrors multiplied the dimensions of a room. Designers have used mirrored furniture and accents off and on throughout the past century. Mirrored Art Deco vanities were hot in the 1920s and 1930s, conjuring images of early Hollywood. An over-the-top, ornate Palm Beach look invaded mirrored furniture in the 1960s.

Today’s mirrored furniture and accessories vary in style. Vanities have feminine appeal, sometimes including etched filigree and an aged, brown patina. Armoires and chests with beveled X’s on the doors and burnished gold edges and knobs take on an exotic Old World essence. When a piece features unadorned, hard-edged mirrored surfaces, it’s truly mod.

“To some, it looks classic and to others it looks very vintage,” says Holly Page, bath showroom salesperson at Expo Design Center. The Lenexa, Kan., store carries mirrored dressers, sofa tables and candle holders. “But one thing is for certain, it’s an attention getter.”

Using mirrored accents would especially benefit people living in condominiums and apartments, Smith says, because they give the illusion of enlarging the space. People with small kitchens are using mirrored tiles as backsplashes so the rooms don’t seem so cramped.

Lit candles, fresh flowers, antique perfume bottles, clear decorative glass and jewelry make good accessories for mirrored furniture. But what’s the best accent? A framed mirror.

Caring for mirrored surfaces

• To clean, use glass cleaner or white vinegar and newspaper.
• To dust, use a soft cloth.
• To avoid damage, keep water away from the edges.