Special offer

Mirror Tip: Don’t Double the Ugly

By
Home Stager with Simply Staging

It doesn't take a Staging professional or a Feng Shui expert to see that too many mirrors on a wall just has the unpleasant affect of doubling the ugly.   

The reflection of a bright, cheery and simple room is good; the reflection of a dark, busy and cluttered room is not.     

Whether you're selling a house or planning on staying for a while, mirrors can do a lot more than just reflect your pretty self.  Mirrors reflect light, they help bring the outdoors in, and make a room look brighter.  Mirrors can also make small rooms look taller or wider and from a Feng Shui perspective, it is said that they draw in positive energy - all of these things are good. 

A common problem that we find in the newer track homes, are the large wall-to-wall mirrors that have become so standard in bathrooms.  Unless a bathroom has gone through an expensive remodel or upgrade and is near perfect, these large mirrors are likely not going to help sell a home.  To easily and inexpensively update an average bathroom space, replacing those standard "wall-to-wall" bathroom mirrors with better proportioned framed mirrors is a must.   

Here is a prime example of what a buyer sees when there are too many mirrors reflecting all the wrong things and how changing them eliminates the ugly and unattractive.

Staging with Mirrors

Before:  Notice the bathroom mirror at this angle reflects 3 doors in this small room, worst yet at a slightly different angle (not shown in the picture); we were able to see a total of 6 doors in this small space.  Notice the dresser mirror reflecting the unmade bed, the family pictures, and the outdated furniture.

Staging with Mirrors

After:   At our recommendation, the homeowners replaced the large mirrors with smaller, but functional mirrors.  The affect was immediately realized by reducing the illusion of too many doors and too much clutter.   This master bathroom and bedroom were transformed into elegant and updated rooms.

Here, at Simply Staging, making inexpensive suggestions to maximize a home's appeal is what we do.  In the bathroom pictured above, we also recommended painting or re-facing the cabinets a darker color to match the mirror frames.  This would've really made a big impact and wouldn't have cost a whole lot of money, but the homeowners were hesitant to do this.  Not painting cabinets is another big mistake that sellers make, to see more about how effective painting cabinets can be see the following article by Julia Fedak, CSP "This is Why You Need to Paint Dated Cupboards!

Simply Staging has been offering Home Staging Solutions for both the "Vacant" and the "Not So Vacant" homes in El Dorado County and The Greater Sacramento area for more than 3 years.  For a free proposal, give us a call at (530) 417-1337 and see what it takes to get your home "Sell Ready"

Posted by

Emma Vargas, ASP

Simply Staging has been offering Home Staging Solutions for both the "Vacant" and the "Not So Vacant" homes in El Dorado County and The Greater Sacramento area for more than 4 years.  For your proposal, give us a call at (530) 417-1337 and see what it takes to get your home "Sell Ready".

Phyllis Pafumi
ReStyled to Sell Home Staging New Jersey - Old Bridge, NJ
ReStyled to Sell Staging Homes NJ

That is one thing that I always tell clients. When you have a large mirror it will only reflect all the clutter and DOUBLE the mess. Removing them is always a great answer.

Phyllis pafumi

Jul 21, 2008 02:18 PM
Cathy Lee
CL Design Services Home Staging - Danville, CA
ASP, IAHSP, RESA Danville, CA

Great post, photo and smart staging tip here!  Thanks for sharing!! 

Jul 21, 2008 05:27 PM
Alexandra Fletcher
Vancouver, BC

Those mirrors look amazing! I agree with the cabinets needing to be refinished to match, homeowners must learn to trust the experts!! Too bad you couldn't get them to replace the carpet- carpet in bathrooms is just WRONG!! Thanks for the great post!! Cheers, Emily, Celebrate Staging

Jul 21, 2008 05:38 PM
Kym Hough
www.Staged-to-Sell - Danville, CA
Staged to Sell East Bay - Danville, CA

Lovely, we recommend this often as well. These little touches add such a big difference to a master bedroom and make it more upscale and unique. Very nice. Kym

Jul 21, 2008 06:26 PM
Julia Maher
Nestings: Connecticut Home Staging and Model Homes - Fairfield, CT
Connecticut Home Stager

Emma:  I can hear the sellers now:  "But they're WOOD!  You don't paint WOOD!"  Too bad they didn't take your advice - although your changes are remarkable!  I love "double the ugly"!  Julie

Jul 22, 2008 01:03 AM
Susan Smith
Rooms That Work LLC - Sandy Hook, CT

Great point!  At first, I thought you might be referring the many pics I've taken where I've accidentally gotten myself in the pic via a mirror.  ha ha ha.

Jul 22, 2008 01:39 AM
Tanya Venable
Orlando, FL
SEO, Mobile SEO, and Internet Marketing Consultant

Emma, It looks like a totally different bathroom! Very elegant with nice clean lines.

Jul 22, 2008 02:49 AM
Emma Vargas
Simply Staging - Cameron Park, CA
Simply Staging

Painting the cabinets, changing out the rug and updating the countertops were all recommendations that we made to these homeowners, but as you know these changes can quickly add up.  So, changing out the mirrors was what we strongly recommended to make the most impact.

Susan-  No.  I wasn't referring to capturing our reflection in the mirror, although I've done that so many times as well.  That's so funny.  But that brings up a good point, when you have those big giant mirrors, it is very difficult to take a good picture because it has to be at an angle.  So, by changing out the mirrors, you suddenly make taking great pictures a breeze.

Kym- That's our goal, when little changes is all that homeowners are willing to do, you make the most of it.  The homeowners were very impressed and loved the update, they recognized how elegant their bathrooms looked.  Even I was impressed with the change.

Emma Vargas - Simply Staging

 

Jul 22, 2008 02:55 AM
Amy Prouty
Home Staging - Keno, YN

Wow.  That looks excellent, so much better.

Jul 22, 2008 06:09 AM
Tosha Tate-Dickson
Finair Management Group Inc. - South Holland, IL

Emma, you did a wonderful job ~ love the clean lines.  Your attention to detail is great too as the picture frames compliment the mirrors very nicely.

Jul 22, 2008 07:17 AM
Lynn Afton
Greenridge Realty Oakmont - Big Rapids, MI
REALTOR® Near Big Rapids, MI, Mecosta County

"Don't double the ugly" is really funny! And appropriate for more than just mirrors!

Jul 23, 2008 12:05 PM
Emma Vargas
Simply Staging - Cameron Park, CA
Simply Staging

Just to set the record straight - The title was just to make a point.  I would never tell a client that they are doubling the ugly, and I'd hope that no one else would do this either.  Instead I would just go ahead and make the change or just point out that the reflection is not a pleasant one.  I've never met an ugly house, let's just say there have been plenty of challenging ones though.

Thanks all for taking the time to read my blog.  Happy Staging!  Emma

Jul 23, 2008 01:46 PM
Cindy Bryant
Redesign Etc. Home Staging - Houston, TX
"Houston Home Staging Pros"

I hate these too, I always hope there are no holes in the wall when the big mirror comes down.

Jul 23, 2008 04:13 PM
Kathy Nielsen
http://atlantahomestaging.net - Marietta, GA
Atlanta Georgia Home Stager

The change made in your before and after pictures is proof!  I too loved your title.

Thanks for sharing.

Kathy

Jul 24, 2008 12:03 AM
Michelle Finnamore
Toronto GTA, Alliston, Newmarket - Vaughan, ON
Preparing your property for sale

HI Emma, don't double the ugly. LOL!!! My new saying. I learn so much from my AR friends. You are too funny but very correct in this analogy.

Jul 24, 2008 01:08 AM
Michelle Hall
Century 21 Hecht - Denver, NC

Yup, I have one those homes and I hate the mirror.  But I was wondering if it would look good if I framed it.  It would be a lot less expensive.  Whatcha' think?

Jul 24, 2008 03:57 PM
LaNita Cates
REMAX of Joliet - Joliet, IL

Wow. You made it look a hundred times better with that angle. Very nicely done!

Jul 24, 2008 05:12 PM
Emma Vargas
Simply Staging - Cameron Park, CA
Simply Staging

Michelle Finnamore - I'm honored that you like my new saying "Don't Double the Ugly!", feel free to use it anytime and anywhere.  I do however, feel the need to Cover My __ss now and make sure that I put out this big warning on AR, "DO NOT EVER SAY THIS TO THE HOMEOWNER!!!!!".  There, I feel better now, no one can come back to me and say that I didn't warn them. :)

Michelle Hall-  The mirrors that I'm referring to in new construction homes are literally "wall-to-wall" where there is no wall space left to put a frame around them.  But if the mirror is smaller, and does have space around it, then absolutely consider putting up a frame.  There are plenty of articles, resource information and examples from our talented stagers on AR on how to do this.

Thanks all for the great comments! 

Emma

Jul 25, 2008 03:44 AM
Maureen Bray Portland OR Home Stager ~ Room Solutions Staging
Room Solutions Staging, Portland OR - Portland, OR
"Staging Consultations that Sell Portland Homes"

Emma -- great changes in this master suite.  Regarding framing the bathroom mirror, I believe that you can also frame a large mirror even if it takes up all the wall space -- you just build the frame inside the mirror? Has anyone else tried that?

Jul 25, 2008 05:30 AM
Emma Vargas
Simply Staging - Cameron Park, CA
Simply Staging

Maureen-  Yup.  I've seen that done before as well and heard that you can glue the frame right onto the mirror, so framing inside will work.  However, if it's a big giant mirror that is again, just doubling the ugly, putting a frame on it just makes it a nicely framed mirror that still doubles the uglies.  :)

Not everyone goes for our mirror recommendations, but if you can get them to do, then it's worth doing!  Thanks,  Emma

Jul 25, 2008 07:03 AM