mirror, mirror on the wall

Last weekend we visited Restoration Hardware to see if they had some of the bathroom mirrors we were contemplating in stock. We struck out, and the more we looked at them online, the less excited we were about them. They seem like an afterthought in a room that we’re actually putting quite a bit of thought into.

A few nights later I was tackling the mail / catalog stack while relaxing in the tub. The latest DWR catalog is really beautiful – even when I’m not shopping for anything there, I’m always inspired by the real houses they photograph everything in, and the articles on designers or the history of a particular piece or design movement. In general, I try to unsubscribe to as many things as possible – online and print catalogs, but I really love the DWR catalog that shows up once a month.

I flipped the page, and swoon.

I’m not sure why I wasn’t thinking about hanging a mirror from the pegs around the room, but I should have been.

The Harvey Mirror from DWR actually sits on a brass triangular base. It’s so simple and so elegant, and even though I knew it was too big (even the small one), and really expensive, and not designed to work with the pegs in our room – it still changed the trajectory of my thinking.

The next day I emailed my friend at Centro, and sent him the photos of the mirror. I asked him for advice (as I frequently do) on similar type mirrors to the Harvey. He sent me two options that they can order, but both were the wrong size for the space. But at the end of the email he suggested I just make something custom in there – and then we started an email string back and forth with ideas.

Super simple, any size we need – we could simply hang the mirror on the peg centered over the sink. It would showcase the peg and really make sense with the whole design direction in the room. And it would certainly be high enough in the room to accommodate M’s height.

One of the mirrors he sent me hung from a long leather belt (not unlike the clock we have in our living room). I hadn’t really considered hanging a mirror like that because the pegs are only 4″-6″ higher than we’d like the top of the mirror. But we could have two holes and hang the mirror that way. It would put the top of the mirror much closer to the peg itself.

But I’m really thinking I like the simplicity of the first idea. Once the wainscoting and pegs are installed (I ordered the pegs last week and they are on their way across the big pond!), then we can whip out some foam core and test out just the right size with a template. Then we’ll have Kirkwood Glass and Mirror make it for us. I’m really excited about this – and it just goes to show you, I do some of my best work in the tub. (And in collaboration with others.)