Through the Looking Glass

Everyone knows how the placement of mirrors can make a space look bigger, brighter, and more attractive even (depending on how good-looking you are). Mirrors also can be fun when you align them on opposite walls and create an 'infinite mirror' dynamic, like this:

Count the mirrors ....

Here's a technique with a mirror which you may not have seen yet on HGTV. I call it The SpyRorrim(c) Effect. ('Rorrim' is 'mirror' backwards. Look, 'SpyMirror' and 'SpyGlass' are already copyrighted.)

I discovered by accident one day that if I stood in our back hallway and looked in the mirror on The Flapper (our 1920s-era server) in the dining room, I could see what's going on in the front foyer while remaining unseen by anybody there.

Similarly, if I stood in the front foyer and looked in The Flapper's mirror, I could see who's in the family room while not being visible to them. I could actually see that there wasn't any porn on the computer screen!

I believe Hamlet was in the front foyer of Elsinore Castle when he said '... to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature ....'  (Act 3, scene 2, 21-22). I think Shakespeare was saying that thanks to the strategic placement of our Flapper, I could keep tabs on the action in the opposite corner of the house, right?

Cool, right?

Unfortunately, nothing interesting ever happened during my 20-second-attention-span surveillance. Also, I felt a teeny bit creepy afterwards (for about 20 seconds) even though it's my house and we're talking about common space.

Look, I'm not advocating that you rearrange your furniture to spy on your teen-aged daughter and her pierced, tattooed, dread-locked, older, underfed, unemployed boyfriend. You should hire someone for that ....

However, if you have young kids, or if you are otherwise a care-giver, mirror placement can give you a few extra seconds of peace of mind if you have to leave the room. So walk through your house, take a mirror or two, and experiment. It's fun. It also has useful security applications, which all of you paranoids out there will appreciate ....  Just be careful! Don't drop anything! 

I wish I had a photo of The Flapper in the dining room to illustrate how we achieved The SpyRorrim Effect, but alas, we have rearranged the furniture. We had to cover up a wine stain .....

Nowadays The Flapper resides in the upstairs foyer. But if you climb on the front foyer's chandelier and look through The Flapper's mirror, you see ....

Ssalg gnikool eht hguorht ....


















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