Large Gold Mirrors

What gold does at this size

A small gold mirror is an accent. A large one is a decision about the temperature of the room. Gold reflects warm, so a big gold-framed piece lifts a scheme built on greys and cool whites and makes a north-facing room feel less flat. That is its great strength and also the thing to think about before buying: at this size the frame is no longer a detail you can work around, and everything else in the room will be read against it.

Shapes that carry a gold frame

Rectangular is the bulk of this range and the most straightforward to place, over a console, a chest or a fireplace. Round is the shape that makes the most of gold, because an unbroken circle of warm metal reads as a single object rather than a border, and it softens a wall of straight lines. Arched frames sit between the two and suit a tall wall, borrowing the line of a window or a doorway. All three are here in the large band.

Ornate, traditional and modern profiles

Gold carries more frame styles than any other finish we stock, and the three groups here do genuinely different jobs. Ornate frames, with moulded or worked surrounds, are the ones that read as period pieces and they are a larger part of this range than of most. Traditional mouldings are simpler, with a stepped or rounded edge that catches light without the detail. Slim modern profiles are the largest group and the easiest to live with, where the gold is a narrow line and the glass does the work.

Where a large gold mirror belongs

Hallways and living rooms take almost all of these in roughly equal measure. In a hallway a large gold frame does two things at once, bouncing light down a space that rarely has a window and giving a plain corridor something to look at. In a living room the usual place is over a fireplace or opposite a window, where the warmth of the frame and the returned daylight work together. A smaller group suit a bedroom, generally above a chest rather than as a full length piece.

Hanging something this size

Large is a weight question as much as a size one, and gold frames are often the heavier ones because ornate and traditional mouldings carry more material than a slim profile. Fix into studs or masonry rather than plasterboard alone, use fixings rated well above the stated weight, and have a second person for the lift. The weight is on every product page, so the fixings can be bought before the delivery rather than after it.

Living with a gold finish

Gold is forgiving day to day. It hides dust better than black and fingerprints better than chrome. The care that matters is about the finish rather than the colour: a leaf or foil gold is more delicate than a painted or lacquered one and should be dusted dry rather than wiped wet. Spray glass cleaner onto the cloth, never onto the mirror, so nothing runs down into a moulding and dries there.