Yesterday, I finally got the mirror hung in the foyer of our bedroom suite. A while back, I floated the idea of putting sconces on either side of the mirror, but after looking for sconces (and not being impressed with anything I found), and the more I thought about it, the more I didn’t like that idea. It seemed too predictable and, well, too boring.
So I ruled out that idea and thought I might try out the idea of lighting the mirror from the back. Since the mirror had to stand out from the wall a bit to clear the large chair rail molding, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out the idea of a backlit mirror.
I needed the mirror to come off the wall 1.25″ to clear the chair rail, and I figured that I could get that distance with a piece of 1″ x 4″ lumber (which is 3/4″ thick) attached to the wall with two screws sticking out the rest of the way. I painted the board dark teal to match the wallpaper (kind of) and then screwed it to the wall. The mirror is kind of heavy, so I had to use screws. I don’t love the idea of putting screws into the wallpaper, but I didn’t really have another option.
These are the lights I tried out. I chose these because they had a bright white option and the transformer box is pretty small, so it could be tucked behind the mirror. Most of the other tape lights had really big transformer boxes that wouldn’t fit behind the mirror.
It wasn’t quite long enough to put it right at the edge by the frame, so I had to bring the light strip in about three inches to make it all the way around the back of the mirror.
I had high hopes for this, but when I got the mirror hung and turned the lights on, I wasn’t impressed.
I might like it more if the wall was the same from ceiling to floor. If the whole wall were grasscloth, or if the whole wall were painted white, I might feel differently about it. But this look just wasn’t working for me. Plus, it didn’t really provide any useful lighting in the area. The ceiling light is actually plenty bright and provides all the lighting that this small foyer area needs.
So I abandoned that idea and unhooked the lights. Then I brought in this plant (it’s a fake one from World Market) and put it in this pretty basket that a friend gave me for my birthday a few months back, and I loved it. So in the end, I won’t have any additional lighting on this wall.
I still need to clean the mirror and get the sticky tag off of it, but here’s a look at the side view so that you can see how it stands out from the wall just a bit. The gap doesn’t bother me, and it actually looks much better than I had anticipated.
I do have some other decorative items that I’m going to add to this wall around the mirror, as well as the walls on either side of the bathroom (i.e., future storage closet) doors, but I don’t have them yet. They’re supposed to be delivered today, so stay tuned for that.
So the foyer is coming along. My biggest question now is what to do with this long, uninterrupted wall that is partly in the foyer area and continues into the bedroom.
From the right edge of the bathroom door trim to the end of the wall, I have 11′ 4″ of space. It’s the longest, uninterrupted wall space in the entire bedroom suite, and I have no idea what to put there.
I’m kind of tempted just to leave it blank. I don’t necessarily think that every single wall needs something on it. But on the other hand, that’s an awful lot of wall space to leave blank.
In other news, I brought in the other bench from the breakfast room to see if I had enough room at the end of the bed for the bench. And as it turns out, I have plenty of room! And now I’m wondering if this would be a great place to use more of the bird fabric.
If it sits at the foot of the bed, this is where it would sit.
And that still leaves me plenty of space between the bench and the dresser. It’s right at five feet of space between the two.
If I use the bench at the foot of the bed, I want the legs to be stained and not painted. I need to tape off where the recliner will go to make sure there’s room for both of them, but I think there’s plenty of room. Anyway, I don’t know that I necessarily need both a bench and a recliner, but I do think a bench covered in the bird fabric at the foot of the bed would be beautiful.
I’ll probably wait until I have the recliner in hand (and in place) before making that final decision. The good news is that it has finally been shipped. The bad news is that it’s coming from overseas somewhere, and it takes 7-14 days to even reach the U.S. Then it’ll be another few days before it reaches our front door. So I might still be looking at three weeks before I have the recliner. *Sigh* Oh well. There’s nothing I can do about that other than be patient and work on other things until it gets here.
But the bird fabric will definitely make an appearance on something large and significant in the room. I already know for sure I’ll be using it on big pillows on the bed, and then I’ll either use it for a duvet cover (or throw) for the foot of the bed, or I’ll use it to reupholster this bench for the foot of the bed. Either way, it’ll play a prominent role in the overall design of the room. It won’t be as prominent as the original plan of using it on the headboard, but it’ll be a big player in the design.
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Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
