Category Archives: Design inspiration

5 benefits of adding a full-length mirror to your bathroom

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Full Length mirrors available for every room in the house

You might have long thought that a full-length mirror should be reserved strictly for your bedroom or living room. However, erecting this kind of mirror in your bathroom, of all places, can bring surprising benefits — including…

  1. A less ‘cramped’ feeling in the room

Your bathroom may be on the small side if you live alone or have simply had to settle for a relatively compact home due to budgetary restrictions.

The good news is that a large mirror placed in this room will reflect many parts of it, making it seem bigger than it actually is.

2. Better use of light

We have mentioned a full-length mirror’s ability to reflect many things at once — and those things include light. What light, exactly? Of course, you can see this as a reference to your bathroom’s overhead lighting, as well as sunlight streaming in through the window.

Keep in mind, though, that we offer full-length mirrors incorporating their own electric lights. So, adding such a mirror with light to your bathroom can make it feel even more spacious.

3. Added visual interest

The aesthetic appeal of your full-length mirror doesn’t just have to be down to the mirror’s intrinsic design, such as whether or not it comes with a frame. You can arrange for our team here at Illuminated Mirrors to provide you with a full-length mirror with dimmable and remote controlled RGB backlighting built in.

It will ultimately be up to you exactly what colours and patterns the lights show — especially as you can choose from presets and programs to create the look that you seek.

4. A complete, at-a-glance view of your body

You might get dressed in your bathroom if you live with other people. Having a full-length mirror nearby when you are slipping into your attire can enable you to quickly see how it looks on you.

The bathroom might also be the place where you keep the scales, since you can more accurately tell your body’s weight if you step on the scales with your clothes off.

Just before or after you weigh yourself, you would be able to see your figure in a full-length mirror. How is your physique? Are those gym sessions paying off? These are questions you can expect to answer more easily when a full-length mirror is there to help you out.

5. Crisp, clear music for you to enjoy in the morning

Yes, surprised though you might be to read this, a full-length mirror can even play music. The bespoke add-ons that we offer for full-length mirrors include our X-Audio feature, where you can wirelessly connect a smartphone or tablet to your mirror via Bluetooth.

Then, you can have high-fidelity music play from inducer speakers integrated with the mirror. Imagine how relaxing it would be to listen to this music as you soak or get dressed in the bathroom!

On your request, we can install a full-length mirror with light in your bathroom. To ask us any questions about our supply-and-installation services, please email support@illuminated-mirrors.co.uk today.

Is the framed or frameless look better for an illuminated bathroom mirror?

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An illuminated mirror can help give your bathroom a distinctive aesthetic and atmosphere. Whether you’re trying to give your bathroom a relaxing spa-like feel or looking to create a smart, clean style, illuminated mirrors can add considerable character to your bathroom.

With Illuminated Mirrors, we can create bespoke, made-to-measure mirrors, turning your dream mirror into a reality. 

When you’re designing your perfect illuminated mirror, you have the option of either a framed or frameless look. Both these options offer many possible benefits, so choosing the best option will largely come down to your personal preference.

To help you decide, here are a few of the benefits you can enjoy with both framed and frameless illuminated bathroom mirrors.

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Ronja White Frame Slim Edge Mirror

The benefits of framed illuminated mirrors

One of the main benefits of a framed illuminated mirror is the many decoration possibilities it provides.

Mirror frames can be made from a variety of materials, each offering a distinct visual style. This enables you to choose the best option for the kind of look and atmosphere you’re attempting to create.

Another advantage of framed mirrors is the protection they can offer. A robust frame can help make the edges and corners of mirrors less prone to breakage.

With a frame, the edges of a mirror may also be less susceptible to moisture. The presence of a frame on a mirror, then, could help prevent oxidation or de-silvering, which typically starts from a mirror’s edge and spreads slowly.

The benefits of frameless illuminated mirrors

While framed mirrors might offer more opportunities for decoration, they can also take up a lot of space. A large, framed mirror may therefore be difficult to fit into a relatively small bathroom.

A frameless mirror, on the other hand, is often a good option for those who are on the lookout for a stylish mirror that won’t take up too much space.

Frameless mirrors are often more lightweight than their framed counterparts. Furthermore, without a frame, they can be easier to install and clean. While frames can often accumulate dust, frameless mirrors don’t typically need to be cleaned so frequently.

Another benefit of a frameless mirror is that it may be able to show off more of your bathroom than a framed mirror. A frameless mirror shows off more reflective space, making it a perfect option if you have a small bathroom that you want to make look bigger.

Finally, with fewer components, a frameless mirror can be the better option for those who are looking for a relatively minimalistic design.

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Valkin Slim (frameless) Backlit Bathroom Mirror

Conclusion: your ideal framed or frameless mirror could soon be a reality

Overall, there are many benefits that can make both framed and frameless illuminated mirrors an attractive option for any bathroom. Ultimately, you will need to determine what your own priorities are when it comes to made-to-measure mirrors, and what implications this might have for whether you choose a framed or frameless mirror.

Framed mirrors come in a variety of materials, which should make it easy to find one that suits the visual style of your bathroom. These mirrors can also be more robust, with the frame protecting the mirror from potential breakage.

Frameless mirrors, on the other hand, can be an excellent option for smaller bathrooms and those who prefer more of a sleek, minimalist aesthetic.

Whether you favour the framed or frameless look in a mirror, Illuminated Mirrors offers bespoke, made-to-measure mirrors, so you can be confident of finding the perfect mirror for your bathroom.

To learn more about our process and expertise in relation to made-to-measure mirrors, please contact us.

How to create a spa-like atmosphere in your home

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Amid the hustle and bustle of modern life, it is important that we all take the time to relax and unwind.

One of the best ways to do this is by visiting a spa. However, if you find making time for this challenging, there are ways to create a spa-like atmosphere in your own home without breaking the bank.

From spa pools to our own Hollywood mirrors here at Illuminated Mirrors, here are some of the ways you can recreate the spa experience in your own home.

Aura lighting system

Invest in scented candles and diffusers

The use of scented candles is an easy way to give your home a spa-like atmosphere. Even the smallest candle can help replicate much of the calming atmosphere found in spas. Furthermore, these candles can be easily bought both online and in stores in a variety of different relaxing scents.

Another option is a diffuser. This device diffuses essential oils and spreads their scent throughout the home. Essential oils have a range of health benefits, including helping to relieve stress and headaches. A high-quality diffuser can be a great way to bring the spa experience to your home every day.

Buy a spa pool

Spa pools come in many different shapes, sizes, and designs. Such a pool would offer an excellent way for you to experience the relaxation of a spa without having to leave the house.

Spa pools may once have been prohibitively expensive for many people, but nowadays, it is easier to find the perfect spa pool for one’s house at an affordable price. Whether you introduce an indoor or outdoor spa pool to your home, it will almost certainly help make you feel more relaxed on a day-to-day basis.

If you don’t wish to install a spa pool, you can still enjoy a relaxing bath by adding a few cups of Epsom salt.

Add some ambient colour with our Aura Spa Mode lighting

Lighting can play a big role in creating a relaxing atmosphere, as demonstrated by our own Aura Spa Mode Hollywood mirrors.

These mirrors offer a full spectrum of ambient colour backlighting, with no fewer than five settings that you can take advantage of, depending on your mood at the time. You might set your mirror to show one of 16 static colours, for example, or you could put it on the Fade setting, which gradually fades through each colour in the spectrum.

With the press of a button, you can create an instant spa-like atmosphere in your home.

Play spa-like music

One of the most immediately recognisable elements of a spa is the relaxing music playing in the background. Such zen music can help put your mind at ease and eliminate any unwanted noises during your experience.

You can easily recreate this at home by finding relaxing music or the white noise of nature on a music app and plugging it into a Bluetooth speaker. Indeed, you can specify an illuminated bathroom mirror from us that incorporates such Bluetooth capability.

Whether you’re relaxing in a spa pool or performing your own spa treatments, adding spa-like music is a simple touch that can significantly enhance the relaxing atmosphere.

Conclusion: a spa-like atmosphere in your home can be within reach!

Creating a spa-like feel in your home isn’t as difficult or as expensive a process as you might imagine it to be. Indeed, our own feature-packed illuminated mirrors can play their own role in making it a reality for you.

To find out more about our range of Hollywood mirrors and related products and features, please feel free to reach out to the Illuminated Mirrors team today.

4 Benefits Of Having A Backlit Mirror In Your Bathroom.

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A mirror can obviously serve as a crucial part of your bathroom, allowing you to clearly see what you are doing as you fulfil morning responsibilities such as applying makeup or shaving.

Still, you might not have considered sourcing a backlit mirror… at least until now. This type of mirror comes with LED lighting tubes attached to its back.

By switching on this lighting, you can give your mirror a subtly illuminated outline — but there are also quite a few other excellent reasons to buy a backlit mirror.

No shadows

Would it not suffice if you simply settled for a standard mirror and relied on lighting from overhead electrical fixtures in your bathroom, along with sunshine through a nearby window?

Yes, perhaps. However, these alternative forms of lighting can cast shadows on parts of your face that you need to see clearly as you look in your mirror.

It may be reassuring to you, then, that backlights can highlight your entire face, sparing you from having to keep turning your head at awkward angles just to see everything.

More space

Another potential problem with lights that hang directly over a mirror is that they can take up valuable space in the bathroom — especially if they are affixed to a low ceiling.

The bathrooms in new-build homes tend to be smaller than those in properties constructed many decades ago. So, you might especially appreciate having lights tastefully tucked away behind your mirror, rather than in full view and potentially blighting your room’s overall “vibe” as a result.

Energy savings

We should all be treating sustainability as a major priority these days, so it’s heartening that a backlit mirror can make this job easier for you.

That’s because these mirrors include LED lights, which consume far less electricity than the incandescent lights still commonplace in conventional lighting fixtures for the bathroom.

How much less? Well, while incandescent lightbulbs last around 1,200 hours before needing to be replaced, the approximate lifespan of LED lighting is a mammoth 40,000 hours.

This vast improvement in energy efficiency enables you to save on your energy bills and reduce your carbon footprint.

Extra features

We build Dual White Lighting technology into all of the backlit mirrors we manufacture for our customers, who can consequently use a rocker switch on the mirror’s frame to toggle between “cool” and “warm” lighting.

Meanwhile, using a socket on the frame’s bottom-right edge, you will be able to charge your electric shaver or toothbrush with ease.

Of course, you will also want a mirror that looks “just right” — rather than like an ill-fitting add-on — in your bathroom. This is why we offer backlit mirrors in not only square and rectangular forms but also rather less orthodox circular, oval, and capsule shapes.

Exploring The Variety of Backlit Mirrors

To truly personalise your bathroom and match your unique style choices, there is a varied range of backlit mirrors to choose from.

Each of these has its benefits, allowing you to select a backlit mirror that matches your needs from an aesthetic point-of-view, but also from a practical perspective as well.

Standard Backlit Mirrors: The classic choice, offering a sleek and straightforward design that provides ample light without overshadowing the room’s aesthetic.

Framed Backlit Mirrors: These mirrors come with an added frame, blending functionality with decorative appeal to complement your bathroom’s décor.

Arch Mirrors: Featuring a distinctive arch shape, these mirrors add an elegant touch to any bathroom, making a statement while providing the benefits of backlighting.

Pebble Mirrors: With their unique pebble shape, these mirrors are perfect for adding a modern twist and visual interest to your bathroom.

Custom Shapes and Styles: For those with specific design needs, our range extends to less orthodox shapes like circular, oval, and capsule, allowing for a truly personalised space.

If you are unsure what you are looking for though, have a look at our full range of backlit mirrors and Backlit Buyers Guide before you start to narrow down your style preferences.

You can take your pick from these options when you place an online order for a backlit mirror with Illuminated Mirrors. We can deliver either a readymade or custom-made mirror to your UK home; please peruse our website and phone our team on 07893 952 606 to learn more about the specifics.

How to wow with Worn Gold

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There has been a welcomed resurgence lately of the use of warm metals such as Copper, Bronze, and Gold, particularly within a bathroom environment. More recently, this trend has embraced the aesthetic of a little imperfection, to create understated and effortless style and opulence, through the appearance of Worn Gold.

This sense of glamour and luxury was previously mainly seen in boutique hotels, but you only have to look online to see that it has become a big trend within our homes – because who doesn’t want a hint of splendour?

Using Gold in the bathroom doesn’t necessarily mean that it will result in a traditional aesthetic; you can style a Worn Gold bathroom with classic, glamorous looks as well as an edgier, more modern industrial chic, through just a few tweaks to fixtures and fittings selections.

The main thing to remember is that Worn Gold has the effect of a patina to it which gives it the more rustic, lived-in look. This is key to creating a bathroom that exudes effortless warmth and sophistication.

So, if you’re looking for ways to re-style your bathroom from drab to fab with a Worn Gold vibe, here are our top tips to get the look. >>

Consider your colour palette

When planning your Worn gold bathroom, try to create a mood board that encompasses the styling and colour palette that you’d like to achieve. A few things to consider are whether you want Gold to be the main colour, or perhaps a highlight within the scheme.

Here are a few of our favourite Old Gold palette combinations for inspiration:

Dusky rose and olive green are soft and understated colours that create a light and natural combination. Add worn gold fixtures and fittings to this palette to style a premium look and feel. 

For a more industrial take on the trend, adding deep, saturated colours such as navy or charcoal will complement the gold in the room and make it pop.

Alternatively, fresh white and stoneware such as white/neutral marble and granite can give a more subtle backdrop to Worn Gold.

Be bold with brassware

Brushed brass or gold effect taps, and shower heads are a sure-fire way of pulling in a hint of refined luxury to elevate your bathroom and create a worn gold bathroom scheme.

Updating other fixtures and fittings such as furniture door and drawer handles to tie in, will help create a coordinated, seamless aesthetic that easily hangs together, and is a great way to ensure that any existing cabinets align with your new look.

Top Tip! >> Leave the super-shiny, highly polished brassware for another scheme, and instead look for brushed and matte finishes for a raw aesthetic.

Add wow factor to your walls and floors

The right wall and floor coverings can help ground an interior scheme. Since they affect the largest expanse of space in a bathroom, they are one of the key decisions to make when it comes to directing the interior design.

If you enjoy pattern, add a feminine flourish to your worn gold scheme by selecting an opulent wallpaper in a bold print. Enlarged botanicals with metallic gold in are a great way to thread the colour palette through the room and will create a vibrant, maximalist scheme.

Top tip >> When selecting a bolder print, it’s important to consider whether you want to create a feature wall or if it’s a design you’d like to envelope the whole room with. Busy prints are best used in small doses, whereas less detailed designs can more easily be used in the whole room, regardless of print size.

In contrast, abstract and geometric designs can offer interest in a sleek and modern scheme.

Top tip >> When wallpapering a bathroom, use decorators varnish to seal it and make it splash-proof, or better still, choose one that’s suitable for scrubbing/wiping down.

To wholly embrace the worn look and feel, consider selecting Worn gold bathroom tiles like these by Crown. To get the maximum realistic patina effect of this tile, it is worth covering a large expanse of space.

Aged-gold effect travertine tiles are a good option for a worn looking floor, or for smaller budgets, a similar look can also be achieved with lino.

Illuminate the room  

When considering lighting for your Worn Gold bathroom, continue the brushed or worn brass effect through to your lighting selections.

Where space allows, brushed metal wall sconces make a great style statement. Team with white gloss shades for an elegant, Scandi style.

For an industrial style bathroom, worn gold metal wall lights paired with charcoal and other darker hues can provide an edgier, more modern feel.

Top tip >> To enhance the golden glow, choose warm white lighting instead of cooler, blue light which can leave a space feeling more clinical and less welcoming.

Fabulous finishing touches

An effective way of instantly enhancing a Worn Gold styled bathroom is with a few finishing flourishes such as mirrors and accessories.

Neutral towels with texture such as waffle weaves and seer sucker styles work well with worn gold and will contrast nicely.

Darker colours pair nicely with Gold and can really add drama to a space.

Brushed brass bathroom accessories are a great way to continue the theme and finish it all off. It is well worth paying attention to small details such as the pump and any other brassware on the accessories, to ensure that the scheme ties in tonally and that the metals all sit well together.

Mirrors with matte gold or brushed gold edges can really level up a bathroom, amplify a scheme and are often the key ingredient in grounding and combining an aesthetic.

For a stronger reference to the gold scheme, select mirrors with larger frames where the gold effect is more prominent, and for more subtle, modern takes on the look, choose mirrors with thinner gold frames to pull the interior together in an understated and elegant way.