Decorators?

[papayahed]

I was going to put this in the Girl Talk thread but I realized our male counterparts may have some ideas as well.

Ack. My new apartment has a mirrored wall. It's about 4 feet (1.2 m) wide floor to ceiling all mirror. :( :bawling: . How do I disguise or cover up this wall?



Anybody?

[Niamh]

Yikes Papaya!

You could always get some kind of adhesive stencils that have a nice pattern that will cover the majority of it! Or drape voil or satin material over it which will also create an abiance in the room and give it more of a soft feeling the the interior.

[Shalot]

I was going to put this in the Girl Talk thread but I realized our male counterparts may have some ideas as well.

Ack. My new apartment has a mirrored wall. It's about 4 feet (1.2 m) wide floor to ceiling all mirror. :( :bawling: . How do I disguise or cover up this wall?



Anybody?

that sounds icky. I agree with Niamh, hang up some drapes.

[Niamh]

And to give the room a warmer ambiance, Get some tall indoor plants and place them in front of the draped fabric. Let a little of the mirror show so that it can bounce the light around the room.

[Stanislaw]

wow! is there any chance to remove it...that would creap me out.

to hide it I would suggest (if possible) a dresser and a painting, or a chair/couch and a painting?

[papayahed]

The mirror can't be removed, it leads to a hallway so I can't really put anything in front of it.

I was thinking of buyng a large frame and sticking that on the mirror and them covering the rest the wall with.....something else....that will be the hard part.

[Niamh]

best bet then is to try adhesive stencils or just paper it!

[Bakiryu]

A mirror makes a small space look bigger, simply try to counterbalance the room by disrtacting the eye from it (try some feng shui!)

[papayahed]

I was doing some research on feng shui.

A mirror isn't bad, but you know what they say about too much of a good thing...

I was reading that putting fabric on a wall using liquid starch is pretty easy and easy to remove as well. Now I just need fabric....

[Niamh]

go down to your local fabric people and ask them for scraps. you can make an art work out of it by using them to create an image or picture, and let some of the mirror show. just a suggestion.

[BibliophileTRJ]

O.K. I was going to ignore this thread (because my solution is A LOT of work), but since you specifically asked me to comment, I will.

I once faced this exact problem in one of my apartments, except my wall was 10+ feet wide by 8 feet high. I covered the entire thing in a special contact paper onto which I drew (using stencils) a Hibiscus pattern. Then, using an X-acto knife I painstakingly trimmed out the pattern leaving the contact paper only where the flowers were. The vast majority of contact paper was removed. At that point I rented a sandblaster from a specialty craft store and sandblasted the hell out of the wall. (of course that was after setting up a plastic containment tent over the wall and donning a respirator and safety glasses) Clean up the sand, remove the last bits of contact paper, take down the plastic tent, spend DAYS cleaning the dust from the rest of the apartment (the containment tent only contains a large portion of sand.... the fine dusty stuff gets free & gets EVERYWHERE) and the end result is a large frosted glass wall that still reflects a lot of light but not images, it also has a nice floral pattern of actual mirrored surface that breaks up the monotony of a huge pane of frosted glass. Now that it's no longer a mirror you can use sticky-backed hooks to hang pictures, etc.

It's an enormous task; but the result was VERY nice. I did have to get permission from the landlord..... he was all for it.... never liked that mirror from the day he bought the place.

I had tried the gauzy curtain solution for a while, but kept catching my reflection in the mirror behind the curtain and scaring myself thinking that there was someone sneaking around my apartment behind the drapes.

Hope this helps..... let me know if you want any additional info.

[Stanislaw]

Thats a cool idea, I never would have thought of that!

[papayahed]

O.K. I was going to ignore this thread (because my solution is A LOT of work), but since you specifically asked me to comment, I will.

I once faced this exact problem in one of my apartments, except my wall was 10+ feet wide by 8 feet high. I covered the entire thing in a special contact paper onto which I drew (using stencils) a Hibiscus pattern. Then, using an X-acto knife I painstakingly trimmed out the pattern leaving the contact paper only where the flowers were. The vast majority of contact paper was removed. At that point I rented a sandblaster from a specialty craft store and sandblasted the hell out of the wall. (of course that was after setting up a plastic containment tent over the wall and donning a respirator and safety glasses) Clean up the sand, remove the last bits of contact paper, take down the plastic tent, spend DAYS cleaning the dust from the rest of the apartment (the containment tent only contains a large portion of sand.... the fine dusty stuff gets free & gets EVERYWHERE) and the end result is a large frosted glass wall that still reflects a lot of light but not images, it also has a nice floral pattern of actual mirrored surface that breaks up the monotony of a huge pane of frosted glass. Now that it's no longer a mirror you can use sticky-backed hooks to hang pictures, etc.

It's an enormous task; but the result was VERY nice. I did have to get permission from the landlord..... he was all for it.... never liked that mirror from the day he bought the place.

I had tried the gauzy curtain solution for a while, but kept catching my reflection in the mirror behind the curtain and scaring myself thinking that there was someone sneaking around my apartment behind the drapes.

Hope this helps..... let me know if you want any additional info.

Are you gonna be in Louisiana anytime in the near future??:D

[kathycf]

Now I want a mirrored wall because what BibliophileTRJ did sounds so cool!

Seriously, I have neve understood the fascination some people have with mirrors. I remember the first apartment I had there was a big mirror on the ceiling *shudder*. I made the (small) livingroom into my bedroom and told my friend she could have the mirrored ceiling because it would give me nightmares sleeping under that thing.

Papaya, have you thought of those decorative screens? I think you could get one or two at someplace like Pier 1. My dad actually made one for me, but I don't think he wants to travel to Louisiana. :lol:

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/kathycf/v132.jpg

[Scheherazade]

Don't know why you are trying to get rid of a perfectly nice mirrored wall.

I mean what better opportunity than that bigging your hair, donning your 80s/90s costumes and make-up, to lip-synch 'Heart of Glass' or 'Don't You Want Me'... Singing into a hair brush and acting out the lyrics...

Aaaahhh, good old days!

[papayahed]

Don't know why you are trying to get rid of a perfectly nice mirrored wall.

I mean what better opportunity than that bigging your hair, donning your 80s/90s costumes and make-up, to lip-synch 'Heart of Glass' or 'Don't You Want Me'... Singing into a hair brush and acting out the lyrics...

Aaaahhh, good old days!

Instead of a couch I could build a stage.....:idea:


Hey Bib,

I think they now have a gel type product that etches glass. I prefer toxic chemicals over dust any day. And I can always get my hand on hydroflouric acid...of course that stuff scares the bejeebees out of me.

[Stanislaw]

Instead of a couch I could build a stage.....:idea:


Hey Bib,

I think they now have a gel type product that etches glass. I prefer toxic chemicals over dust any day. And I can always get my hand on hydroflouric acid...of course that stuff scares the bejeebees out of me.

ahh why use sand when one can use chemicals...or better still corosive acids! :D :thumbs_up
Just be carefull to wear a mask and make sure the room is well ventilated...(I learned that lesson in chemistry...that or don't get stuck with the science-moron for a lab partner :sick: ) :thumbs_up

[BibliophileTRJ]

Are you gonna be in Louisiana anytime in the near future??:D

I'll be in New Orleans for "Southern Decadence" over Labor Day weekend..... but decorating is NOT the object of that gathering.


I wonder how that gel stuff would work on a vertical surface..... It would be one thing if you could take the mirror down and work on it flat; but I'd be cautious of drips and runs.

[papayahed]

I'll be in New Orleans for "Southern Decadence" over Labor Day weekend..... but decorating is NOT the object of that gathering.


Are you sure?:D



I wonder how that gel stuff would work on a vertical surface..... It would be one thing if you could take the mirror down and work on it flat; but I'd be cautious of drips and runs


oh yeah.

[BibliophileTRJ]

Are you sure?:D

QUITE SURE, thanks.