Mirror, mirror, not quite on the wall

June 15, 2009 8:09 AM

I want to mount a mirror in a corner, but it can't be flush with either wall or perfectly vertical. Logistics within.

My apartment has a beautiful west-facing view that is only visible from a small corner of the living room. I'm trying to install a mirror that will reflect that view toward the couch. (The couch can't move to where the view is visible.) Unfortunately, the place where the mirror would have to go is already occupied by a large bookcase that can't go anywhere else, so the mirror will have to go above it.

The logistics:

-The mirror is about three feet high by 1.5 feet wide.
-It has a wooden frame I can drill through.
-It has to be securely mounted in a corner without being flush to either wall.
-It can't be a perfect hypotenuse for the corner. The necessary angle to reflect the view is about 15-20 degrees off one wall, putting it 75-80 degrees off the other.
-It has to angle slightly downward (i.e., the top of the mirror will be farther from the wall than the bottom is).
-I can't drill into the bookcase itself, although placing something on top would be fine.

I've considered putting a floor mirror on top of the bookcase, but I can't find any that aren't full-length, which is too big.

Any ideas?

On preview, I see that this all sounds quite confusing. Here is a picture of what I'm trying to do.

posted by hayvac to home & garden (6 comments total)

Whoops, used the wrong image link. Here.
posted by hayvac at 8:10 AM on June 15

How about a dresser mirror, something like this one on Ebay? It can sit on the shelf and it can be angled down.
posted by SteveInMaine at 8:21 AM on June 15

How about an LCD monitor or flatscreen TV mount?
posted by davey_darling at 8:23 AM on June 15

From your diagram it appears that the mirror can rest on the bookcase, so you don't need to worry about supporting the mirror's weight. So all you need is a couple of screw eyes in the back of the mirror frame and a picture hanging wire--just like you would use for a painting on the wall, except that the wire must be longer than usual. Then you put a third screw eye in or near the corner of the wall to hold the wire so that the mirror is at just the right angle vertically and horizontally. First attach the wire to the far screw eye in the mirror frame, run it through the eye on the wall, have someone stand back and look at the reflection until it's just right, then secure the wire to the close side of the mirror.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:39 AM on June 15 [1 favorite]

Costly option: Get a small flat-panel TV wall mount.

Cheap option: Hang it from 3 or 4 screw eyes screwed into the ceiling. Use stiff picture hanging wire from each point, with each piece of wire a different length so that the mirror hangs at the correct angle.
posted by bondcliff at 8:58 AM on June 15

If you can drill into the wall you can go to the hardware store and get little metal (like a short popsicle stick) that have screw holes in either end. I'm sorry I have no idea what these are called but I have seen and bought these.

Then just bend them at the correct angle and screw into the mirror frame and wall on either side of the mirror. The hardware store might be able to clamp and bend them for you too.
posted by WeekendJen at 9:19 AM on June 15