G-M002 Wall Mirror: hanging an 80cm round gold frame

A round mirror is a different proposition from a rectangular one. You cannot turn it to suit the wall, you cannot crop it with a shelf, and it reads as a shape rather than a window. The G-M002 Wall Mirror is one size and one finish: a round gold frame, listed as 80cm across.

80cm across, in every direction

The listing gives the size as a diameter, written with the diameter symbol, so there is none of the usual guessing about which figure is the width. It means 80cm of clear wall horizontally and 80cm vertically, and unlike a rectangle there is no orientation to choose that might buy you a few centimetres.

Check the vertical before the horizontal. On a wall where a dado rail, a run of coving or the top of a door frame cuts across, a circle has nowhere to hide: it either clears the obstruction or it crosses it. Hold a piece of newspaper cut to 80cm on the wall before you drill, which takes a minute and settles the argument.

A circle above a straight line

The best place for a round mirror is usually above something rectangular, where the contrast does the work: a console table, a sideboard, a chest, a fireplace. The arithmetic is simple. Over a 100cm console, an 80cm circle leaves 10cm of wall either side, which looks intentional. Over a 150cm sideboard the same circle leaves 35cm each side, which starts to look lost, and that is when a pair of smaller pieces or a wider rectangle serves better.

Centre it on the furniture, not on the wall. Those are rarely the same line, and the eye reads the relationship between the mirror and the piece below it long before it notices the wall is off centre.

Art Deco in gold, and what that means here

The listing describes the G-M002 as Art Deco, with the bold symmetry and geometric framing of that period, in a gold frame. That is the design language, and gold is the finish named. What it does not state is the frame material, its depth, or how wide the border is relative to the glass, so judge those from the three photographs on the product page and ask the shop if a depth matters to you.

Gold sits most comfortably where there is something else warm in the room, whether that is brass fittings, timber, or a warm paint colour. Against a cool grey wall with chrome handles it will stand out as the single warm element, which can be exactly what you want and is worth deciding on purpose.

Before you drill

No weight is given in the listing, and no fixings are specified. A round mirror is usually hung from one point, which concentrates the load, so plasterboard needs the right fixing rather than a nail. Ask the shop for the weight and for what is on the back of the frame before the day you put it up.

If you like the round format but want the frame to sit over the glass rather than around it, the G-M003 Wall Mirror is the same 80cm diameter in gold with that layered design. For a slim gold piece to hang alongside, the G-M006 Wall Mirror is 25 x 110cm. The rest of the range is in Wall Mirrors, and the G-M002 Wall Mirror is on its own page. Delivery is free within 50 miles of the Glasgow store and £50 beyond.