My last post finished up with a comment on charming vignettes of objects with handles, but as I lay in bed last night I kept feeling I had forgotten something. This morning I realized that I had – and not only from that post – but one prior as well. I had found this photo from Anne Kelly’s new book Rooms to Inspire by the Sea and meant to include it in the post on her book. After I had forgotten it there, I decided to use it in yesterday’s post as it was yet another example of display with handles, but I forgot it once again. So a double oops has spawned its very own post.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I love this image of grouped mirrors over the painted vintage dresser, although I am a little less excited by the heads.

Groupings of mirrors can be easy and inexpensive to create, adding a sense of jewelry to any room. Etched and engraved round plateaus are my favorites, made not only to hang on the wall, but also to place on dressing tables to hold bottles of lotions and perfumes, keeping wood surfaces safe. This tear sheet from Martha Stewart Living, dating to the early 1990s, shows a few beautiful examples up close. You’ll notice a little pen note written in the corner – I actually tracked down the dealer of the small oval mirror and tried to buy it – but I couldn’t wrest it away from one of the stylists on the shoot who bought it for themselves.

About ten years later, the magazine featured plateaus again in this stunning bathroom lined with shelves to hold the largest collection I have ever seen. The variety of shapes and sizes just takes my breath away!

I have been collecting similar antique etched mirror plateaus for years and I am hanging them on the wall in our bedroom at the beach house. I have placed the mirrors so that they reflect the ocean and the beach back into the room. The larger one engraved with stars is one of my very early antique purchases, which I believe I bought in 1992 in Annapolis, Maryland. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find the others, only two have surfaced so far, so I am hunting for some more, both in my own boxes and out in the marketplace.

I have my eye on this one…

…and this one.

A few years ago Williams Sonoma sold modern versions of the mirrors, but they lack that certain something that you only get with an antique. Call it patina, call it personality, call it whatever, but definitely missing.

The round plateaus are not the only etched mirrors to catch and keep my attention. I love the long floral engraved ones common to old medicine cabinets and bathrooms. I love the tongue in cheek placement of this pretty vintage one.

Etching or engraving isn’t even necessary – just a great bevelled edge will do – especially if you have the little glass star bolts. You can reinvigorate an old mirror by adding them, easily found at hardware stores according to this article. I have passed up many mirrors in my day because they were missing them.

A scalloped or ruffled bevelled edge paired with an unusual shape makes this one a winner too. I bought this for my hall bath, but it was the wrong size so I am using it in my daughter’s bedroom instead.

Small decorative mirrors like these are wonderful on dressing tables and in the bath. They are commonly found in Asia, so keep your eyes open at the shrine sales.

Irregular gallery walls filled with a variety of old mirrors are another favorite.

Love the hanging chains on all these frameless ones.

The variety and coloration here are outstanding. Love the mix in with other objects and images.

Image credits: 1. Rooms to Inspire by the Sea, by Anne Kelly, photographs by Tim Street-Porter, 2-3. Martha Stewart Living, photo credits unknown, 4. me, 5-6, 10. via Etsy, 7. Williams Sonoma Catalog, 8.House Beautiful April 2009, photo credit: Lisa Romerein, 9. Country Living Magazine November/December 2001, 11. New York Magazine October 7, 2002, 12.  Haskell Harris in Southern Living, April 2009, photo credit: Charles Walton IV, 13. Ben Brougham in Lonny Magazine Aug/Sept 2010, photo credit: Patrick Cline, 14. via Pinterest.