Symphony Designers’ Showhouse displays an array of ways to use mirrors

Mirrors, mirrors on the walls, above the doorway, around window frames, lining a toilet alcove and so on and so forth.

Designers at the 2014 Symphony Showhouse, which will run through May 18, found an array of ways to use mirrors.

Before you get excited, those in the toilet alcove start above the shoulder.

They’re intended to reflect light from a window in the alcove out into a small guest bathroom, says Susan Prestia, owner of Interior Directions of Kansas City, Kan. Prestia also hung a trapezoid-shaped mirror above a dormer in a nearby guest bedroom to create a similar effect and refaced the fronts of the cabinets and a closet door with mirror to modernize and glam up an outdated bathroom.

Ursula Terrasi, owner of Scandia Home & Terrasi European Collections in Kansas City, added double bling to another guest bedroom by flanking the bed with three-dimensional antiqued mirrors hung above Oscar de la Renta mirrored nightstands.

The three-dimensional quality of the antiqued mirrors gives depth to the walls, she said. “And since we’re using mirrored nightstands, we couldn’t use flat mirrors and coordinate them. We needed to uncoordinate them. They also expand the room and give it a lot of light.”

Terrasi also hung an accent from a Venetian mirror above an ensuite bathroom door.

“It expands and moves the eye upward, makes the doorway look taller and gives the room height,” she said.

In the living room, John Rufenacht Interiors of Kansas City fronted the framing around the large windows at either end of the room with antiqued mirrors.

Rufenacht, a nationally known designer, says it’s the first time he and his team have seen it done.

“It started because there were radiators below the window, so we couldn’t do floor draperies, and short draperies are out,” he says. “We hadn’t done lamberkins (the window frames) in years. We were going to cover them in fabric, then Bev (McFerrin), another designer here, said why don’t we cover them in mirrors? We worked with Phillip (Graham), at Westport Glass, to make them look antique. We wanted a more traditional flavor.”

Rufenacht is talking with a client about doing a mirrored fireplace.

“We’ll see if that pans out,” he says. “Mirror adds a little more glamour to it all. It’s a take-off on the ’30s look, and we’re going through a revival of that, especially with mirror-covered furniture.”

This story was originally published May 9, 2014 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Symphony Designers’ Showhouse displays an array of ways to use mirrors."