Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, You're My Favorite Accessory of Them All

Mirrors are my favorite accessory and I can't imagine designing a room without at least one, and preferably more.  And this is not a vanity thing – I try to never look in mirrors unless I am putting on make up or doing my hair or something.  No, the mirrors outside the bathroom serve an entirely different function. For me, they add sparkle and shine, reflect vignettes and light, and open up a room.  The right art can do a lot for a room but. in my opinion, not more than a well-selected and well-placed mirror can. Here is my case for mirrors:

And my favorite mirrors, many of which were shown in the rooms above, and all of which are reasonably priced and/or on sale. I really, really want one of the #3 ones, but you can't see the beauty in this small image....worth clicking if you need a round mirror. I also love #7, especially for a bathroom or over a console table:

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I Need Advice.

You guys are always so helpful when I am debating things, so I'd love your opinions on this. I have been working on the family room, and have told you about the molding project going on. It will be finished tomorrow, and then the painter comes Monday. Here is my problem though - I had always planned to paint it all white - walls, trim, everything - in a glossy finish. I've done that all over the house and love it, and frankly never considered anything else.

But now I'm thinking I may have never considered leaving the underlying color because I've never liked the underlying color before with whatever rooms changes were going on when I had the moldings done. So, it always looked eight million times better when it got painted white.

But now I'm looking at this gray base and am actually liking the contrast with the white trim. So what if the painter just caulked and did the trim white, but left the walls gray? 

Here is with the gray paint - low light of course:

And this is an attempt to remove the color in my photo editing.  You can really only see a vast difference at the bottom of the walls. 

And here is one that is in black and white to try to remove that wall color. It's really deceptive though because editing it this way takes all the color and warmth out of the room, not just the walls.

I do believe even with all white the room will still be warmer than this shows, partly because I'd use a warm white paint and partly because the chandelier gives a lot of yellow light.

So can you picture it white?

What would you do - leave it gray or paint it white?

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Mixed Metals - Pops of Gold and Silver in Every Room

Yesterday I posted about how much a pop of pink can do for a room. Today, it is metallics. I can't imagine a room without a few bits of gold or silver - or both, as I like to do.

I also wanted to show you the ceiling medallion I am really trying to incorporate somewhere now. I don't think I can, but I really really love it. It got the most repins of all my things last week:

And here are my gold and silver picks. Several of them are very reasonably priced, and a few are dream items. My favorites are the  new West Elm items, which are VERY reasonably priced. If you need things, you should look at their whole new line.

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