Where to Put a Mirror to Reflect Window Light: Test Three Positions Before Mounting

A mirror adds no light. It redirects the window's light, and only to the places that can see the window in it. So the question is not whether a mirror brightens a room but where it must sit so the dark part of the room can see the window. This page settles that in twenty minutes, before any fixings go in: three positions, a check by eye, one locked exposure photo each, and a table.

For spots around a whole house, see the room by room placement guide; for a lounge, the living room placement guide. Here you are choosing a wall, not a mirror: any full length mirror will do, leaning or held at height. Run all three positions within twenty minutes so the daylight does not drift, and prefer an overcast day.

Step one: the sky check

Stand in the darkest spot, the place you want brighter. Put the mirror in a position and look into it from there. If you can see sky, or the bright window pane, the mirror is delivering window light to where you stand. If you see ceiling, a wall or yourself, it is not. Move a metre and look again: the patch of floor that can see the window in the mirror is the patch it brightens.

The three positions

1. Position A, opposite the window. The mirror faces the window. The window appears doubled, but the returned light travels back towards the window wall, not into the corners beside the mirror.
2. Position B, the side wall at 90 degrees. The mirror sits on the wall at right angles to the window wall, a metre or two along. Light strikes it at a shallow angle and carries on to the far end, on the opposite side. This reaches a dark far corner.
3. Position C, beside the window. The mirror shares the window wall and cannot see the window. It reflects the far wall, so the wall reads wider, but it moves the least light.

Step two: one photo per position at a locked exposure

Your phone hides the difference unless you stop it adjusting. On an iPhone, frame the dark corner, then press and hold until AE/AF LOCK appears. On Android, use Pro mode and fix ISO 100 with a 1/60 s shutter. Stand on a taped mark, keep the framing, and take one photo per position without touching the settings. Compare the dark corner across the three; a light meter app read from the same mark gives a number.

Results table

Fill in the blank columns; the winner has sky visible and the brightest corner.

What usually wins, and why

Take a room 4 m long and 3.5 m wide, a 1.2 m window centred on a short wall, and a dark corner at the far end on the left. Light leaves a plain mirror at the angle it arrives. In position A the mirror sends the light straight back, so the corners beside it stay dark. In position B, on the left long wall 1.5 m from the window, light arriving at a shallow angle leaves at the same angle and lands on the right side of the far end. Put the mirror on the right long wall instead and it lands on the left, in the dark corner. In position C the reading barely moves.

Which mirror suits the winning position

A leaning mirror tilts back about 5 degrees, which suits position B, where light arrives from the side, and a frameless mirror reflects right to its edge. For position A, a framed rectangle about the width of the window keeps the doubled window tidy, and a wall mount removes the tilt.

Delivery and collection

Mirrors ship NZ wide via Mainfreight at live rates, usually in 5 to 7 business days, with a delivery checker on each product page. In Auckland, collect from our Albany showroom, Unit B, 19 Arrenway Drive, Rosedale, open seven days. Afterpay and Zip are available.

Frequently asked questions

Written by the C&F Creation Team. C&F Creation is a NZ owned mirror and lighting business. Mirrors are NZ designed and ship NZ wide via Mainfreight at live rates. Sizes above are taken from each product page as published on 30 September 2026.