Listen to this guide
What size full length mirror do you actually need? Here is the short answer: most NZ adults are best served by a mirror 160 to 180cm tall and 60 to 80cm wide. Go 200cm if you are tall, share the mirror, or want it to carry the room. Everything below that answer — the dimension tables, the widths, the tall person picks, and where each size fits in a real NZ home — is what this guide covers.
We make full length mirrors for a living, so the sizes here are not abstract. Every dimension in this guide is a mirror we build, and every recommendation comes from watching which sizes Kiwis actually keep.
Quick answer: NZ full length mirror sizes at a glance
| Mirror size | Best for | Room fit |
|---|---|---|
| 120 x 40cm | Renters, spare rooms, zero floor space | Hangs over a door, no tools |
| 160 x 60cm | Adults up to about 175cm, compact rooms | Bedroom corner, rental, narrow hall |
| 170 x 70cm | Most adults, the versatile middle | Bedroom or wardrobe wall |
| 180 x 80cm | The NZ sweet spot — full view with margin | Master bedroom, living room, hallway end |
| 180 x 50cm | Full height on a narrow wall | Hallways, slim wardrobe gaps |
| 200 x 100cm | Tall people, couples, statement walls | Living room, master, entrance |
| 220 x 120cm | Gallery scale, oversized feature | Large living rooms, high stud homes |
Every size in that table is a mirror in our full length mirror collection, so if a row sounds like your room, the mirror exists and ships within NZ.
Full body mirror or full length mirror — same thing?
Yes. A full body mirror and a full length mirror are the same product: a mirror tall enough to show you head to toe in one look. Kiwis search both names about equally, and retailers use them interchangeably. You will also see floor mirror (usually the leaning style), standing mirror or free standing mirror (on its own stand or stand offs), and dressing mirror (the older name). Whatever the label, the sizing rules on this page are the same.
The one distinction worth knowing is how it stands, because that changes the size you can take. A wall mounted mirror needs solid fixing but no floor space. A leaning or free standing mirror needs a strip of wall and a touch more height, since the lean tilts the glass back a few degrees. If you are weighing those two, our freestanding mirror guide covers the leaning look in detail.
How tall does a full length mirror need to be?
The physics first, because it surprises people: a flat mirror only needs to be half your height to show all of you. Light leaving your feet reflects off the mirror at its halfway point on the way to your eyes, so a 90cm mirror can, in theory, show a 180cm person head to toe — if it is mounted at exactly the right height on a wall and you stand in the right spot.
In practice nobody buys the theoretical minimum, for three reasons:
- Leaning changes the angles. Most NZ mirrors lean rather than mount flat, and the backward tilt means the glass needs to run taller to keep your feet in view.
- You stand close. The half height rule assumes a fixed viewing spot. Real life is checking an outfit from a metre away, then stepping in to look at detail. Extra height keeps the whole reflection usable at every distance.
- Households share. A mirror sized for the shortest person in the house frustrates the tallest. Sizing for the tallest user costs nothing but centimetres.
That is why the practical floor for a proper full length mirror is about 160cm tall, and why 170 to 180cm is the range most NZ households land on. Anything shorter than 150cm has you crouching or cropping your feet, which defeats the point.
Why width matters more than you think
Height gets all the attention, but width is what makes a mirror pleasant to use. Below about 50cm you have to stand square on and hold still to keep yourself in frame. From 60cm, you can turn, check the side profile, and see the outfit as a silhouette rather than a strip. At 80cm the mirror starts reflecting meaningful amounts of the room and its light, which is why interior designers reach for that width even in medium rooms. And at 100cm the mirror doubles as a design feature: it bounces daylight, visually doubles the space, and reads as furniture rather than an accessory.
A quick rule that has never let a customer down: pick the width that matches how you use it. Outfit checks on the way out the door, 60cm is fine. A proper dressing mirror you stand at every morning, 70 to 80cm. A mirror that has to lift the whole room, 80 to 100cm. If the mirror will sit opposite a window, go a size wider than you planned — the extra glass returns real light. We measured that effect in real rooms in our guide to large floor mirrors.
Sizing for tall Kiwis: 183cm and over
If you are six foot or taller, the standard advice shifts one size up. A 160cm mirror will show you head to toe only with careful placement, and the everyday experience feels tight. The comfortable picks:
- 180 x 80cm — the minimum that feels effortless at 183cm and over. Our Titan arch at 180 x 80cm is the workhorse here.
- 200 x 100cm — the verdict pick for tall households. Nobody ever wishes their mirror were smaller. The Grandeur X at 200 x 100cm gives a two metre pane that swallows the tallest frame with room to spare.
Two more 200 x 100cm options, the Magna X arch and the Augusta X rectangle at $399, are on pre order with new stock arriving around mid August — worth a look if the Grandeur tier is more mirror than the budget wants. And if you want genuinely oversized, the Lowen X and Louis run 220 x 120cm — gallery scale pieces for big walls.
Room by room: what size fits where
Small bedroom or rental (under 12sqm)
A 160 x 60cm leaner works well — full reflection, small footprint, and no holes in the plasterboard when you move out. Lean it against the wall beside the wardrobe and match its width to an existing furniture line so the room stays calm. If even that strip of floor is spoken for, an over door mirror like the Elodie at 120 x 40cm hangs on the door itself for $45.
Master bedroom or walk in wardrobe
170 x 70cm to 180 x 80cm. This is the size band where morning use feels effortless: full silhouette, side profile without shuffling, and enough glass to throw light back into the room. Placement matters as much as size here — our bedroom mirror placement guide covers the details.
Hallway
Hallways reward height and punish width. A 180 x 50cm panel like the Nocturne gives full height on a wall that could never take an 80cm piece, and a mirror at the end of a hallway visibly doubles its length.
Living room or entrance
This is 180 x 80cm and up territory. In a shared space the mirror works as architecture: leaning on a feature wall, reflecting the window, anchoring the room. At 200 x 100cm it becomes the thing guests comment on. For styling ideas at this scale, see our guide to large wall mirrors.
The 2.4 metre ceiling rule
Most NZ homes run a 2.4m stud, and it sets a natural ceiling on mirror size. A leaning 200cm mirror tilts back and tops out around 195cm of vertical height, leaving a comfortable gap below a 2.4m ceiling. A 220cm piece fits too, but it suits rooms with a 2.7m stud or higher if you want air above the frame. The working rule: leave 20 to 30cm of clear wall above a leaning mirror so the top never crowds the ceiling line. Villas and high stud character homes can ignore this entirely and go as large as the wall allows.
Our size ladder, with prices
Four sizes cover almost every NZ room. All ship flat packed with protective corners, lean or mount, and Afterpay is available at checkout.
Our range holds a 4.9 star rating from over 200 verified customer reviews. If you are near Auckland, you can see the sizes side by side at our Albany showroom — Unit B, 19 Arrenway Drive, Rosedale, open seven days. Nothing settles a size decision faster than standing in front of both options. Delivery NZ wide is by Mainfreight with live rates calculated at checkout, or pick up from the showroom same day for in stock mirrors.
Frequently asked questions
What size is a standard full length mirror?
In NZ the common heights are 160cm, 170cm, 180cm and 200cm, with widths of 50cm, 60cm, 70cm, 80cm or 100cm. The most popular single size is 180 x 80cm — tall enough for almost every adult, wide enough for a full silhouette, and it fits comfortably under a standard 2.4m ceiling.
Is a full body mirror the same as a full length mirror?
Yes — they are two names for the same thing: a mirror tall enough to show you head to toe. Full body mirror is the more common search in NZ, full length mirror is the more common retail name. Floor mirror, standing mirror and dressing mirror all describe the same category too.
Are full body mirrors accurate?
A good one is. Accuracy comes from flat, uniform glass — not from size. Distortion creeps in when thin glass sits in a frame that twists it, or when a leaning mirror bows under its own weight. Flat silvered glass in a rigid frame shows you what a stranger sees. If a mirror makes you look unusually slim or wide, the glass is curved, not the truth.
How tall should a full length mirror be for a tall person?
At 183cm (six foot) and over, choose a mirror at least 180cm tall — and 200cm if you want the reflection to feel effortless rather than carefully framed. A two metre mirror like our Grandeur X at 200 x 100cm comfortably covers the tallest members of a household with margin to spare.
What size mirror suits a small bedroom?
160 x 60cm is the small room workhorse: full reflection, minimal footprint, and leaning it means no wall fixings. In rooms under 12sqm, match the mirror width to an existing furniture line — the dresser or wardrobe — so the wall reads tidy. If floor space is truly gone, a 120 x 40cm over door mirror does the job from the back of the door.
Does a bigger mirror really make a room brighter?
Yes. A mirror opposite or beside a window recycles daylight back into the room, and the effect scales with glass area — a 180 x 80cm mirror returns noticeably more light than a 160 x 60cm in the same spot. We compared identical rooms and the larger mirror made a visible difference at the dark end of the room.
Should I get 160cm or 180cm?
If the room can take it and anyone in the house is over 175cm, get the 180cm. The extra $90 between our 160 x 60cm and 180 x 80cm buys a third more glass, a fuller silhouette, and a mirror nobody outgrows. Choose the 160cm when the space itself is the constraint — small room, narrow wall, rental you will move out of.
Find your size
Size is the one mirror decision you cannot style your way out of, so start there: height for your tallest user, width for how you use it, and one size up whenever you hesitate. Browse the full range by size in our full length mirror collection, or start with the complete full length mirror guide if you are still weighing shapes and styles.
Ngā mihi nui,
The C&F Creation Team
