Listen to this guide
The mirror shape that fits a narrow wall is the one whose full size paper outline sits on that wall with at least 5 cm of plaster showing each side, clears the light switch and the door swing, and still shows you from eye line to feet from where you will stand. Width decides first and shape second: in our range a 50 cm strip takes the 40 cm oval, 70 cm takes the 60 cm arch, 90 cm takes an 80 cm arch or rectangle, and 110 cm takes the 100 cm pieces. The outline is how you find out which strip you really have, because our shapes are not rectangles and a tape measure only tells you the widest point.
This page decides one thing: which single shape and width fits one narrow wall. Hallway placement and mounting are in the hallway mirror guide; a cluster of three small mirrors is its own method in the small wall mirror guide; the arch against rectangle and round against rectangular comparisons stay on their pages; the height and width your body needs is the size guide; and whether the mirror should stand, lean or hang is the freestanding or wall mounted check.
Measure the strip, not the room
A narrow wall is usually a strip: between a door architrave and a corner, between two doors, beside a wardrobe, the return at the end of a hallway, or the slice a bed leaves beside it. Measure three things and pencil them on the wall. First, the clear width from the architrave edge or the corner to the next interruption, taken at 100 cm off the floor and again at 180 cm, because a cornice, a window reveal or a sloped ceiling can make the top of a strip narrower than the bottom. Second, every switch, socket and thermostat in the strip: its height and its distance from each edge. Most New Zealand switches sit between 100 and 120 cm off the floor, which is mid height on a full length mirror, so a switch inside the strip pushes the mirror sideways rather than up. Third, the door swing: open the door fully and mark where its edge and its handle pass the wall. A leaning mirror's bottom edge sits 16 to 24 cm out from the wall and a mirror on its stand 27 to 33 cm, so a door that clears the wall can still meet the mirror.
Why the tape measure is not enough
Our shapes narrow toward the top in different ways, and the narrowing is what lets a shape fit a strip its headline width says it should not. The Titan Arched is 80 cm wide from the shoulder down, but 53 cm wide 10 cm below its crown and 69 cm at 20 cm. The Eclipse Oval is a stadium shape, 40 cm wide with semicircular ends, so its top 20 cm and bottom 20 cm pull in and it is 26 cm wide 5 cm below the crown. A rectangle is its full width from the top corner to the bottom corner. The table gives the width of each of our shapes at set distances below the top edge, worked from the listed size and the dimension drawing of each piece, so you can cut the outline from numbers rather than guess the curve.
| Mirror | Shape | Size, cm | 5 cm down | 10 cm down | 20 cm down | 30 cm down | Full width from | Corner air, sq cm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eclipse Oval | stadium | 40 x 180 | 26.5 | 34.6 | 40 | 40 | 20 cm down | 343 |
| Svelte X | arch | 60 x 160 | 33.2 | 44.7 | 56.6 | 60 | 30 cm down | 386 |
| Titan Arched | arch | 80 x 180 | 38.7 | 52.9 | 69.3 | 77.5 | 40 cm down | 687 |
| Rachelle frameless | arch | 80 x 180 | 38.7 | 52.9 | 69.3 | 77.5 | 40 cm down | 687 |
| Zenith X | rectangle | 80 x 180 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 | top corner | 0 |
| Magna X | arch | 100 x 200 | 43.6 | 60 | 80 | 91.7 | 50 cm down | 1,073 |
| Augusta X | rectangle | 100 x 200 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | top corner | 0 |
| Aure Round | circle | 100 x 100 | 43.6 | 60 | 80 | 91.7 | 50 cm down | 2,146 |
Widths in centimetres, computed from each listed size and the shape on its drawing: the arches are full semicircles with a radius of half the width, the Eclipse has 20 cm semicircular ends. Corner air is the wall left showing inside the mirror's rectangle at the top, and at the bottom too for the Eclipse. The Cascade X irregular has no formula: trace it from the drawing on its product page.
The last column matters on a strip. A rectangle fills its strip corner to corner and reads like a second door beside the first. An arch leaves 687 square centimetres of plaster showing above its shoulders on an 80 cm piece, and a 100 cm round leaves 2,146, which is why a curved top can sit closer to an architrave than a square one and still look intended.
Cut the outline
Use a roll of brown paper or newsprint, or tape A3 sheets edge to edge. The outline has to be full size, not a scaled drawing, because the checks below are about where edges land on your wall. Draw a vertical centreline the height of the mirror. Working down from the top, mark half of each width from the table either side of the centreline at 5, 10, 20 and 30 cm, then the full width from the shoulder to the bottom, and join the marks with a steady curve. For the Eclipse repeat the curve at the bottom; for a rectangle you only need the four corners. Cut it out. On a framed mirror the frame sits inside the listed size, so the paper is the whole thing.
Tape it at the height it will really sit. Wall mounted, our placement guide puts the bottom edge 10 to 15 cm off the floor and the top at or a little above eye level. Leaning, the bottom edge sits on the floor 16 to 24 cm out from the wall for a 180 to 200 cm mirror, as set out in the leaning mirror guide, so the top lands a few centimetres lower than the mirror's height. Then step back to where you would use it and run four checks.
1. Gaps. Is there at least 5 cm of wall each side of the paper at every height?
Measure to the architrave edge or the corner, never to the door. Under 5 cm the mirror reads as jammed in; 10 cm each side looks chosen. A curved top can pass at the crown and fail at the shoulder, so check both heights.
2. Switch, socket, thermostat. Does the paper cover any of them?
A mirror cannot sit over a switch, and a mirror slid sideways to miss one gives up its gap on the other side. If it fails here, go one width down rather than one shape across: the switch is at mid height, where every shape is at full width.
3. Door swing. With the door fully open, does its edge or handle cross the paper, or the floor in front of it?
The floor zone is 16 to 24 cm for a leaner and up to 33 cm for a stand. If the door crosses it, wall mount the mirror, or lean it on the hinge side of the strip instead.
4. Reflection. From where you will stand, does the paper run from your eye line to your feet in the mirror?
If the top is short, raise the mirror before you go up a size; if the bottom is short, a leaner or a lower wall fixing fixes it. Width is settled by checks one to three, not by this one.
Read the answer off the wall
The width that passes all four checks is your width. Shape is then a choice between the pieces we make at that width, and on a strip the choice has rules of its own. Pick a curved top when the strip is beside a door or runs into a cornice, because the corner air keeps the mirror and the architrave from reading as one block, and when the strip narrows toward the ceiling. Pick the rectangle when the strip is a clean panel with nothing beside it and you want the widest reflection the strip allows: at 80 cm wide the Zenith X shows the full 80 cm at head height where the Titan's crown has narrowed to 53. The round belongs above a console on a wall that is short rather than narrow; a 100 cm circle needs a 110 cm strip and shows you only at face and chest height.
| Clear strip, after the switch and swing checks | Our pieces at that width | How it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Under 50 cm | Nothing in the range fits with a margin. Look at the other side of the door, or the long wall the hallway guide sends you to. | |
| 50 to 65 cm | Eclipse Oval 180 x 40 cm, frameless stadium shape, 12 kg | lean, or wall |
| 70 to 85 cm | Svelte X 160 x 60 cm arch in black, or the Svelte Alba in white, 13 kg | stand in the box, lean, or wall |
| 90 to 105 cm | Titan Arched 180 x 80 cm, Rachelle frameless arch 180 x 80 cm, or the Zenith X rectangle 180 x 80 cm | Titan and Zenith X stand, lean or wall; Rachelle leans or wall mounts |
| 110 to 125 cm | Magna X arch 200 x 100 cm, Augusta X rectangle 200 x 100 cm, or above a console the Aure Round 100 cm | lean or wall; the Aure is wall only |
| Over 125 cm | That is a wall, not a strip: the size guide takes over. |
Eclipse Oval
180 x 40 cm, 12 kg. The narrowest piece we make; needs a 50 cm strip.
Svelte X Arched
160 x 60 cm, 13 kg. Stand included; needs a 70 cm strip.
Titan Arched
180 x 80 cm, 19 kg. Stand included; needs a 90 cm strip.
Zenith X Rectangular
180 x 80 cm, 19 kg. Full width to the top; needs a 90 cm strip.
Mirrors ship NZ wide via Mainfreight at the live rate shown at checkout, or collect from our Albany showroom, Unit B, 19 Arrenway Drive, Rosedale, open seven days. Afterpay and Zip are available.
Frequently asked questions
Does a mirror make a narrow room look bigger?
Longer and brighter, not wider. A mirror on the long wall doubles what it reflects, so a narrow room gains apparent depth and carries window light along its length, but the walls stay where they are and the eye still reads them. A mirror that fits its strip with clear wall each side does more for the room than a bigger one forced in.
How much wall should show either side of a mirror on a narrow wall?
At least 5 cm each side, measured to the architrave or the corner at every height, and 10 cm if you want it to look chosen rather than squeezed. Under 5 cm the frame sits in the architrave's shadow line and the two read as one object.
Can a full length mirror go next to a door?
Yes, once the swing and the handle have been checked against the outline. A leaner's base sits 16 to 24 cm out from the wall and a stand 27 to 33 cm, so on the swing side wall mount it, and on the hinge side any mode works. A curved top stops the mirror reading as a second door.
What is the narrowest full length mirror you make?
The Eclipse Oval, 40 cm wide and 180 cm tall, a frameless stadium shape that leans or wall mounts and needs a 50 cm strip. The next width up is 60 cm, the Svelte arch at 160 cm tall, with its stand in the box.
Find the width first, then the shape
Every product page lists the size, weight, what is in the box and a dimension drawing to trace from, with a delivery checker for your postcode. NZ designed, NZ owned, 4.9 stars across over 200 reviews.
Shop Full Length MirrorsWritten 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. Widths at height are computed from each product's listed size and the shape on its dimension drawing as published on 15 October 2026; stock and sizes were checked the same day.
