How to Arrange Three Small Wall Mirrors: Make Paper Templates Before Drilling

To arrange three small wall mirrors, trace each one onto paper, mark where its hanger sits on the tracing, and tape the tracings to the wall. Move them until the gaps, the height and the reflections work from where you will see them, then drill through the marks. Five steps, with spacing worked out for common furniture widths.

Step 1: make a template of each mirror

Lay each mirror face down on kraft paper, wrapping paper or taped newspaper and trace around the outside of the frame. Trace the frame, not the glass: the outside edge is what takes up wall space. Cut it out, write the size on it, mark the top and draw a pencil line down the middle. Weigh the mirror on the bathroom scales and write that on too; the weight decides the fixing later.

Step 2: mark the hanger on each template

Turn the mirror over. With D rings or a sawtooth hanger, measure down from the top edge to the point that will sit on the hook, and in from the side, and mark that spot with a cross. Two D rings mean two crosses, and two fixings that must end up level.

With a wire, pull the middle of it up until taut, as it will be on the hook, and measure from the top of the frame to the peak of the wire. That is the drop; mark it on the centre line. Measure with the wire slack and the mirror hangs lower than the paper. Three mirrors rarely share the same hanger, so their hooks often sit at different heights even when the frames line up; the marks take care of that.

Step 3: choose the pattern and one gap

Three small mirrors go up one of three ways. A row: three the same size, centres on one level line, the tidiest look and the widest. A stack: three in a column, for the strip between two windows or beside a door, with at least 10 cm of clear wall either side. A mixed group: the largest anchors and the two smaller sit beside it, lined up along their tops or bottoms so the eye reads a set.

Pick one gap and keep it, measured frame to frame. At 5 to 8 cm three small mirrors read as one piece; much wider and they look like three. Then check the width. A group looks settled at two thirds to three quarters of the furniture below it, and a row is three mirror widths plus two gaps, so the furniture sets the mirror size:

So three 40 cm mirrors in a row want furniture about 180 cm wide, and above a 120 cm console a row means mirrors of about 25 cm. If yours are bigger, stack them or mix them, and apply the rule to the outline of the whole group.

Step 4: tape the set up and test it

Stick the templates up with low tack painter's tape, made to come off paint cleanly. Above furniture, leave about 25 cm between the furniture top and the lowest frame. On a bare wall, put the centre of the group at 145 to 150 cm from the floor, the same as a single mirror. Run a spirit level, or your phone's level, along the line you are aligning.

Then test what a finished wall cannot undo. From the doorway and the main seat, is the group centred on what you look at? Hold a hand mirror face out against the middle of each template and look into it from those spots. What you see is roughly what that mirror will show: a window and greenery, or the back of the TV. Leave the paper up for a day.

Before you commit, keep every mark clear of the lines straight above and below switches and power points, where cables usually run, and use a stud finder if you have one.

Step 5: drill through the marks

Drill a pilot hole through the paper at each cross, or press a nail through to mark the wall, then pull the templates off. Fit the fixing each mirror's weight calls for; which fixing suits which weight is in our plasterboard hanging guide. Renting? Light mirrors can go up on rated adhesive strips; see our no drill mounting options.

Hang the middle mirror first and level it, then hang the outer two and set each gap by measuring from the hung frame, not the pencil. Uneven gaps are what the eye catches first.

Three small mirrors or one wider one?

C&F does not sell small wall mirrors, so the three in this guide are your own. Where we can help is the alternative, and one more template settles it: cut one at the size of a single wider mirror and tape it over the trio. Three mirrors mean three hangers, up to six holes and two gaps to keep true; one mirror is one level line and one set of fixings, with a bigger reflection. If your trio crowds the furniture, or you like several panes without the extra holes, a window pane mirror gives you the grid in one piece.

Our Le Vue is 100 cm wide and 120 cm tall, with an arched top and a black window pane grid over 4 mm ultra clear glass. It weighs 11 kg, is 2.2 cm deep and is made for wall mounting only. By the same rule it suits furniture about 133 to 150 cm wide.

NZ designed. Delivery NZ wide by Mainfreight at live rates calculated at checkout, or collect from our Albany showroom. Afterpay available. 4.9 stars across over 200 reviews.

Frequently asked questions

Final word

Arranging three small mirrors is a measuring job more than a styling one. Trace, mark the hangers, tape up, live with the paper for a day, and drill once.

Written by the C&F Creation Team. C&F Creation is an NZ Owned mirror and lighting business. Mirrors are NZ designed, with the exact glass spec listed on every product page, and shipped NZ wide via Mainfreight at live rates calculated at checkout. Afterpay available.