A mirror gets cut once. That is the whole difficulty, and in Montclair the sconces are often on the wall before we are called, because they went up before the tile did and they are not moving now. So a vanity mirror here is a layout problem before it is a piece of glass. It can run between the sconces, carry on behind them with the stems passing through the glass, or stop short and leave them clear on the field. Each of those is a different number, and the rest of the job waits on which one it is.
Something has to set the width of a vanity mirror, and with a pair of sconces wired in beside the vanity there are three candidates. Fit the glass inside the pair and the sconces set it: the width becomes whatever the space between the two backplates allows, and both side edges finish a few inches from a light. Take the fixtures into the glass, with the stems passing through it, and the sconces stop limiting the width at all, so the glass can run on toward the wall's own edges instead. Keep the piece clear of them and the vanity sets it, which lets the mirror sit on the wall as a piece in its own right with a sconce standing free on either side. None of the three is a default, and in a designed bathroom the elevation has often chosen already. Each choice also changes what the rest of the piece needs, starting with its edges.
The edges are where a close light shows, so they get chosen with the sconces switched on rather than from a sample card. A fixture that close to a bevel makes more of it than any showroom light does, every evening, and some rooms are drawn to show exactly that. Others want the glass to read as one plain sheet, and a flat polished edge does that, staying quiet beside a busy fixture. Whatever else meets the glass, an outlet the vanity wall kept or a faucet on a mirrored backsplash, goes onto that same layout before the sheet is cut at our Lodi shop, so nothing about the piece is left to settle once it exists. Antique mirror is there as well, if a room is asking for it.
Mirror often reaches us already specified. A designer has drawn it, given it a width and a height, and put it on a schedule beside the tile and the fixtures. That number makes a good starting point and a poor finishing one, because the wall it has to live on was put up in the late eighteen hundreds or the early nineteen hundreds and may be plaster, patched since. Walls of that age bow gently between studs, and a run that measures one width at the vanity top measures another farther up the wall. So we take the specified size, hold it against the wall as it actually stands, and come back with the number that will look right rather than the number that was drawn.
A job here can bring more than one piece. A vanity mirror in the primary bath, a full length panel on a bedroom wall, a wide run in a lower level room set up for exercise. Each piece still gets its own numbers, because a bedroom wall and a vanity wall rarely behave the same way. Measuring them on one visit is quicker for everybody, and it lets the edge treatment stay consistent through the house or change on purpose where a room wants something else. The measure itself is free. Every piece is cut and edged at the Lodi shop and hung by our own crew, and with Lodi about sixteen minutes out, a second visit costs little in time when a room is not ready or a wall turns out to want a different size.
Mirrors laid out from the sconce centers in Montclair houses, with bedroom and exercise-room pieces from Glen Ridge, Verona and Bloomfield alongside. Open a photo and read the edge first, then notice where the glass stops against a sconce, a switch plate or the trim.
More custom glass in Montclair: frameless shower doors, sliding & bypass shower doors, semi-frameless shower doors, shower door replacement, custom glass shower enclosures. See everything on our Montclair, NJ page. Custom Mirrors nearby: Paramus, Ridgewood, Hackensack, Fort Lee, Lodi, Midland Park, Englewood, Teaneck, Fair Lawn, Mahwah, Wyckoff, Tenafly, Franklin Lakes, Ramsey, Glen Rock, Wayne. Learn more about our custom mirrors statewide, or read the Vanity mirrors: framed vs. frameless and The complete custom mirror wall guide guides.
There is no showroom in Montclair, and the reason to make the trip is a narrow one: a polished edge and a bevel photograph almost identically and look nothing alike under a light. Lodi, 80 Industrial Rd, is about sixteen minutes north and takes walk ins weekdays 9 to 5 and Saturday 9 to 4, with the selection wall and full enclosure displays. Midland Park, 108 Greenwood Ave, sits roughly twenty eight minutes out and runs by appointment, with glass, hardware finishes and samples to go through.
Off the counter by enough to look deliberate, and lined up with something the room is already doing. A wall hung cabinet puts a strong horizontal underneath it, and the eye pairs the bottom of the mirror with that line whether you meant it to or not. With no backsplash for the edge to hide behind, that edge is on show from the doorway, which is an argument for a polished or beveled finish there rather than a plain one.
Close, but never under them. A backplate has to sit flat on the wall and come off again someday if the fixture needs work, so the mirror ends short of the plate's rim rather than tucking beneath it. How far short is proportion, not a figure from a chart: it depends on the plate's size and how far apart the two fixtures sit. Both get measured on the wall itself, and the mirror is sized to the sconces, not the sconces to the mirror.
No. Frameless describes the edge, not the mounting, and the two get decided separately. The visible part is the top: a clip up there stands proud of the glass and catches the light, so where the design wants nothing showing, the weight is carried along the bottom edge and the top is held from behind. Adhesive keeps a panel flat against a wall. On painted plaster it should never be the thing holding the piece up, because that bond is only as good as the paint under it.
One of three things. The mirror stops clear of it with a margin wide enough to look intended rather than accidental. It runs past and takes a cutout, which puts the plate on the glass. Or the switch moves, which is an electrician's morning and sometimes the right answer in a room already being renovated. We measure the box position and lay all three out so you can see which one you can live with.
After the vanity and the sconces are in and the wall behind them is finished, because the mirror gets sized off all three. Before that we can talk layout and rough sizes, which is useful while the plan is still moving. But the number we cut to has to come from the finished room. If that wall is getting tile or paneling, it goes on first as well.
Say whether the sconces are up yet, and roughly how far apart they sit. If a switch plate or a backsplash edge lands where the glass would, mention that too. The in-home measure is free, and every piece is cut and edged in Lodi. Call or text (201) 460-1313.
Say whether the sconces are up yet, and roughly how far apart they sit. If a switch plate or a backsplash edge lands where the glass would, mention that too. The in-home measure is free, and every piece is cut and edged in Lodi. Call or text (201) 460-1313.
Text Jessica directly and she'll get right back to you. To speed things up, include:
