What's missing from my fireplace?

[Badundun]

Posting here as I definitely don't have an eye for design and need help!

We have finally gotten round to getting a new mirror that actually fits, however I feel like the wall needs something else and it doesn't look finished.

We cannot hang the wall on the mirror due to electrical wires in the wall, if we could I feel it would look better but we also don't want to hit any wires! Would it work having something on the wall either side of the mirror? And if so what might look good? Browsing online for inspiration but can't find anything that I think would look good.

We stick everything to the walls with command strips. You can get some pretty heavy duty ones so worth looking into if you’d rather have it on the wall.

Can you hang a mirror that's slightly larger? You can buy detectors that will tell you where the wires are in the wall (I've got one that beeps and flashes a red light when it's anywhere near an electrical wire and does similar near metal). It's only from B&Q and works really well

I think that would make everything look good!

Some logs and a fire stick. I wouldn’t out the mirror there at all if it can’t be put ok the wall.

I think it's the mirror just sitting there that's wrong. Like the pp try command strips weight depending or just hang above the wires.

We were going to hang it on the wall but the wire detector went crazy exactly where we would need to hang it. I use command strips for all my pictures but not sure how well they would fair with a heavy mirror? It'd be just our luck to come home to a mirror on the floor smashed to pieces

I think the mirror is the wrong shape but needs hanging higher if you keep it. Would strongly advise against anything other than rawl plug and screw after a DIY hanging disaster this weekend!

Looks nice. I think I would have a bigger mirror and hang it so that you can put more things on the mantle. We had a similar look in last house and had a large mirror cut by a glazier so it was quite cheap.

Our current mirror is held by heavy duty velcro. It’s fab

Bigger mirror and hang with strips!

Mirror needs to, ideally, be larger and properly hung (I've stuck mirrors on with no nails before, supported for the first 24 hrs).

Larger rectangular, maybe gilt. Or wood. That mirror is fine, you week find a home for it in another room.

And twiddly twigs in the fireplace, something more textural.

Needs a bigger mirror. What about an arch shape then it can sit on the mantle (you'll still need to secure it).

If there's really no way to hang the mirror, you need to find a way to 'frame' it, I think. Something like tall skinny vases with some kind of twiggy thing maybe? Like this https://i.etsystatic.com/26896592/r/il/3da261/3054197007/il_1588xN.3054197007_cve4.jpg but taller.

The mirror is the wrong shape and way too small

The mirror is far too low and the wrong shape - you need something with at least 3 straight edges with the boxiness of the area.

Oh, and if that's a real burner, you are going to absolutely trash that carpet. A dark coloured hearth would prevent that and anchor the chimney, as it looks unfinished and too 'floaty'.

I think it needs a big interesting picture to bring colour and interest to the wall rather than a mirror.

Yes add a hearth to ground it and maybe tile the white area inside.

Any option of some kind of well attached hook in the ceiling and using a chain to hang the mirror? Might look quite fancy! You'd need there to be a beam in the right place though.

It's a cheap electric fire so no worries there, it's more just the wall above the fireplace that is driving me crazy. There is a plug socket behind the mirror which is why we are limited on what mirror we can have, most mirrors fit flush to the wall but with a plug in the way we need one with space behind it.

I've just checked and the edge of the existing mirror is too narrow so I don't think tape will work as there isn't enough surface for the tape to sit on. Maybe a big canvas picture would work better, I've always just thought a mirror looked nicer over a fireplace.

Yes op I had similar in my kitchen with a high socket. I bought a boxy canvas print that was perfect as it stood proud by just enough to accomplish the switch. IKEA have some boxy framed mirrors.

I'd add a rug in a different colour, then. It still looks like everything's floating in space. Two larger/tallish plants on either side could also help - or a trailing plant on the mantle itself.

You can widen the back of a mirror by fixing battens - this gives you a wider area in which to distribute the weight as well as making it stand proud of any switches. You could do them like this

=========switch==========

=========switch==========

if necessary, or any other suitable spacing/config.

A tall rectangular mirror will change the position you need to put the nail in. I’d try and work out where a nail can go and then choose a mirror size/ shape on that basis.

Agree the mirror needs to be on the wall I think.

We have wires in our wall so just used a wire finder device to make sure we didn’t hit any. It worked fine.

I'd stick the mirror to the wall put a mantle piece clock below it and a nice rug in front of the fireplace.

Yes, hearth or rug and the mirror is definitely on the wrong place so either hang as PP
have said or buy a big picture in a frame to balance

Your mirror is a bit small and the wrong shape , imho. You could try getting a big, square piece of art, which will hang in the middle between the cornice and the mantle. As it stands, the dimension between the mantle and the ceiling isn’t right. You could try, as advised by pp, to hang it further up, but I’m not sure it’ll work with the shape of your mirror. Art is more forgiving because it’s a focal point in a way that a mirror isn’t.