Thread: my private dance studio

well,

since we now have a shower and the kitchen is on its way, i'm allowinfg myself to start planning for the "luxuries", such as my home dance studio.

i want to install 4metres of mirrors.

anything i should look out for, for those of you that have already done so for a home or a proper studio:

did you have the mirror start from the floor, or a few cm up?
how did you attach them to the wall
how high should they be???

thanks!!!

Artemisia

the mirrors in my studio start about 1 foot up from the floor. We can still see foot work from there. They are attached using the hanging clips that the mirrors come with, I've never had a problem. Be careful about putting the mirrors too close to one another. Allow for some movement with weather fluctuations so they dont end up stressing and cracking from swelling. I'd avoid gluing mirrors to the wall. A friend of mine did that to her studio. When she moved, she had to leave hundreds of dollars of mirrors behind.

Nilaja

Mine are set on top of the skirting board, so maybe start about 8-10cms from the floor. They go up to just over my head height (I'm not sure how tall I am in cms!) but maybe 175-200cms up from the floor. I get a very good total body view.

My mirrors are plain glass mirrors glued to the wall. I wasn't planning on moving house, so I don't mind that they are permanently fixed there. The guy from the glass-shop that sold me them came round to glue them up for me, as a favour (he was recommended by a friend) so I gave him a bottle of whisky to say Thanks.

For your own home studio you may need to consider the dimensions/shape of the room, to decide on placement & size.

If you don't want the mirrors to be permanently fixed you would need to have some kind of frame, and you may need to consider using a material that is lighter than plain glass. Both would increase the cost.

You might also consider portable mirrors- something like this:
Glassless Mirrors

i definitely dont want portables, i want a real "wall". the room will be for my own practice and for private lessons and i want it to have the look and feel of a "real" dance studio. i think permanents are better for that.

i'm not sure about gluing them on though, as the room at some point might become a bedroom again, and the dance studio would move then... hm... and as we might sell the house again in a few years, same problem.

I mounted mine with a pair of wooden moldings, top and bottom. I used a small, plain, wood strip, about 1/4" thick X 1" wide, and screwed a 2" wide flat molding on top of it such that the flat molding now has a gap between it and the wall forming a slot for the mirrors to fit into. Did this top and bottom, the mirrors start about 1 foot from the floor.

Did that description make sense? ..c::

I ordered mine from a local glass company and had them mount them. I told them I didn't want them permanently glued, so they put them in what they call a 'J-Channel' which is an aluminum frame that they slide several mirrors into. Mine start fairly high up from the floor -- maybe at my knee? A little lower than that. I can see my feet just fine unless I stand right up against the wall - which I never do.

When I moved my studio a year later, I called the glass company and they moved my mirrors for me.

Another idea is that I like to have mirrors on two walls...perpindicular (sp?) to each other so that you can look at your front and your side at the same time.

I have front and side wall mirrors. My mirrors came from home depot. I am pretty sure they came with mounting clips. They are tiny little plastic clips, barely noticeable. 2 on top, bottom, and side will hold them securely. No need for framing. And it's all do it yourself. I saved myself thousands of dollars in mirror and installation work. If I remember correctly, each mirror was around $50 each. I helped my husband hang them. It was easy.

Nilaja

I just used unframed unbeveled door mirrors, they're 5' tall and 12" wide apiece, mounted 4 of them next to each other using the clear plastic clips at top and bottom. Cost maybe $30 and took about an hour to put them all up, they're about 9" from the floor.

Hey, Nilaja -- about how big are your mirrors? I was looking for good-sized ones at Home Depot recently and came up empty, but I know in the past they've had some largish, squarish ones, possibly 6' X 6'? I'd prefer fairly large ones if I can find them so would appreciate any leads.