Ideal Self-Portraits

Reflecting Reality with Kindness

People who live alone can go days at a time without seeing another human in person.

Meanwhile, they'll still likely see hundreds or even thousands of people, but only on a screen, where essentially all photos are heavily filtered or perfect images of perfect people who never even existed. This gives people a warped view of reality and what people look like. When they see themselves in the mirror, it might the only unfiltered image of a person they see that whole day.

For the sake of their self-esteem, it is worthwhile to go to great lengths to make that image look as good as possible. While we should not alter the image itself, what we can do is treat it with the same honor and respect as a work of art.

What's in a Frame?

After all, what is art other than what we treat as art?

If we were to take a beautiful painting and stick it in a cheap frame, light it poorly, and cram it in a dark corner surrounded by junk, it wouldn't seem so much like a masterpiece anymore. However, if we were to take a blank canvas and frame it beautifully, light it professionally, and mount it at eye-level as the sole element on a gallery wall, it will look like art.

Presenting any image with this much reverence and thoughtfulness causes the viewer to perceive it as a work of art, even an image of themselves. For that reason, all mirrors at Cloud Nine Studios were framed, lit, and placed as though they were fine art to make each resident's perception of herself as positive as possible.

Creating an Ideal Image

For the full-length mirror, a live edge solid wood frame is not only an opportunity to introduce more natural materials to the space, but also a way to frame the image with beautiful asymmetry. Optically, surrounding an asymmetrical image with a symmetrical border highlights and exaggerates the asymmetry—yet while all humans are asymmetrical, almost all mirror borders are symmetrical. Here, a frame where no sides match makes any asymmetry in the image between them look natural and normal. This effect is less important in the bathroom since people will often be too close to have the frame in focus to form a cohesive image; nevertheless the mirror is an irregular shape with only one axis of symmetry.

When looking in the full-length mirror, the two pieces of moss-and-flower art that normally welcome residents as they enter instead serve to add visual interest and natural beauty to the background of the reflected image. Similarly, in the bathroom, the marble mosaic is visible in the reflection. In both cases, these natural background elements distinctly complement the aesthetic of the frame, following the same Gestalt principles that govern art to combine the frame, background, and subject into a more visually pleasing, unified whole.

In the bathroom, two different sets of dim-to-warm lights give residents plenty of options to light their whole face in a variety of color temperatures while minimizing shadows. For the full-length mirror, a dedicated dim-to-warm spotlight and a large nearby window with types of light control screens provide similarly ideal conditions for full-body portraits. Plus, residents on the top floor get even more choices with a skylight in each location.

Trauma-Informed Mirror Mechanics

Home design gurus tout mirrored closet doors as the easiest way to make a room brighter and feel bigger, calling them a must for any small space. However, many people recovering from trauma are already struggling with self-image issues, so mirrors are sources of discomfort. Plus, depression can cause fatigue, executive dysfunction, or feelings of worthlessness, all of which can cause people to fall behind on hygiene to the point where being constantly forced to see themselves not looking their best can fuel a self-reinforcing cycle of negative thoughts, feelings, and actions.

For this reason, even though the apartments at Cloud Nine Studios are fairly small, we did not use this very popular feature. On the contrary, the full-length mirrors are mounted behind the front door, so they are not seen when entering the apartment and not visible from the main room. People only see their reflections when they choose to stand in a specific spot, or for a brief moment when they are leaving, when it is useful to take a quick glance anyway before heading out. Furthermore, just as the placement of the mirror is trauma-informed, so is the size. The massive scale of the mirror and generous viewing distance allows women of all sizes to be framed comfortably with room to spare, which helps to avoid triggering negative feelings in those struggling with body negativity.

The Mirrors at Haven House

In the bedrooms, the implementation of Ideal Self-Portraits at Haven House followed nearly all the same rules as at Cloud Nine Studios. Mirrored closet doors were similarly avoided in favor of full-length mirrors in every bedroom, which are framed with decorative solid wood. Mirrors are positioned such that reflections are not visible from most of the room, and each has plenty of lighting at ideal viewing distances. One feature not found here are the asymmetrical frames, which was considered a worthwhile sacrifice considering the benefits to harmony and privacy gained, because building the mirrors into the rectangular frames of the Shaker bedroom doors provided not only ideal placement in all rooms, but it also added significant weight and sound insulation to each bedroom door. The only other features missing are the coordinated background elements; however, the bedrooms at Haven House lack the alcoves that make them possible at Cloud Nine Studios.

At Haven House, all the bathrooms are shared, so the bathroom mirrors were optimized for harmony, which, in a bathroom means maximizing utility and cleanliness. Having the larger, prettier, framed mirror in the bedrooms encourages residents to spend more time using those rather than taking more time unnecessarily in the bathroom, as being forced to wait to use a shared bathroom is one of the most common sources of conflict in a shared living environment.