Ideal Self-Portraits

Kind Self-Portraiture

At Cloud Nine Studios, the

The oversized mirror helps people with weight issues

Accepting Imperfection with Grace

The 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 between them look natural and normal. (e.g., Tom Cruise, considered one of the most attractive people in the world, you'd never notice his teeth are way off center until you look at him straight on with a line running down his face.)

(In the bathroom mirror, the top is not symmetrical with the bottom, plus people will often be close enough to not have the frame be in focus with themselves in their field of vision at the same time.

The natural materials

It Just Works

As with all other features, the person using the mirror doesn't have to know any of the reasoning; the mirror's design and placement will naturally steer them to see a more ideal image of themselves. Over time, this kind self-portraiture can have a measurably positive effect on self-image and self-esteem // increase confidence and self-worth, //

People who live alone can go days at a time without seeing another human in person. They'll likely see hundreds or thousands of people a day, however 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 look in the mirror, it might the only unfiltered image of a person they see that whole day, so for their self-image -- while we can't apply Instagram filters -- I think it's worthwhile to make them look as good as possible. What makes everything look better? A nice frame. What is art other than what we treat as art? If we treat their bathroom mirror as artwork, then what appears in it, i.e., themselves, can be presented with the honor and respect we show to artwork.

I believe very strongly that the mirrors in the apartment bathrooms should have pretty, decorative frames rather than the utilitarian frameless mirrors you'd find in a hotel. You see, people who live alone can go days at a time without seeing another human in person. They'll likely see hundreds or thousands of people a day, however only on a screen, where essentially all photos are heavily filtered, especially photos of women. This gives people a warped view of reality and what people look like. When they look in the mirror, it might the only unfiltered image of a person they see that whole day, so for their self-image -- while we can't apply Instagram filters -- I think it's worthwhile to make these women look as good as possible to themselves in their own homes. What makes everything look better? A nice frame. What is art other than what we treat as art? If we treat their bathroom mirror as artwork, then what appears in it, ie, themselves, can be presented with the honor and respect we show to artwork. These homes are primarily for abuse and trauma survivors, and it's hard to think of people who more deserve to feel beautiful.

So I want to make sure they have as good of an experience in this spot as possible. Get those nice pressure relieving pads to stand on because they're fun to stand on and feel good in bare feet. Add custom dividers to drawers, work with Machi to really trick out the inside with organization. Hair dryer holder. (Opposite for Haven House; they need to get in and get out.)

In Haven House, all mirrored closet doors were removed (for TID) and custom mirrors were added to the insides of the doors, framed in a shaker style. This moved them as out of the way as possible to reduce conflict in double-occupancy rooms. Plus, the heavy mirror added significantly to the weight of the door (for perceived security, reference Saturn car case study) and the sound dampening (for privacy and sleep quality).

However, the need there is lesser because, while living in a group home, each resident will see several other real women every day.

In Haven House, all 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 bedroom 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.

Large frameless mirrors

The layouts