Standing Mirrors

A freestanding mirror is any mirror that stays upright without being screwed to a wall. Retailers use "standing mirror", "floor standing mirror", "free standing full length mirror", "standing mirror full length" and "full length mirror with stand" for the same broad idea, and the idea splits into two. A mirror with stand holds itself up on feet: a bracket, an easel, or the two uprights of a cheval. A leaner has no feet and rests against the wall at a few degrees, held there by its own weight.

Both are standing mirrors in the sense people search for, no drill and no landlord, and a full length mirror free standing on feet is what most of the market sells, so it is worth being clear: we sell the second kind. All 28 mirrors here lean, from the Gentle Arch 150 x 60cm at 15.3kg to the 200 x 120cm window mirrors at 39kg, and all 28 hang, because the hardware is already on the back. If you specifically want a mirror on feet that you can tilt, the leaner mirror page will not help you either and the stand section below says what to look for in one from another shop.

Who is a standing mirror for? Renters who cannot drill. Anyone who wants the mirror in one room now and another next year. Bedrooms with no spare wall, where the mirror has to sit beside a wardrobe or in a corner. And anyone who likes the look, because the backward tilt of a leaner lengthens the reflection and lifts the light in a way a flat wall mirror does not.

Stands are where cheap and good part company, and since we do not sell one, this is the advice we would give a friend. The glass in a £40 standing mirror and a £110 one is often the same 4mm sheet; the stand is not. A U-base is a wide metal bracket bolted to the back of the frame, running most of the mirror's width, with the mirror leaning back onto it; because the feet sit nearly as wide as the glass, it is the most stable stand for the money. An A-frame or easel has two hinged legs that fold out behind the mirror like a picture easel: light, folds flat, easy to move, and its narrow footprint lets a tall mirror rock on deep carpet. A cheval holds the glass between two uprights on a pivot so you can tilt it: the traditional bedroom design, the heaviest, the steadiest, and 10 to 15cm wider than the glass. A stand with a shelf or rail sits the mirror on a small cabinet or ladder frame; useful in a hall, and it pushes the mirror further from the wall.

A leaner is the fifth design, and the one on this page. Its base is the full width of the mirror, its weight sits low, and there is no bolt-on part to work loose. What it cannot do is tilt on demand or stand away from a wall, and it needs one screw in the wall for a strap, which is the subject of the next section.

Three things decide whether a standing mirror stays up. The width of the base relative to the glass: a leaner's base is the glass, so nothing beats it for a sideways shove, and a stand whose feet span less than two thirds of the mirror width is the kind that goes over. The lean angle: a mirror resting back at 5 to 8 degrees has its weight behind the base and is hard to pull forward, while a mirror standing bolt upright is balanced on a knife edge; leaners get this right by nature, stands get it right only if the bracket is designed for it. And the floor: deep carpet pushes a base away from the wall and lets narrow feet sink unevenly, which is why an easel that is rock solid on laminate rocks on a thick pile.

None of that makes a 15 to 39kg sheet of glass safe around a toddler or a large dog on its own. A leaner that is pulled forward comes down, and so does a mirror on feet. The fix is the same for both and it is small: an anti-tip strap kit, the nylon-and-bracket set sold for chests of drawers, one screw into the wall behind the top of the mirror, a few pounds and four minutes. It is a safety line rather than a hook, so it is not rated to carry the weight, but it stops the mirror coming forward, which is the only direction that matters. Fit it on delivery day. The guide to securing a leaning mirror covers the strap, the screw-eye-and-cable alternative and the L-bracket for a child's room. If you truly cannot put one screw in a wall, stand the mirror in a corner where it can only fall one way and keep the heaviest sizes for rooms children do not use.

A flat mirror only needs to be half your height to show all of you, and a leaner is kinder still, because the backward tilt shows more head and less floor than the same glass hung flat. So the sizing question for a floor standing full length mirror is less about seeing your head and more about margin and width. Our rule: 150cm covers the average adult (175.0cm for a British man, 161.3cm for a woman, by the Scottish Health Survey), 160cm covers nearly everyone with room above the fringe, and 180 and 200cm are about width and what the mirror does for the room rather than about height.

Width is where people under-buy. At 60cm, our narrowest, you see yourself and an outfit held up beside you. At 90cm two people fit. At 105 to 120cm the mirror is reflecting the room as much as the person, which is the point of a large standing mirror in a hallway or living room, and at that size the weight is 26.5 to 39kg, so the strap is not optional and the delivery is two-person.

Less than you think for a leaner, more than you think for a stand. A leaner at 5 to 8 degrees puts its base 15 to 20cm out from the wall, and because nothing projects beyond the frame, that strip is the whole footprint. A U-base or easel stand needs 30 to 45cm from the wall to the front of its feet, and a cheval 40 to 50cm plus the width of its uprights. In a small bedroom the difference between 15cm and 45cm is the difference between the mirror fitting beside the wardrobe and the mirror standing in the walkway.

The other footprint is the wall behind. A leaner needs a flat stretch of wall as wide as the mirror with nothing on it for the top edge to rest against: no radiator, no light switch, no skirting-board heater. A stand needs none of that, which is its one real advantage, and the reason a mirror on feet can live in the middle of a dressing room where a leaner cannot. If the only place the mirror can go is a corner with no clear wall, a cheval from another shop is the right buy and we will say so.

In a bedroom, side-on to the window so the daylight falls on you rather than onto the glass, and within a step of the wardrobe, because that is where you stand when you want it. A corner works well for any standing mirror: two walls limit the directions it can fall, and corners are usually dead space anyway. Avoid putting it directly opposite the bed if you sleep lightly; a mirror reflecting a window bounces the early light across the room, and a mirror reflecting the bed is a mirror reflecting a duvet.

In a hallway a floor standing mirror is a good idea only if the hall is wide, because even a leaner's 15cm is 15cm people brush past with bags, and a stand's 40cm is a trip hazard. Nine halls in ten want a full length wall mirror instead, and every mirror here hangs, so that is one click away rather than a different purchase. In a dressing room, go wide and lean it: the tilt is flattering, the width shows the whole outfit, and nobody is hurrying past. For a small room, stand the mirror where it reflects the window or a lamp; it costs the same floor space either way and the room reads as twice as bright.

A standing mirror is the obvious choice when the tenancy forbids holes in the wall, and a leaner is the one piece of large furniture that moves between rooms, flats and houses with no tools at all: lift, carry, lean. The honest caveat is the strap. One small screw eye in the wall, filled and painted when you leave, is within what most landlords accept and it is the only way to make a tall standing mirror safe around children. If even that is off the table, keep the mirror in a corner, choose a size you can comfortably lift (the 150 and 160cm mirrors here are 14.7 to 17.6kg), and treat it as you would a tall bookcase.

Nothing here needs assembling. The mirror arrives in one piece with the hanging hardware already fitted; you unwrap it, check it, stand it against the wall and fit the strap. Anything 180cm or taller is easier to stand up with two people, and arrives with two because those sizes travel on a two-person service.

Yes, and the heavier it is the more the leaner design earns its keep, because 33 to 39kg on a bolt-on stand is a lot of trust in four screws. A large standing mirror here is a leaner of 180 or 200cm: the Oval 180 x 80cm at 21.7kg, the arched and window mirrors at 180 x 90 and 180 x 105cm from 20.8 to 31.8kg, and the eight two-metre mirrors from 33.2 to 39kg. All of them come on a two-person delivery, all of them want two people to stand up, and all of them want the strap fitted before anyone leaves the room.

Two cautions at this size. The lean puts the top edge of a 200cm mirror at about 198cm, so check the wall is clear of coving, picture rails and anything hung above. And a 2.4 square metre sheet of glass leaning in a hallway is a bad idea whatever it weighs; large leaners belong in dressing rooms and living rooms. The large mirror page covers the 180 and 200cm range with door and stair clearances.

A standing mirror asks more of its glass and frame than a wall mirror does, because there is no wall holding the sheet flat; a leaner touches the wall only along its top edge. A 3mm sheet at 160cm flexes in a slim frame and the reflection ripples, which is why a £30 cheval can make you look wider than your bathroom mirror. Every mirror here is 4mm safety-backed glass in a welded 15 to 20mm steel frame with a backing, which holds the sheet flat to 200cm; float glass weighs 2.5kg per square metre per millimetre, so the sheet in a 160 x 60cm mirror is 9.6kg of its 15kg and the frame and backing are the rest. The one exception on our sheet is the champagne Arched 180 x 90cm, listed at 5mm.

Behind the glass is a safety backing, a film bonded to the back so that if the mirror breaks it holds together instead of falling as shards. It does not stop glass cracking; it changes what happens afterwards, which on a mirror that stands at head height is the part that matters. Impact-tested backings are classified under BS 6206 or BS EN 12600 and the glass quality standard is BS EN 1036-1, so those are the things to ask about wherever you buy. The glass thickness guide has the detail and the ten-second flatness test.

The ones we would talk you out of, ours or anyone's, with the number behind each.

From about £28 to £400, and the market splits cleanly. Under £45 is 3mm or thin 4mm glass in a light aluminium or plastic frame on a fold-out stand: The Range starts around £28, Dunelm's plain rectangle is £32 to £40 and carries a 4.7 average from 378 reviews, which tells you it does the spare-room job well. From £45 to £185 the frames thicken and the stands improve: B&Q runs £42 to £170, Wayfair's arched and rectangular mirrors £50 to £120, Argos lists a HOMCOM floor mirror at £63.99, and Dunelm's solid oak Naturalis is £185. Our 28 leaners run £149.95 to £399.95, in welded steel with 4mm glass, which is the band where the glass stays flat and the frame stays square, and The Range tops out at £280 for its largest free standing mirror.

Our view: if the mirror is for a spare room, a £35 standing mirror with a wide U-base is a sensible buy and we are not going to pretend otherwise. If it is the mirror you dress in every morning, the extra money between £40 and £150 buys the one thing a standing mirror cannot fake, a flat reflection in a frame that will still be square after two house moves, and a leaner spends none of it on a stand that can fail.

Every mirror here leaves UK stock within one working day on a tracked courier and arrives in two to seven working days, free to mainland UK addresses because every one is over £75. The 180 and 200cm mirrors travel on a two-person service. The delivery page has the detail and the offshore postcodes we quote separately.

Check the glass before you stand it up. If anything is cracked, chipped or marked, photograph it with the carton and the label and email us within 24 hours; we send a replacement free and you keep the broken one for disposal rather than posting glass back. Changed your mind? You have 14 days from delivery to tell us and the mirror goes back unused in its packaging at your carriage cost, which with a 30kg carton is the honest reason to measure the wall first. The returns page has both policies in full.