New bronze-tinted mirrors warm interior spaces

Mirror with bronze-tinted glass is now available to interior architects and designers. The new soft, warm golden-brown tint is neither as deep nor as brassy as the metal from which it takes its name. Yet its appearance on the market is geared to a home fashion trend of the '80s which increasingly plays up the richer, deeper metallic hues of brass, copper, and bronze and complements a currently popular color palette that includes many apricot, peach, and rust tones.

Bronze-tinted mirror presents another choice in a field in which the more usual options are clear or transparent mirror, gold-veined mirror, and mirror that is smoked or antiqued.

PPG Industries, the principal supplier of glass to the nation's mirror industry, recently introduced the new tint for home use. It was back in 1962 that this company brought out Solarbronze glass for use in architecture. The bronze color is obtained by adding cobalt and silenium to the glass batch of raw materials in the beginning state of manufacture. Bronze mirror consists of bronze-tinted glass that has undergone the mirroring process.

The New York press recently previewed how the bronze mirror would look in actual application.

In a living room, Manhattan designer Shirley Regendahl went all out and completely paneled all walls and columns with the new tinted mirror. She used it to face the fireplace, panel the planters, and cover the canopy that hangs over the dining table, and she topped the rattan furniture pieces with bronze mirror as well.

Surprisingly, the room was not garish, glittering, or overwhelming. Instead it was soft, muted, and serene. Yet the neutral tone offered enough reflective value to record images and movement, and visually expand space.

Mirrors are among the least expensive and most effective space-stretching materials. Mirror one wall of a room, for instance, and immediately you have doubled its size.

* A mirrored folding screen is bound to add glamour to any room.

* A collection of mirrors in varying shapes and sizes can be as effective as a series of paintings.

* A wall arrangement that includes paintings, drawings, and artifacts can include a mirror or two to good advantage.

* If a room has no architectural interest, pluck an idea from 17th- and 18 th-century Europe and hang mirror panels on the wall, framed by molding.

* A beautifully framed large mirror on a mirrored wall can have an elegant effect.

* Crystal sconces cast twice as much light when they are mounted on a mirrored wall.