I was thinking about using rope lighting under the toe kick of the vanity and above my tall cabinet as a night light. Anyone done something like this?

-- Eric

I did toekick lights in the kitchen. I think it would be very nice in the bathroom and offer not just light but light where you need it...the floor :)
I have a plug in night light clock. It's a three inch round clock that glows green.
Monica

Ikea sells some fantastic tiny lights for this. Some are like sticks with tiny lights inside. There are several strung together. Others are little round disks. Way cool. I plan on using the first ones mentioned under my cabinet. They have the ability to change color too if you want. Monica is that a plug in light and where did you get it? I had two and one never worked and one did for awhile but quit. I liked to bring on cruises and plug in bathroom. Helps keep me on time when rushing back out to dinner or show. Plus nice to have a beacon In small room at night to shoot for.

Look into LED rope lights. The prices are coming down and they are very economical to run.

They work well above or below a run of cabinets, in the crown molding...rope is fairly versatile.

They come in cool and warm white as well as quite a few other colors...some multi-bulb ropes even change color, you can fire that up as you nod off to Donna Summer and the Bee Gees.

Suffering from the Night Fever,
Mongo

Mongo, between your night fever and pet rock, are you stuck in a time warp? ;)

Gibby, I saw a photo once of a bathroom mirror that was mounted forward away from the wall a bit and had back lighting behind it. It was a very pretty effect. Also, you can have a dimmer switch installed for your overhead lighting. I have one in my bathroom and love it.

the standard, candelabra base little 7w night light bulbs now come in an LED version. You can get them in 2-packs at Home Depot. So, any fixture with a candelabra base can become a night light fixture.

Not sayin' that's what you want to do, just adding to the mix.

There is also a c crane bulb that is much brighter.

Here is a link that might be useful: led night light bulb

Great ideas - thank-you! And I'm glad others think under the toe kick is an okay idea. I have some of those LED nightlight bulbs but haven't tried yet - waiting for my others to burn out. I have another LED bulb I'm using elsewhere though and it's more white than I care for. I haven't seen any options for "warmer" LED lights yet.

I was thinking rope light - LED would be good - I need to find some that aren't so white. Or the backlit mirror would be cool - I had one of those in a hotel once and it was a very nice look.

Mongo, between your night fever and pet rock, are you stuck in a time warp? ;)

It's not so much that I'm stuck in a time warp. It probably has more to do with just being plain ole warped.

Embracing the 5th dimension,
Mongo

(And no, not Marilyn McCoo's version of the 5th Dimension)

jjaazzy, yes, it plugs into an outlet on my vanity mirror. I wish I could remember where, on line, I bought it. Someone else just recently asked me. But, I have seen them at Bed Bath and Beyond. My camera is sitting on the vanity, in front of my sink, for this picture.
Monica

We have rope lights under our vanity, which is raised on 4 inch feet. I really like it and it casts a nice warm difused glow. You can also put all lights (except fluorescent I guess), on a dimmer so that any of them, when left on a low setting, would suit your nightlight purpose.

We have rope lighting in the crown molding in the bathroom but the ceiling is black so it's not very bright, even for a night light. The GC said he will put something in there to make it reflect a little more so hopefully it will get a little brighter.

sundownr, you can simply add another length of the rope light if you want; there's no extra wiring, as it just hooks onto the end of the existing rope. That might be easier than adding reflectors of some sort. In our kitchen crown molding, I doubled up in most areas and tripled up in a few to get the amount of light I thought looked good and uniform.

-- Eric

Monica yep that's it! Love those little lights and when they failed I tried to replace but they were no where to be found. Maybe they pulled them, fixed the problem and have re-released them. Thanks for the heads up I will start looking out for them again.

Okay, I like the rope light idea and have some more questions for those who have it. Do you have LED rope or whatever the old type rope lighting was? How energy intensive is non-LED rope lighting compared to a 4 watt night light bulb? I have a 60 inch vanity - if I were to put it above or below would I do the whole 60 inches or just a couple feet or ??? Is this hardwired or to an outlet? I really don't want another wall switch for this lighting so I guess that means I'd need to have something that plugged into an outlet.

fin1 - that sounds interesting too. You don't have any pictures of what that's like do you? Or does anyone else have pictures of what their night lighting looks like - on and/or off?

Gibby, I think my rope lights in the kitchen are LEDs. Even those which aren't don't consume a lot of power for the short length you'll have. I would run the rope under most of your 60", maybe within 6" on either side, or 4' of light. (If you're worried about it being too bright, you can always cover some of the rope with black electrical tape to reduce a little of the light.

Also, if you prefer blue light, be aware that you can get blue rope lights as well as warm white.

If you don't want another wall switch, you could possibly swap out your current switch for a dual switch (two switches top to bottom in the same space as a regular single switch).

-- Eric

I designed a loft with under cabinet lighting. It's xenon, if I remember correctly. It looks great when all the other lights are off. Really a nice touch when taking a bath. The light pools look cool and it's somewhat warmer light than LED.

He loved it. I loved it too... This photo is before the panel doors were added over the toilet and washer/dryer to the left.

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oops. broken link. you can see the lights reflecting on the pine floor. Looks better at night.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Under-cabinet xenon lights used in a vanity toes kick can create a nice effect on your floor, as funkamazon's photo shows. But there are a few caveats to be aware of. Unless you get dimmable lights and put them on a dimmer, they may be too bright if all you want it a subtle nightlight. And because the lamps are only a few inches from the floor, you will see the highlights of individual lights, not a smooth area of evenly-distributed light. Again, this can be a great effect if it's what you want -- but I'd think if you're aiming for a low-light nightlight effect, rope lighting will emit less light and create a smoother wash of light on the floor under the cabinet. (Also be aware that many xenon under-cabinet nights get the cabinet above pretty warm if left on for a prolonged period of time. They also consume more electricity.)

-- Eric

Ooh - that's cool - thanks for the photo. I do think xenon is more than I need for a nightlight and I am concerned about the energy consumption. I have them in my kitchen and they get pretty warm - makes me think they're sucking a lot of juice. I love the light though for task lighting.

How much does energy consumption decrease if you have a light dimmed? I'm assuming it must decrease if you're putting out less light.

Those lights are on a dimmer. It's critical.

About rope lights- I've had varying degrees of success with rope lights, they have a tendency to burn out, create weird light patters and have not so attractive colors. I'd use the LED ones over the regular and just gel the light with Lee Filters. They are gels used in the film industry, don't burn and allow you to drastically change the light color (color temperature). I use them to great effect on florescent, which I hate un-gelled.

Here's a link. I love b*st*rd amber. i know it's a crazy name but it's a gold yellowy light that comes across like firelight or candlelight. Very attractive warm lighting.

You can also dim rope lighting but I'm not sure about the LED rope light. The filters can also block some light, you can use frost to do that if you cannot use a dimmer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lee Filters- Light gels

I put my bathroom lights on a dimmer and used a Lutron Satin colors Diva Dimmer switch and found out it has a nightlight inside the switch. (I don't know if they still do...the switches were bought a couple years before I installed them)

For dimmers, I happen to prefer the Lutron Maestros (which have only a tiny dot of an LED lit), but I do have a bunch of Lutron Divas as regular switches; I've put them just about everywhere. I love the backlight, but if you're looking for a true night light, these just don't put out enough light. They're perfect for showing you where the light switch is in the darkness -- but if your goal is not to turn on a light, and to have a nightlight emit enough light to "do your business," then I think you need more light.

Gibby said no more wall switches, which is why I suggested a dual light switch to fit the bathroom light and nightlife switches in a single box; using a dimmer wouldn't allow doubling up and would require an additional box on the wall.

-- Eric

I designed a bathroom once and they also wanted some kind of night light.

We went with a shallow, 2 door wall cabinet over the commode. The cabinet had frosted glass inserts.

We used cold cathode light bulbs down each side, inside the cabinet behind the front frame. These lights use very little energy and should last for MANY years. I have had mine on for 5 yrs running now, 24/7.

What's nice about this design is why most people want a night light in a bathroom? To use the bathroom in the middle of the night. Being over the commode illuminates it just right without glaring bright lights

Here is a link that might be useful: Conceal-It Cold Cathode by Tresco

sundownr

Can you post a picture of your molding with the lights?

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I built this custom medicine cabinet for a great client here in Vancouver. The Medicine Cabinet has a single mini bulb and acts as a night light for a busy boys bathroom. We designed the mirror to float and built it off the wall and recessed it so it could hold rolls of toilet paper. The light is great above the sink and not to bright at night.

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Cool med cab! Are the shelves adjustable? If so, I love the split-shelf design.

We looked at making the center shelf fixed and the others adjustable but choose to fix all as shown. The cabinet is for two boys and the shelves are sized to fit anything they have. The client is a designer here in Vancouver and like me does not like the adjustable look.

I find that people never adjust shelfs once originally set up and that when ordering custom built ins you get a much cleaner upscale look without the mass of extra holes. In a dining room or family room this adjustability comes with a certain "Ikea" look.

Often you are undecided at time of production. If adjustability is required just allow for movement one or two inches over a set height and not fully adjustable along the whole span. Or offer adjustability in one bank of shelves not all. By removing these extra holes the whole unit just looks higher end.

My thoughts.

I was asked to design this light feature for an upscale renovation in Vancouver last Summer. The pin light highlights the sink and can be dimmed down low at night and the light to the sides and top of the vanity remind me of a Hollywood makeup room.

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I built the light diffusors out of white laminated glass and used chrome U channel to wrap them. The counter is Calcutta Gold and part of a the slab work we did in this en-suite bathroom renovation.

It's hard to see in this picture but on the bottom of the window casing(nearest the tub) are the controls for the tub jets and drying cycles. This control unit can sometimes be hard to locate and with this type of tub needs to be wall mounted.

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To the right of this fireplace you will see a floating built in. We installed mirror to the wall to help with the illusion of the floor continuing on and on underneath and the light looks amazing at night.

I have seen many vanities built with simple rope light.

Here is another on of my fireplace projects showcasing rope light as accent lighting.

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That's down light. What about up lighting?

Another option -

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I came across a light switch and receptacle that not only had a night light, but a power failure light too. I thought it was a good idea. I think the name of it was powersure safety lights. I also found that Intermatic made something called the EL200 and EL300 which was the same idea. I bought the Intermatic lights because I couldn;t find the Powersure ones (which looked great). I thought the power failure light feature was great and they came in handy a few times - no more "black" outs, just a decently lit bathroom every night. I am also thinking about getting some of the Powersure ones for the front door entryway so we can find out way out if the power fails again. No more flashlights! yay!

I'll post again with the link if I find it.

Came to this one late, but how about a GFCI outlet that has a light built right in? There are also models that have one plug and a bigger light.

Here is a link that might be useful: outlet with built in nite light.

The outlet with the built in is interesting. I wonder how much light it provides. I'm trying an LED bulb in one of my bathroom nightlights now and it's way too dim - not to mention it has that cold, blue-white tone to it. It would be great to use something LED but I really don't like that kind of light.

Have you seen the Keuco medicine cabinets? They are so beautiful! The pics don't even illustrate how smoothly each piece glides and how the mirror goes up and down with the soft close....it's amazing! And it has a light on the outside and the inside! There aer lighted mirror and also lighted cabinets....dreamy!

Here is a link that might be useful: Keuco Cabinets