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master bath lighting plan -- does this work?

renovateandaddon

12 years ago

Would appreciate opinions on this master bath lighting plan. Room is 8"11" x 8'8" with 8' ceilings and one small window. Proposing 4 single sconces on either side of 2 mirrors for a 60" vanity, recessed light in shower, 2 additional recessed lights in the center of the room. Enough? Too much? Thanks for your thoughts.

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Comments (4)

David
12 years ago
Could be quite a bit. Depends on the bulbs/ lamps being used though.

Some notes
PAR lights in cans will produce a spot light effect.

4" cans cost more than 6" cans.

Most can lights (CFL, incandescent, halogen) don't work very well - either not enough light or undesirable light cones.

LED lights such as the Cree LR6 and CR6, Sylvania RT6 produce more light, but also cost more initially.

Big sconces like the Robern Candre or Uplift sconces can be used to produce most of the light.

If you are in California, title 24 will have a strong impact on the type of bathroom lights you can install.
renovateandaddon
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for your ideas.

Sconces and recessed will be on 2 separate dimmers. It seems that 4 100W sconces is overkill for that 60" vanity, especially with other lighting in the room, but I think, aesthetically, the vanity/mirrors calls for 4 lights for a balanced look.

Really think I want a light in the shower, especially with walls on three sides. Just not sure what, if anything, the rest of the room needs.

We've expanded the bathroom into a closet and small hallway, so I'm having a hard time envisioning how much more light the new, larger space needs. The old master bath had one, over the mirror, 2-light fixture and nothing else.

I've been told that 4" cans "look better" than 6" cans. Do they give off as much light? Does one need to compensate for smaller cans by using more of them?
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Breezy- I am glad to help. We have tons of natural light in our new house, which I only know because we don't have power yet. So we rely on the natural light when we are over there all the time. I went against what others have recommended and did both recessed and sconces on the vanity for two reasons- 1. I wanted really good light for makeup, etc. 2. The recessed cans can sometimes be really warm when I am getting dressed and drying my hair. For that task, I wanted sconces only so that I could turn off the recessed lights. 3. I wanted the recessed because I didn't want to be able to see the sconce lit up on the wall from our bed (if we were to leave it on during the night) Hope that helps. Your electrician should be able to help you too. I told them where (for kitchen and bath) I wanted to have recessed and they helped more than anyone else in measuring distances, etc.
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Well, I know how you feel there. But you will be tying up access to your closet if another person (not your partner) is using the john or taking a shower. If I read your room use correctly, you have half baths in attic and basement, but no other bathing facilities? Just in this area. IF you split this you could make a secondary toilet/vanity area which could also be entitled to use the shower. But you could still lock off their access to YOUR master bath and closet area. I think that MongoCT drew something like that. And technically, if there is no closet directly associated with the main bedroom, it technically cannot be called a bedroom. I understand what Terriks means about that. Even a small closet can keep it designated as a bedroom, but it would be hard to call it a "master suite." In my DH's house in Mass, I've been dealing with a similar problem, so I know how mind boggling it gets. On the main floor of the house, a cape, we have a full bath with a tub. It serves as a guest powder room. I am adding a master bath adjacent to it, but this bath only has room for a shower. So what I'm doing is making it possible for us to combine the two when we are at home with no guests. And when we have overnight guests upstairs, we can also lock the door from the living room which gives access via a tiny hall to this full bath. OR, conversely, I have a door further down the hall which is really the bedroom back door(another one exists)---it blocks off access to our bedroom from this direction, as well as to the 3/4 master bath. By making all the flooring the same in the full bath, the tiny hall, and the 3/4 master bath, it will I'm thinking look cohesive. I'll have to try to put this drawing up for you. It is much simpler than your plans, because our walkin closet access is separate from the bath areas. I'll have to go back and view your current setup for the plumbing etc, to see if your dream of a big bath can be achieved while keeping the walkin closet dedicated to your bedroom.
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If you ditch the built-in tub that frees up a couple of options. I think the shower still works best on the east wall. It affords you the best way to get the width and depth that can make it spacious. Although there is the small window in the southeast corner of the shower, it can be accommodated. Plus with the shower door in that location the door swing really doesn't limit traffic or placement of the other fixtures. If you ditch the tub, you could hide the toilet compartment in the old tub alcove. I'd recommend a pocket door, there are times when you'll keep the door open, times when you want it closed, and a pocket door tends to work well on a toilet compartment in that when the door is open for extended times, the swing is not a factor. I did put a freestanding slipper-type tub in blue in the southwest corner of the room. It sort of fits. One thing you can do...the toilet compartment needs to be at least 30" wide. I'm not sure how a scale drawing will turn out, in my drawing above I have the toilet compartment wall projecting about 6" more southward into the room than the wall behind the sink vanity. If you can make the toilet compartment wall flush with the wall behind the double sink vanity, maybe by even pulling the vanity south 6" and using that 6" of back wall space for shallow storage, that would give you about 9 or 10' of continuous straight wall. If you wanted, you could then extend the length of and/or slide the double vanity to the left and center it off the large window on the south wall. You could do that by leaving the shower as is and simply making the vanity counter longer, or you could do a combination, make the shower wider, say 4' wide, and extend and move the vanity to the left. The more you bring the vanity to the left though, the more the vanity countertop will eventually impinge with the blue freestanding tub location. And with traffic entering the bathroom through the door. So if you ditch the tub altogether, it's something to consider.
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catbuilder
12 years ago
I think the 4 sconces looks crowded, and would look better with just 1 between the mirrors. I think you might want a light over the toilet area. You might also consider a fan/light combination. I have 3" lights throughout my house, and am very happy with the amount/quality of light they produce. I have a bathroom almost the same size as yours, with one small window also, and have a shower light, a fan/light combo (36 watt CFL) , and one 60 watt incandescent bulb over the mirror. There is more than enough light in there.
David
12 years ago
4" cans do not give out as much light. You could toy around with fewer 6" recessed lights.

The sconces may be able to compensate.

Alternatively, you could augment the lighting by using cove lighting above the mirrors (also behind the WC?) and sconces at the sides.

ie - 2 recessed lights/ fan-light combo + cove lighting + sconces.

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