I don't know if this will make you feel better but, my sister's fixture is also off center (her son's error, putting the light fixture up before the new vanity was installed) and the thing is, I never even noticed it until she pointed it out. I was too busy looking at all the other stuff in the room. Hope this helps!!

Can you add a 2 x 4 block perpendicular to/between studs? (very easy to draw, very hard to explain in words...making your two studs into a capital H instead of two capital II's...you need to add little angled corner pieces to support the horizontal piece) When you say "ripping out walls" I'm not sure if you're talking about drywall (very cheap and easy to do), framing, or something more complicated such as plaster walls.

I feel your pain!

The master bath in our new house is a disaster. Our builder had a bar of Hollywood lights put up in the middle of the two sinks. I bought all new fixtures online and had an electrician over to install everything. For some reason our cheap builder refused to put them in and said we would have to change everythig out after moving in.

We ran into big problems when he went to install. Studs in the wrong place, etc. This, coupled with the fact that the finish wasn't what was advertised (and of course that was the only box I hadn't opened), has lead to the two lights being off center and the wrong color.

Now I have two rooms that GWers will never see. I won't even start in on letting DH pick out his chair for the great room, lol.

brutuses: Thanks, thats why we are going to put it up just to see if we can live with it.As you say we will be the ones that will know, but on the other hand, if it really looks off it is not worth spending money on a fixture that will be obviously off centre. I am not sure at this point if by adding the wooden framework around the mirror will give us an inch more play. This mirror and vanity are right in the corner of the room about 1/4 inch from the corner wall which also means getting the framework milled special.
bluekitobsessed: As I mentioned we did not want this to be a major job, just some fresh paint and new fixture.Doing as you suggested would indeed mean taking out drywall and patching, something we are not prepared for the sake of a light fixture.Our Interior designer has already discussed this with an electrician and more or less said the same as you, that it would involve taking out drywall and there was no easy quick fix. Also not sure if your suggestion would be up to code in Canada,but i do appreciate your suggestion

Parma42, We had our home custom built 15 years ago and had a good builder.At the time those bar lights were the standard thing, and we did substitute fixtures in other places. We always thought that these bathroom fixtures would not be a problem and they are not in the other two bathrooms.When we have decorated before it never involved the fixture. We have had 4 brand new homes built and you never know what you will find when you go to paint, wallpaper or do other work at a later date.

Hubby hurt his back, and so we have not put up the fixture to see how it looks. Keep yor fingers crossed!

You said that the stud was not centered over the mirror. Do you mean the outlet box?

We had that problem in a bathroom that we gave a minor facelift to. Our light fixture was one of those nasty 80s bar fixtures over a wall of mirror (mirror extended over the little counter that went over the toilet, and the light bar was centered over the wall instead of the vanity). My dad and DH wanted to leave the new fixture off center, but I insisted it had to be fixed. Well, it turned out to be VERY simple to move the light box. A simple drywall patch covered the old light box hole, and the new light fixture covered the patch so that it wasn't even noticeable. It only took one afternoon hours to center the light fixture and patch the hole. I recommend you do it. If your DH can paint and install a light fixture, he can move it over a couple inches, too.

The stud is not centered over the mirror, therefore the electrical box which is bolted and wired on this stud is the problem.There is no where to move the box unless you took out the drywall and start doing major work. We hoped that when we removed the bar fixture there would be a little play here but there is not. An electrician was consulted, and it does indeed require major drywall removal and stud work.AS mentioned we either have to live with it off centre if we choose to keep this fixture, or choose another fixture that would appear to be more centred.We simply decided that when we painted we would put in a new fixture just for an updated look. This original fixture was put in by the builder, and was one of the fixture we did not upgrade at the time and chose to do so now.We are going to put it up this week-end and see how it looks rather than just holding it up.

It is clear that you don't want to mess with the drywall at this time. But I want to chime in to agree with craftymeca that this project isn't the big deal that the electrician is making it out to be.

Generally speaking, cutting drywall, hammering in an additional short piece of 2x4 to the existing stud (not actually moving the stud), and then replacing the drywall, taping and mudding is a DIY project for someone with some basic skills.

In fact, once you open up the drywall, you may find that there is enough play in the wires leading up to the elctrical box that an electrician isn't needed.

I understand that you don't want to do this. But if the off-centered light bothers you, keep in mind that you don't have to live with it.

BANG BANG, me again banging my head because I just re-read my op. The stud is what is in the centre of the mirror, and the box for the fixture is to the left of the box.So if you move the box top the other side of the stud you are then 2 inches off on that side.Sorry hope that clears things up. So the only way to have it centered is to move the stud. There are a couple of other ways to do this but they would not be up to code in canada, hence what the electrician told us.We can always choose another fixture which we may have to do after taking a good look at it once it is up.Just frustrating to choose a fixture and then discover your simple little job did not turn out to be just that.Again sorry for wrong info, makes it harder to get advice.Bang Bang!lol

Crafty, I think that's the same thing we ran into (though I could be wrong because I just left the bathroom in disgust when the electrician informed us what was up). I posted before.

Evidentally the bulder had the light bar in the middle for a reason,lol. When we tried to put separate fixtures over each sink is when we found out. By then there were three holes in the drywall and two expensive fixtures I couldn't return. DH had to patch the drywall hole in the middle. Someday I guess we'll just have to go back to a large, centered bar.

Parma42: I hear your pain. We are fortunate that we got this fixture through our interior designer and it is not paid for. She said if it does not work she will try to find another for us,but there is not much in oiled bronze in a bar fixture if we have to go that route.I am sure she will be able to find something else if that is the case. Maybe we will just have to change our mind about the color of fixture, as we have not purchased any knobs or picked out the trim for the mirror so that is the good part of this mess.