I'd put the cabinet in the corner and lights up above.

To simplify:

I don't have enough room for a sconce on both sides. The ceiling is too low to put a light fixture above the upper mirrored cabinet. And, I need the storage space the upper mirrored cabinet will provide, so I don't want to just go with a plain mirror or smaller cabinet. The upper mirrored cabinet is 24 w x 6 d x 38 h.

So, my options are a (1) scone on one side only, (2) placing the vanity 6" out from the corner and cramming a 4.5" light fixture in the corner next to it, or (3) having no extra lighting by the vanity sink.

Thanks.

Sconces on one side is an extremely poor choice for lighting, both from a functional and aesthetic standpoint. Ditch the oversized medicine cabinet and put in a light above a mirror. Or a custom created medicine cabinet. Either way, the light needs to be above.

IF you jam any freestanding cabinet into a corner, you are creating a cleaning nightmare for yourself. And likely violating code. You need 4" minimum between a freestanding vanity and wall. And the center of the drain needs to be a minimum 15" from the nearest obstruction, like that corner. Otherwise, it becomes unusable without bashing your shoulder every time you try.

If you are sticking with the medicine cabinet, no to the sconces.

Just from a visual aspect I didn't like the idea of jamming the vanity into the corner, so it's nice to know that I should go with my gut and move it out a bit from the corner. That piece of the dilemma is solved. Now, to think more about the lighting aspect. None of my lighting-related possibilities are particularly appealing to me, but this is what I have to work with as far as space. in my 100 year old house.

Thank you.

Have you considered the nice medicine cabinet from Ikea that has the lighting built in? It works pretty great.

That medicine cabinet really isn't my style, but I'll take a closer look. I did find this photo on the Ikea site that does exactly what I am talking about--having a sconce on only one side.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80223695/#/20223698

Well, nobody is saying it's not physically possible. Ask your husband how much he would like shaving the shadowed side of his face!

@teamaltese with low ceiling issues??

You are all so helpful.

Cabinet over the toilet won't work because the toilet is set in an area under the stair, so the wall behind it has a slope on one side (not enough slope to affect usage of the toilet but just enough that an over the toilet wall cabinet won't work).

I am starting to look around online a bit for other mirrored cabinets but most of those aren't a whole lot narrower.

I am starting to think that a plain ceiling light over the sink might be my best option. But, after taking a closer look at that Ikea lighted cabinet I have another thought and am wondering if it would work.

What if I put LED light strips along the outer edge of the cabinet?

LED light strips are great for lighting small areas like under kitchen counters, bookcases, and china cabinets. They would not be sufficient light for a bathroom by themselves. You would still need a ceiling light somewhere.

Would it work to have both the over the sink ceiling light and the LED strips?

A photo of the space wouldn't help because the old bath has been gutted. Right now there is a small bit of framing surrounding a huge pile of dirt where the floor had to be excavated to upgrade the plumbing lines. This is also what makes it difficult because I need to make some decisions and can't even mark a floor space off with tape since 50% of the bathroom now has no floor due to the plumbing work. Thanks all.

I like Lynmirl's suggestion, its easier to find a framed mirror the correct size, second choice would be the lit mirror from Ikea.

A plain mirror would obviously be my easiest choice as far as lighting, but this lighting dilemma is part of a bigger picture of trying to fit all of the pieces of the puzzle together.

Before the bathroom was gutted we had a regular mirror with the 3 light fixture on top. It worked fine for lighting. But, we did not have enough storage space. Now, to better open up the traffic pattern since our fixtures will actually be code compliant (they weren't in the past), we were going with an even smaller vanity than we had before. I just need the extra storage space, and in this teeny bathroom there is no place to set an extra storage cabinet on the floor.

I am going to take a look at those swing arm task lights.

Once again, thanks all. Old houses are fabulous in many ways, but they certainly complicate things when designing because they aren't a blank slate that is easy to work with.

How did you decide to negotiate this situation? I am dealing with something very similar.