Thanks for your input, pandtkendall. There will be no console table in the foyer as it is just too small. The huge wall in these split foyers are tricky. I had imagined the mirror we would buy would be very tall and wide to take in eye level at the foyer, but also go much higher than eye level to help fill the very tall wall. Does the fact that the door is 8 foot make a difference for sconce height? Also the sconces will be able to be seen in the living room, so I don't want them to be an odd height for the floor above.

I wondered if we should place the sconces around 14 inches below the top of the front door, sort of like the same height we placed the coach lights outside.

Carol

It is really hard to capture the whole 12 foot high wall that we want to put sconces on. I assume many of you have been in a split foyer style house (some call it a raised ranch) and are familiar with the tall wall the encompases the foyer and half flight of stairs.

The below photo shows the top 8 feet of the wall (there is four feet below not really in the picture)

. DH proposed a medium sized mirror with sconces to frame it. You can see he taped the mirror position and size, as well as put in the two junction boxes. My vision was to have sconces higher and further apart to take in much more of the wall. The mirror would have to be much wider.

Please give me your thoughts. Thanks.

Carol

In the final photo you can see the last four feet of the wall.

Where is the top of the door in relation to this?

This does not apear to be centered on the landing to me, it seems shifted to the right meaning the left sconce will be over the landing and the right sconce won't.

The whole array should be centered over the landing

Beautiful door. If I am reading your plans correctly, are you also going to have a chandelier handing in the foyer? If so, I would put it closer to the front door, more centered in the foyer space. And aren't the stairs going to basically fill up most of the wall space on the left? Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but I'd opt for a long more narrow mirror and place the sconces at about 7' or so. Roughly where you would put them as if they were in a bathroom, so as not to cast odd shadows and also so someone wouldn't hit their head on the one near the stairs.

Another possibility might be to place a single sconce beside the door. The door is off centre and there is some wall beside it. It opens (most frequently) on the side without the wall beside it. It might be easier than trying to place two sconces on that long, tall wall.

Carol

Thanks, Palimpsest. The top of the door is the same heights as the top green line (not including the transom). You are correct, that the tape area is shifted to the right. We could centre it more precisely over the landing. Any other thoughts on these sconces and/or mirror size and placement?

Thanks OutsidePlaying. Glad you like the door. It is a shame to have to cover it for now, but with the inside looking under construction, I prefer not to have it show through at night. Can you please give me a dimension (approx) of the long narrow mirror you envision for our space? And would you have the long side going horizontally, or vertically? Would you also keep the mirror centred over the landing versus have it fill up more of the big wall? Having the sconces at 7 feet would put them a similar height at the coach lights outside. We placed the coach lights high enough to be in scale with the tall door. My instinct was to place the sconces at that height too. Where the boxes are now seems too low for me, but it does work to light the mirror.

Carol

I would make the mirror narrow enough to be contained, including the sconces, on the landing.

The mirror could be as tall as the transom if the sconces were long and narrow.

That sounds like a good idea, pal. If we made the mirror tall enough to match the height of the door transom, what height would we place the sconces at? The door is 8 foot, and the transom is an additional 25 inches tall (inside frame to inside frame). About how long of a sconce should I be aiming for?

Anyone think we should investigate a single sconce beside the vs the two on the long wall?

Carol

So we taped the mirror taller and narrower (54 tall and wide 45 inches wide). The top of the mirror is shown with tape at the same height as the top of the frame of the transom. We now show the sconces much higher at 8 feet above floor level. We would try to find 2 feet of taller sconces. Below shows the taped off area. Bare in mind that we have some lumber and drywall boards leaning against the door at present, so you can't see the door. We also show the chandelier we had in mind (H2) but it only comes with matching double sconces (that are only 19 inches tall). Any ideas for tall sconces that go with a transitional look and the chandier I show that is labelled as H2?

I think the whole premise of a mirror and sconces is the issue. If you are going to do a chandelier, don't do the sconces. An off centered mirror doesn't really work either. Better to do a couple of larger scale art pieces, with a smaller mirror if you need the mirror, done gallery style. and call it good.

I think the other aspect to this is where are you placing the Bottom of the mirror?

If you don't do sconces, the mirror could be sorted out later. If you Do want to do sconces the most flexible thing would be to leave long loops of wire in the wall leading to the boxes and then the boxes could be adjusted position-wise.

You have to be careful with sconces in a stairwell unless they are very high, because you don't want them to project out far enough to get bumped or anything like that, and if they are high you need something that looks okay from the bottom.

Thanks Sophie for your input. Maybe the sconces and off centered mirror are not ideal. I do so like light from sconces. I will debate some more and appreciate your advice.

Thanks for helping, Pal. We would like to do trim work on the bottom (wainscotting squares). From what I have read with a 12 foot ceiling, the chair rail should be at 36 inches (25% height of ceiling). Having the option of a few hooks is also in our plans. So we thought the mirror should be around 42 inches from bottom. If we do place them high like shown (8 feet to junction box is what is currently shown) there is no danger of anyone hitting them. However, I will definitely keep in mind the need to have the lights look good from the bottom. They will also be seen from the living room.

So, we have decided to place the bottom of the mirror 38 inches off the ground and stop the chair rail and trimmed squares at 36 inches. However, still not sure about the sconce height. Does it look way off at 8 feet? On the other hand we could save some money to scrap both the mirror and sconces and do a gallery wall as suggested by Sophie.

I don't know about 8 feet high. That seems a bit high to me for glare and looking up into a light.

As to the chandelier, for the small size of your foyer, I think H2 looks too big. I was thinking more of a single light fixture, more like H1 or even a little smaller. Neither of those really coordinate with the sconces you show imo.

Yes, as Pal said the mirror can be sorted later. You can even have one custom made at a frame shop. Just purchase a piece of mirror at a glass supplier and have it framed.

Thanks Outside for your input. The sconces in the picture are for a room elsewhere. They are definetly not for the foyer. I will look for long skinny ones with the same metal finish as what I choose for the chandy. Even though the space is small, when you factor in the staircases and the fact that the area is open to the upper hall and living room, I was told to bump up the size of chandy as a result. The reason for sorting out the mirror size now is to get the sconce location. Obviously we can tweak it later a bit up or down. We have a mirror shop in town to do whatever size we want.

BTW, the measurement is just for the landing area, not the staircases.

So, the electricians are coming tomorrow. We will ask them to put some extra wire on the sconces boxes to adjust the height down if needed. From the foyer, the heights of 8 feet does not seem too high (matches to top of door) given the ceilings are 12 feet. It is also a nice height from the living room and upper landing, etc. However, I am open to more input today before they come. Please take a look at the tape lines and junction boxes from the Tuesday 9:12 photo. We are also going to circuit the chandy and sconces together (only so many switch spots available).

Carol

That wall should be treated as a foyer wall OR as a living room wall, not a bridge between the two. The foyer is too small to bridge the two areas. I lived in 2 split foyers and discovered that by trial and error in BOTH houses. I don't see the sconces as adding anything to either area.

Thanks, Deliilah for your comments. We are still debating the necessity of the foyer sconces. The decision is not driven by adding light to the living room as there is plenty of light going in there. It is just that it will be able to be seen from the living room so needs to look good from that room.

Our hope is having a large mirror in that room might trick the eye a bit on the size. Also the open railings on the living room side will help to visually expand the foyer space. Wish it was larger, but such it is with these split foyers.

Carol

Is the purpose of the mirror to expand the size of the living room or for people to check themselves when they enter or leave he house?

Thanks for your question, suero. The purpose of the mirror in the foyer is to expand both the size of the foyer and for people to check themselves (mostly the former). We had not thought of it expanding the living room.

These are expensive but they have presence: 26-1/4". Chrome will limit you (although these are polished nickel)

http://www.circalighting.com/edgar-large-sconce-chd2713/

And this one is both delicate, and long at 36"

https://www.lumens.com/amherst-tall-wall-sconce-by-hudson-valley-lighting-HVLP124504.html#prefn1=Height&sz=48&start=0&prefv1=37%20-%2048%20inches&cgid=%0A%09%0A%09%09505%0A%09%0A&&tileIndex=15

Thank you pal for those suggestions. They are both gorgeous. The chandy is polished nickel so we don't need chrome. I will try to find some less expensive versions of the ones you posted --- or wait for a very good sale.

We are going to ask the electrician to leave us extra wire so we can adjust the height. We moved the box down to 7 feet 6 inches, but it can go even lower with the extra wire (or higher). It all depends on what we can find.

Carol

The second one is $312, on sale, which is not bad. Of course I priced a sconce that was like $3000. (And passed of course, but that's now a point of reference for some reason...)

Yes the Hudson Valley one is closer in range. The $3000 dollar one must be spectacular, but not for us.

Carol

I will add my two cents worth......I don't think you need scounces there if you have a chandi in the foyer. As to the mirror.....wait until all is done and see if it is even needed.....you may prefer some artwork with colors that go with your beautiful doors.

Thanks erinsean for your comment and kinds words on the door. I agree we don't need the sconces, but we do want them.

Carol

Did you finish? Curious how things came out?