Wow this stuff is confusing. So online I see bathrooms listed as needing anywhere from 56 lumen per sq ft to 80 lumen per sq. ft. (if my sources are correct). The room is 52 sq ft which means 2912 - 4160 lumen for the room. Currently we have 2 standard GE BR30 flood lights in the room which have an output of ~700 lumen each or 1400 total. Maybe we just don't like bright light, but we think the 1400 lumen in there now is plenty. The LED recessed bulbs I am looking at are about 320 - 400 lumen. I am just worried that if we use the calculations above that will be way too much light. I don't want my contractor to install this many recessed lights only to find that we need sunglasses to enter our bathroom. Not looking for a sleek modern design but actually just the opposite (traditional bathroom with sconces). Was thinking of going with LED because we want to be ahead of the curve and not find ourselves 2 years down the road with outdated traditional bulbs when everything is LED and us needing to replace dimmer switches, etc. Can anyone recommend a 3" shower (wet rated) IC recessed light that we can use LED bulbs in? Not having much luck. The ones I found appear to be with an integrated bulb and I don't like the color of the bulb or they are not IC or wet rated. I may just need to switch to 4" if I can't find anything. Or for that fact give up on LED all together.

Don't do a recessed light above the sink, you will get shadows. Don't do ONLY a recessed light above the sink. I also used pretty glass tile in the showers and it looks really nice when illuminated with 2 lights and dimmed just a bit. Ambiance lighting for when guests use the full bath downstairs! That sounds so nice! Two additional thoughts, not related to the above note: As you plan your lighting, consider your color scheme. If you're going with today's trendy lots-of-white, maybe-some-gray color scheme, light's going to bounce off those stark whites and could feel harsh. On the other hand, if you're using a softer, darker color scheme, those darker colors will "absorb" some of the light; so you'd need to ask whether you'd need more light fixtures. I like to read in the tub, so I definitely plan to have a light of some sort "behind me" for that purpose.

m down to the wire, in decision making, before electrician comes in to review our electrical needs in basement. I so want sconces as opposed to overhead lighting, but it may be as simple as just throwing in the towel on this one. Placement of mirror(s) and lighting over the sink (left side) and the makeup side (right side of vanity) has been extremely difficult for me due to the odd angle of the vanity and the two walls the vanity spans on are not same width. I would appreciate any advise.

Before buying anything, carefully remove the fixtures to see where the electrical boxes behind them are. I assume that these fixtures are centered on the sinks and that you would want new fixtures to be installed the same way. In my bathroom, I removed the fixtures only to discover that the electrical boxes were offset because the vent pipes -- centered on the sink -- were in the way. The builders had installed wide fixtures like yours to accommodate the offsets. Replacing the old fixtures with replacements was a big hassle; I actually had to install them on the (new), tall mirrors.