thank you. that's more helpful than you imagine. you had 8 different bids and every single one of them told you that you needed recessed lighting? And they knew you were using two triple lights?? seriously? never heard of that. Have never even seen it. your two vanity lights have 3 lights each. that's probably 360 watts of light when using 60w bulbs. (is there a window in the room?) while at the vanity, 360 watts is a lot. you could do 75w bulbs for even more lighting. If you need a light overhead, why not do one flush mount, or semi flush light, dead center? you could do a 2 or 3 bulb, like pictured below. that's another 200-300 watts of light. make the one in the shower a 6", LED waterproof, at 100w. so this bathroom may be larger than yours, but it has everything I've mentionedthe recessed is in the back over the toilet, and over the shower. there are no vanity lights, just the sconces. If you're doing makeup in here, sconces are usually a better choice. no recessed light, just a center light and four sconces. both of these rooms are wider than 5'. this room is a 5' or so. All they have is the two triple vanity lights. So to sum it up, your bathroom is only 5 ft wide. You don't see recessed lights in narrow bath when there are already vanity lights over the mirror. In fact, I looked at over 200 pics. Would you believe this is the only one I saw w/recessed lights, with over the mirror vanity lighting in your size bathroom? I saw many more with sconces, but none of the triple light over-the-mirror- vanity lights had recessed lighting. Your vanity lights will put off plenty of light. If your bathroom was 10 feet wide, then you could do the recessed. But putting them at the 2' 1/2' middle mark would make them too close to you at the vanity. It's redundant. So no. The only recessed light I would use is over the shower. If you feel you need more light, do a small flush mount in the middle of the room. If you have a fan vent like this pic, then you can't. For over the shower, you could do a large one or two 4" recessed lights. Forget the ones down the middle. my .02. hope it helps.

Thanks. If I do 4 lights over the vanity in the master, what size recessed lights should be used? I'm doing 4" lights throughout the house but would the lights over the vanity be smaller than that? The article doesn't mention what size to use. I can't center lights over the sinks because of ceiling joists but maybe I could place 4 small recessed lights similar to the digthisdesign article. For kids bath, it seems a bit overkill to do 4 recessed lights over the vanity. Will it really be that bad if I just center two recessed lights in the room for general illumination? I have 3 boys so no one should be putting make up on in there (most likely).

You may have already thought about this, but dimmer switches will make whatever lighting scheme you decide on more flexible. Also, think about where furniture will be before placing the recessed lighting. 18 months ago we moved into a 25 year old house that had a finished basement (also with some windows, like yours). While they at least had dimmers on the recessed lighting, the placement of some of the cans was puzzling, even considering where they had their furniture when we saw the house before purchasing (the previous owners did the basement fit-out). I like the one room that has cans in the four corners and a central fixture which is a semi-flush 3-light (the cans are placed about two feet from the walls). The result is that the room is lit very evenly without the use of any table or floor lamps. I use the room for an office so I have a desk lamp for task lighting. Even if you don't use the other part of your basement, if you finish it so it could be used for a family room it will be good for your resale value. The next owners may want to put their teenagers down there with a big television. :-) I love the idea of the full bathroom. That is something I don't have in mine.

Kendrah you put your finger right on it: I just couldn't bear to go through the "down to the studs & into the walls" reno my co-op would have required with even the simple tile facelift I originally envisioned. But if you have the stomach for it, go for it! Love the "master bathroom" photo you shared in your last post, that's the best design I've seen - beautiful and functional layout in this space - and believe me, I've looked and looked & talked with bathroom designers too. Then I came all the way back around to: why don't I just glaze the tub and get a glass panel. To your question: I was very skeptical when my glass guy recommended this small-seeming glass panel. (The panel can swing in or out, for tub cleaning, but other than that is never moved.) Won't my bathroom floor get soaked? Won't I be flooding the window? The answer to both is NO. Trust a pro. This is plenty of coverage, and gives a light airy feeling to the space. After I took down that shower curtain, the tub & the entire room felt enormous. Added bonus: you don't have to worry about changing shower curtains. We all know, even high quality treated fabric curtains get moldy & need cleaning or changing from time to time. I once had the exact shower curtain rod you have now - but mine was raised higher, to clear the window entirely (and I too used two shower curtains). I see other posters suggesting that you go even higher, to hang the shower curtain from the ceiling itself. Been there, tried that & let me tell you YOU DON'T EVER WANT TO NEED A LADDER JUST TO CHANGE A SHOWER CURTAIN in these small bathrooms. The glass panel is liberation from all of that. Good luck!