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Lighting Design Dilemma Bathrooms

New bathroom vanity, mirror and sconces - help with number of sconces!

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

Hi all - I am in a bind and would love your help. I am ordering an 80 inch vanity and plan to have two mirrors that will be 24 inches wide (not the ones shown in the picture below, but almost exactly the same size). In the picture it looks like there is a lot of space between the mirrors and I am trying to figure out if I should flank both mirrors with sconces for a total of 4 sconces, or put a double-light sconce in the middle for a total of 3. It looks to me like putting a one light sconce in between will make it look lost. Is there a general guideline on this? I don't have the measurement of exactly how much space is between the mirrors. Thank you for your help!

Wyndham Collection 80" andover White Double Round Sink Vanity and 28" Mirrors, W · More Info

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Comments (4)

mayflowers
5 years ago
I prefer a double sconce between the mirrors.

Coastal Casual · More Info
You can draw up the vanity and mirrors on graph paper. You need to know the width of the sink bases so you can center the mirror over the sinks.

Is that the vanity? An 80" vanity with three tiny drawers and not even a top drawer, which means you have to bend to get your toothpaste.
Heather H thanked mayflowers
Kathi Steele
5 years ago
If you do 4 sconces, 2 for each mirror, it will make each mirror seem its own entity, IMHO. If you do a double sconce in the middle, it seems like.....an after thought? And the sconces will not be equidistant from each other and the mirror. My OCD kicking in, I suppose.

If the space between is larger than the mirrors, I think you should go with 2 separate sconces. If the space is smaller than the mirrors, I think you could go with a double light. Just make sure the spaces are fairly equidistant.
Heather H thanked Kathi Steele
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Thanks, Chispa. The ceiling fan was installed this week, so I can finally see in the bathroom. Here are pictures taken without flash. The black walls make it look darker, but when the drywall goes up, that will help. The floors, walls, shower tile, etc. will be light colored. Plus the shower is essentially open with two walls of glass. The toilet will be on the left corner where the towel is on the floor. The tub will go on the lower left where the missing tiles are. The two yellow circles represent where the lights will go above the vanity. There is not much room since the vanity is 48" wide. I could move the vanity to the wall on the right, but I believe the lights would not be bright enough to reach the door. If I put two lights with 100 watt bulbs on the toilet wall, the lights should reach the door. I guess I could put a double light on each side of the mirror, but I have not seen any pictures of double lights on each side of a mirror. The first is 18" wide and the second is 12" wide. That takes away space for the mirror which I need to reflect light. I would rather have a 36" mirror than a 24" mirror. It looks like a single light on each side of the mirror will have to do.
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Well, I am trying to make similar decisions on this myself. I too had come across that it is better to have sink lighting from the side rather than above but have found the layout to be challenging and busy. So, I checked houses for sale with 2500 - 3500 square feet and none of them had side sconces around their mirrors. And only one or two had frames around their bathroom mirrors. Most of them had one large mirror across the sink area with lights over it. A bathroom can be a busy area, so from a minimalist standpoint, no frame. Now a mirror in the Livingroom really needs a frame.
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PRO
Beth H. :
5 years ago
I did 3 with mine. it depends entirely on the type of sconce you want. taller, thinner ones, you could do 4. wider ones like I have, I could only do 3
Heather H thanked Beth H. :
PRO
JAN MOYER
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago

Where is the vanity within the ROOM?

A vanity with sink placement as you show is not the best for two mirrors OR sconces. You've too much space between the mirrors and not enough at the sides of mirrors if in a similar sized niche. Do ONE very large mirror and sconces above augmented with recessed lighting in the bath. Or re think the vanity. Or show us a space for it as Beth and Mayflower posted above, allowing for three sconces.
Heather H thanked JAN MOYER

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