Master bath lighting and mirror- Need advice please!
wendy king
5 years ago
Building a new house and need to decide on what style mirrors to have, either framed or plated. Also need to choose either wall sconces on each side of the mirror or one vanity light above. We can have any combo:
plated with integrated wall sconces (like photo)
plated with integrated vanity light above
framed with wall sconces on either side
framed with vanity light above
My husband and I will each have separate vanities separated by a freestanding tub similar to the photo below. Thanks in advance!
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pattyl11
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
You didn't state your style, but if it is transitional or modern, you could use a LED mirror. Is your tub in front of a window like the photo? That could affect your choices, since a window would have trim all around like a frame, too much of a good thing?wendy king thanked pattyl11Related Discussions
Advice needed on master bath design
Comments (1)If you haven't already, you might want to repost this on the discussion side of this forum..you've posted here to the gallery side, which doesn't get many responses because it is where people post their photos of completed projects....See MoreNeed advice on best mirror/sconce option in small master bath
Comments (20)Cbusgirl41:. Sorry for the delay in my answer. My vanity is 72" wide and inset into a nook. The thing that threw me off in my planning was that I didn't plan on having to align the sinks into the middle of the base cabinets, not getting to choose where to place them on my own, so that was why I ran into the same side sconce alignment challenge you are facing. In the close up photos, you can see my 36" wide frameless mirrors are slightly offset from the center of the sinks (again, the sinks!!!!) Apparently, the lesson learned and advice for everyone is to be mindful of the sinks!! Nothing that a few strategically-placed accessories can't fix! The frameless option with the arch gives it sort of the pivot look without the extra baubles. I was going to frame oval custom made mirrors, and, in the end, I love the simplicity of what I now have. I do NOT have supplemental overhead lighting in the vanity area; however, those on a dimmer would have been a nice addition. It's not a problem, because even at night, I have plenty of light and it's rather soothing. Plus, the drywall was already in and finished so I didn't want to have more extras! There is a lighted, heated fan light over in the middle of the room by the shower/tub combo which is to the right when looking from afar towards the vanity. May_Flowers: I am personally obsessed with the side sconces for their ability to "flatter" now that I am reaching a certain age ;-) I am trying to add photos (hopefully not upside down this time!). Hope you can read the dimensions and see the scale. The tape measure in the photos starts at the left wall....See MoreNeed advice on mirrors/lighting and paint color for bath reno
Comments (1)There is no reason you cannot have both overhead and vanity lighting. The vanity lighting is best coming from either side so there are no shadows on your face. You don't need a lot of light so dimmable fixtures may be preferable. When I bought the oversink multiple bulb fixture in the 80s, I quickly found even the 40-watt bulbs to be too bright. The photo below shows both overhead can-lights and side lights for the makeup area in the center. If your shower/bath is open so the overhead light can get to every part then any central overhead light fixture will work. If the shower/bath areas are more enclosed then can-lights might work better. It's not that you need a lot of light when bathing, but you do need light when cleaning. Make sure any single overhead light is located where it will reach every corner of the room. Below is a small bath where the entire ceiling emits light. Likely, a regular overhead fixture would work as well....See MoreMaster bath mirror & lighting help please!
Comments (3)If you were to do 2 separate mirrors, will you have enough space between the wall and the mirror for a sconce without making the mirror too skinny? The RH photo has plenty of wall space on both sides to mount the sconces so they could afford to have a nice width to the mirrors, width of the mirrors is almost the width of the sink bases. Note how the sconces are mounted outside of the vanity space whereas your drawing has a wall with not much space to the sink. The wall mounting plate is at least 3-4 inches that would cut into the width of the mirror on that side and to make the mirror symmetrical, you will need to trim the mirror on the other side too to have the mirror kind of center on the sink base. The mirror might end up pretty skinny and won't have the look in this RH photo like this mock up below. These mirrors are centered on the sink base but are really skinny. I have the same dilemma. My vanity is 72 inches with similar configuration as that RH photo, 2 sinks and drawers in the middle. don't have space between the wall and the sink so I did these mockups to see how the mirrors would look if I were to trim only one side of the mirror to retain as much width as I can. You can see that the mirrors are not centered to the sinks at all. I wanted to maximize my small space also so I explored the option of hanging pendants with one large mirror, like this below. I have another thread asking for advice but haven't gotten a response. I'll be watching your thread to see what others think. Let me know what you think. Edited to add: If you are ok with sconces mounted through the mirror then one large mirror is a good option to maximize your space. I think you might have space between the wall and the sink on one side and there's plenty of space on the other side where the toilet is if you were to do one mirror. Good luck!...See Morewendy king
5 years agoUser
5 years ago
PROCynthia Taylor-Luce
5 years agoYou can never have too much light. I agree having a pair of sconces will be excellent for make-up/shaving, but I'd also add a pair of recessed LED spots in the ceiling centred over the sink, about 12" apart. Get the kind with a deeper housing so the light source is only visible when you are directly underneath it. The typical LED ceiling fixtures these days have the light source flush with the ceiling and would look too intrusive in an elegant room like this. Here's an example of a beautiful one. I've shown the photo below but the link shows the specifications. It comes in 3.5" and 4" sizes.
Likewise in your shower (I assume there's a separate shower?) I would install two LED recessed lights to cut down on shadows. These can be the typical ones with the light at the surface.
wendy king thanked Cynthia Taylor-Luce
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