Bathroom lighting size and placement

5 years ago

Hi - we are at the ripped out walls stage of our bathroom reno with the electrician coming soon, and I'm trying to figure out the size and location of our vanity lighting.

Bathroom is 5x8', basic layout of tub on one side, vanity/toilet on the other.

Currently there is a 4-light fixture above the vanity / medicine cabinet - sorry there was no easy way for me to get this angle until after the demo had started! This is the wall that is 5ft long.

Our new plan includes a long narrow framed mirror that spans the full 60" wall - the lower blue tape margins are the mirror, with the top of the mirror even with the current light at about 75" high. The ceilings are 8 ft. There will be about 5" of space between the bottom of the mirror (where the current drywall stops) and the top of the new wall tile.

We like the long bath bars like this:

Perpetua 42" LED Vanity Fixture 53.5W Dimmable Frosted Glass 4600 Lumens, Polish · More Info

but the questions are:

should we center the bar above the mirror instead of just above the vanity (my instinct is yes, to center it), keep it above the vanity only, or do two lights, one above vanity and one above toilet.

If we do center it, how wide should the light fixture be if the mirror is 60"? The sink will be flush with the left wall, so for example, centering a 36" bar would mean the light starts about at the center of the sink.

There is no window in this room but there will be a small light in the exhaust fan which is centered between the toilet and the tub.

For various reasons (financial, structural, time pressure) we are not considering side sconces or pendant lighting.

Here are photos I found of all three options:

Large and centered:

Dronkers Residence · More Info

Crisp City Bathrooms · More Info

Just above vanity:

Guest Bathroom Remodel, Washington DC · More Info

Two lights above vanity and toilet:

Case Design/Remodeling, Inc. · More Info

Bathroom · More Info

I will be so glad to be done with this project and stop asking questions about it! Thanks so much for any advice.

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Comments (9)

just_jls
5 years ago
I like the last picture with 2 lights... hard to tell what it will look like in your space without light sizes. As long as there is a good amount of space between the 2 lights that would be my recommendation.
Meg W
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks - it seems that 20-24" is pretty common which would leave me roughly 12" of space to spare between the sides and the middle. Not sure how close is too close!
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Leaving a six-inch space between the right side of the vanity and the wall would, indeed, be a waste of space, not to mention the fact that it would make it difficult to re-paint or paper that wall down the road. Couple questions: Is your shower staying within the same footprint? What’s underneath this bathroom—i.e., do you have easy access to the plumbing lines? If so, in addition to reducing the size of the vanity, you might want to move the toilet over to the right six inches or so. How long is that wall? Starting at the right wall moving left, if you allocate 36” for the vanity and another 30” - 36” (the more space you can spare the better!) for the toilet, how much space is left for the shower? Here are some diagrams you might find helpful:
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I would consider putting the two sinks on the same wall, and a separate makeup vanity on teh wall wall where the sink in question i located -- or in the bedroom if there's space. Then you have lots of reasonable options. Otherwise, no lighting from one side of your face. Do single mirrors with lights above, or keep the long mirror.
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Well, here in California, all the lights--traditional or modern--have to be LED. But I think you're asking more from a style perspective, yes? If you're planning to go more modern, the LED mirrors are nice, but personally I find them a bit clinical looking. I'd still go with modern sconces vs. LED mirrors.
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Meg W
Original Author
5 years ago
Hi - I don't know if it's better to start a new post about this ongoing dilemma so I'm posting here and hopefully someone will see it. We are now having mirror issues with this same bathroom and I was hoping to get some opinions. Here is the wall right now, the two lights were just installed (they will have glass covers on them but don't right now, they won't be that bright!) Vanity will be on the left, flush with the wall, toilet on the right:

We had found the perfect framed mirror to span the whole wall - I measured it, it fit exactly, and then the crew had to build out the wall just slightly on the right and now it doesn't fit by about half an inch. I am back to square one and wondering about my options. Here's how it would have looked with the full mirror:

Unfortunately the search to find that perfect mirror took forever and it doesn't seem possible to find one that fits the new specs without going custom (~$500 vs the $50 I spent on the mirror!) The wall is exactly 59" wide and the space allowed by the new outlet and the lights is 30". The mirror we found was 25" tall. I'm only finding long enough but too narrow or way too tall.

I don't want to go back to having just a mirror over the vanity, partially because we had those lights installed and it seems like it would look strange to have a light over the toilet for no reason (right?). Also I had really wanted to have more mirror space since our kids will be sharing this bathroom and the vanity top is pretty small (24"). I'd also been hoping to avoid a frameless mirror that is glued to the wall.

I'm wondering if it would be weird to have a mirror that's *almost* as wide as the wall and balance out the extra space with framed art/photos. Like this:

I'm going to try to find a mirror that I can actually bring home and return if need be, but for now I just have to imagine it. I can't seem to find photos of what I'm thinking.

Thoughts? Thanks!
dmpsd
5 years ago
Is the mirror framed or beveled? If not, a glass shop should be able to trim the mirror for about $20.
Meg W
Original Author
5 years ago
It's framed, and the frame is not wood, so I can't sand it or adjust it. I definitely wanted one with a frame of some kind.
pattyl11
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
If you noticed on the picture with the framed mirror, it doesn't go completely to the end of the wall. You could use a 56" mirror, leaving two inches on each side.
Meg W
Original Author
5 years ago
I've just been having a really difficult time finding a mirror! I've looked at all the places one would look (Houzz, wayfair, target, RH, PB, West Elm, department stores, every online source I can think of, etc etc) and it seems to be an in-between size, or starts to be more like a door mirror, so the right length but only 18" wide which is too narrow when placed horizontally. I'd love to find one that's the right size but I've exhausted my search. Part of the issue is the small space with the sink being flush against the left wall, so once I go any smaller, then I have to be careful not to have too much frame because then centering the mirror will mean that it doesn't cover the whole sink. The new drywall really messed up my plans!
User
5 years ago
Custom frame shop.
Meg W
Original Author
5 years ago
Right - I went to a few custom frame shops and the cost of the glass plus sufficient framing was prohibitive. I was quoted well-over $400 more than once. So I was trying to find a solution using an already-framed mirror. It looks like we may be mirror-less for a while.