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Design Dilemma Bathrooms

Basement Bathroom Brain Freeze

25 days ago

Remodeling a tiny (5'5" x 7'2") bathroom in the basement and have discovered after demo that all the space between ceiling studs had vent/duct runs through them that cannot easily nor affordably be moved. Contractor said we have no room to add any ceiling lights, much less a fan. I am fresh out of ideas and would love to see if anyone had any creative ideas on how to light this space. I have one wall light going above the vanity mirror and there is a window inside the shower that brings in light during the day. Are wall sconces my only option here? And if so, where best to put it/them? Style suggestions? And this layout plan is the best I could come up with in this small space. My brain is fried trying to figure it out. Open to hearing other suggestions to improve layout if there are any. Thanks for your input!

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Comments (2)

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Cassie Gaffney Interiors
24 days ago
last modified: 24 days ago
Have your contractor look into Flexinstall LED lights. They can be installed with or without junction boxes, so if there's enough room to run electric, in theory, you can have ceiling lights.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Flexinstall-LED-14-in-White-Disklight-Recessed-Ceiling-Light-for-Home-with-5CCT-DuoBright-Dimming-92060/324109301

As for a fan, I'd see if you can do a wall mounted exhaust fan, since you have a window in the space I assume you can access the exterior, which would have been the path through the ceiling too.

There are so many directions you can go in terms of style, do you have any general inspiration that you've been thinking of for the space that you can share?

A couple things I'd prioritize if it were my space and I couldn't do ceiling lighting

1. opaque globes/shades to minimize the intensity of bulbs that are closer to eye-level than if they were ceiling mounted.

2. closed globes (rather than open access to bulbs) making them easy to clean and protected from moisture.

A few concepts here
Nancy in Mich
12 days ago
last modified: 12 days ago
If you can have drywall for your ceiling, you can have LED lights. Like the above lights, the Dals ones I used in my shower ARE their own junction box, can be installed in the depth of the drywall ceiling, and just need to have wire running to them. They come damp rated or not.

https://dals.com/product-category/recessed/slim-panels/

As for ventilation, it is on an outside wall. Wall fans used to be a thing. If you can have a window, why can’t you have a through-wall exhaust fan?
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I need help, DH demo'd the bathroom
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Comments (8)
I hear ya. Except that for us, I was the one who sledged the old do, not DH. You know the saying. There's nothing to it but the doing it. As faucets go, we went for polished nickel (Riobel), a 12" rainshower, and a handheld installed so it can reach down to wash the dog. No fancy schmancy water jets in the shower even if our plumber was raving about them. We had to special order these things and I was concerned this would delay the rest of our project. Knowing what we know now, I would not have worried so much. But you do need the roughs of the faucets installed before you close up the walls. Which bring me to this little piece of wisdom. You mention that this is your one and only full bathroom. This was also the case for us. Do yourself a favour and get yourself one of those little modular inexpensive showers you can rough install somewhere in your basement or garage, for you to have while you are renovating. It'll make life so much easier in the long run. Cheers!
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You'll get more responses if you paste the pics directly into your post.
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I would recommend at minimum one tub in the house. You would be surprised, some houses I have seen on house hunters dont even have one tub and that affects resale greatly. It may not be used often but when you need it, you need it. Guest bathrooms dont really need a tub, just a shower. Think of those freestanding showers you see at stores. It doesnt have to be an oversized shower that takes up as much space as a tub. Lots of bathrooms have just the smaller shower and no tub. Think about it, how often do you really use the tub. They get used most of the time by children. Wife uses it maybe twice a year. Pet cleaning is an occasional use as well.
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Thank you - I am looking at this TEC brand at Lowes, it says it is extremely thin: http://www.lowes.com/pd_643505-70680-3708018111_1z0yxosZ1z11oi7__?productId=50339572&pl=1 My concern is that I don't want to have a trip hazard at the entry door and I also want to run the heated mat down the "aisle" of our bathroom - no need to heat under the vanity or around the sides and back of the toilet. So in our case the 40" x 9' matt would fit perfectly... but I wanted to make sure the tile in the non-heated areas would not be lower or uneven with the heated area. A contractor is installing the tile, I send him an email asking if we can add in floor heating.
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