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paul_hefford

Can't decide on bathroom vanity lighting

Paul Hefford
hace 4 años

We are getting a new house built and the photo below fairly closely shows the style of our bathrooms, i.e. dark grey floor tiles, white wall tiles (600w x 200h, brick lay), smartstone marble-look benches, inset basins, and chrome wall mixers. And we really like the idea of the circular mirrors although we haven't decided on mirrors yet.


East Malvern Renovation · Más información



We just can't decide what to do with vanity lighting, i.e. lighting for looking in the mirror. We want the lighting to be both functional and aesthetic. We are fairly conservative so don't want anything eccentric. The majority of the very-functional horizontal vanity lights placed directly above mirrors look ugly (to us) and I don't think they work from an aesthetic perspective with circular mirrors. We could try to put sconces on either side of each mirror but not sure if that would work / fit. We could have pendant lights but don't think that matches our more conservative tastes. Another option we are considering is the circular mirrors with inbuilt LED lighting.


A salesperson at a lighting store suggested gimble lights above the basins pointed at the mirrors to reflect light onto our faces. Would this work? Has anyone done this successfully. We have been in bathrooms with standard downlights right above the basin and they tend to cast shadows over your face. We want to avoid that if we can. Don't know if the gimble lights would fix that problem.


I've attached a picture of our plans showing two bathrooms - the kids have a NOOK separate nook to their MAIN BATH and the MASTER ENSUITE has two basins. The red dots show where wall lights were tentatively planned to be installed. The ceilings (2700mm high) in the bathrooms will just have a standard light/heat/exhaust unit fairly central to each room (blue diamond). The nook will just have a standard LED downlight in the middle.


Would love your thoughts ideas on vanity lighting. We are feeling stuck!








Respuesta destacada
  • julie herbert
    hace 4 años

    Hi Paul we have them in a line above the vanities, they are a mini downlight so they don’t need to be pointed in any direction, the light is amazing for makeup, shaving and I haven’t noticed any shadows, when they are turned on they look so glamorous, I was skeptical at first but I can’t believe how fabulous they look. I am away at the moment so can’t post photos.

    Comentarios (20)

    • PRO
      Dr Retro House Calls
      hace 4 años

      Wall lights either side of the mirror are the best way so that both sides of your face are evenly lit. There are hundreds of options available so it just a matter of finding the right light. With the space that you have available you should be looking at tall, slender fittings, that are not a feature. These fittings were from Beacon Lighting, but other suppliers will have something similar and understated. For a small bathroom there is enough light to illuminate the whole room.

      Marilyn's Midcentury bathroom · Más información


      Best of luck,


      Dr Retro

      of Dr Retro House Calls

      Paul Hefford agradeció a Dr Retro House Calls
    • julie herbert
      hace 4 años

      If you would like bright glamorous lighting try these 3w indoor LED recessed mini ceiling down lights , they look fabulous, the light is wonderful for the bathroom above the mirror, placed at even intervals they highlight everything , minimal and you can buy them from Ebay for around $28 for 5, for something so small they transform the room from drab to fab.

      Paul Hefford agradeció a julie herbert
    • Paul Hefford
      Autor original
      hace 4 años

      Thank you Dr Retro. I appreciate your advice. I agree the lights beside the vanity will provide the best lighting. In the example you provided those wall lights blend in really well with the surrounds. I think they'd stand out a lot more in my bathroom, but like you say there are hundreds (too many) to choose from.


      I'm interested to hear people's experiences with the gimble downlights if anyone can shed some light on that ;-)

    • julie herbert
      hace 4 años

      We have the led mini lights and they are fabulous .

      Paul Hefford agradeció a julie herbert
    • Paul Hefford
      Autor original
      hace 4 años

      Thank you Julie. So do you have the led mini lights installed above the basin and pointed towards the vanity mirror? Does that bounce back onto your face enough to get rid of shadows on your face?

    • Kate
      hace 4 años

      I have the bar light dr retro has shown but mounted horizontally above mirror. Works great as only light in powder room. Beacon no longer stock the same one sadly. If using an overhead ceiling light place above the plug hole so it is in front of you when standing at mirror.

    • Paul Hefford
      Autor original
      hace 4 años

      Thank you Kate!

    • Souzette Lovell
      hace 4 años

      Hi Paul I'm bumping this thread as I wonder if you've had the bathroom finished yet and have any results on the end-effect of the option you went with? The "Light-bouncing" sounds plausible. I'm about to get my bathroom done and lighting around the vanity is a key consideration. Im also wondering about lighting UNDER the vanity (wall-mounted) to eliminate the shadow

    • Paul Hefford
      Autor original
      hace 4 años
      Última modificación: hace 4 años

      My house is still being built. For now we have gone with standard LED downlights in the ceiling above the basins. I'm not confident this will produce a good outcome but we just couldn't find wall lights that we liked.

    • Souzette Lovell
      hace 4 años
      Última modificación: hace 4 años

      lighting is so hard to do from a desktop! Really, we need to see things in action and by then it's often too late because the lights have already been installed. I'm thinking of trying to find as many examples as possible in public places - perhaps in high-end hotel and restaurant restrooms?

      Also I share your frustration of the lack of range available- there's many of the same style but not a lot of variety when it comes down to it, without an unlimited budget

      Oh I just had a thought - with bouncing light off a mirror a key consideration would be light glare into your eyes from the mirror - ie the light would have to bounce without shining directly into the mirror at eye level - which I don't think is possible.......

    • Paul Hefford
      Autor original
      hace 4 años

      Agree with everything you have said Souzette. My wife and I have visited so many open houses and display homes and nothing ever hit our sweet spot of functionality + aesthetics + price. There are some beautiful lights available from overseas (USA) but they cost a small fortune. I think through exhaustion we just defaulted to the standard LED downlights. We've seen them work OK in a number of bathrooms. I'm not worried about the lights bouncing into our eyes, certainly not from downlights in our tall ceilings (9ft). I'm sure that's a consideration for some though.

    • Souzette Lovell
      hace 4 años

      Hi Paul, I hear your collective frustration! my comment about light bouncing into your eyes was in response to your question about bouncing light onto your faces from a light placed behind the vanity (from memory). Have you seen Dr Renos comment here - still the most logical response to me. https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/5148857/where-to-place-power-points-and-lights#n=5


      So I'm going to go for side lights next to the vanity cabinet. Trouble is, my vanity is off-centre to the cabinet mirror, so I still have to sort that one out. Time spent really considering this is well worth it. I think LED downlights may very well cast shadows, sorry to say :-)


      and the next consideration is what colour temperature - warm white or daylight? For relaxing ambience (75% bathroom function) it will def be 3000 warm white for me, however for the vanity functions it will be 4000K (daylight) so I will probably get the vanity lights switched separately to the main room light, maybe put that on a dimmer... I know there are some LED bulbs available that enable the colour temp to be changed within the same bulb...


    • Souzette Lovell
      hace 4 años
      Última modificación: hace 4 años

      https://onlinelighting.com.au/luca-1-light-vanity-wall-light-opal-matt-ol51891.html


      i like this because the bulb can be replaced - so if warm white isnt working you can easily replace with cool white - and it accepts CFLs and LEDs

    • Paul Hefford
      Autor original
      hace 4 años

      We can switch the colour of our LED downlights at any time. Very easy to do - just flick the switches (see the photo below). It's a great feature of these lights.


      Another issue for us choosing bathroom vanity lights is that we are choosing bathroom mirrors post build and we aren't sure yet on the exact size and location. We can bring a few home from the store and hold them up to see which works best before buying. They are going to be hung on the wall just like a painting is hung on a wall. I don't like the idea of gluing glass onto the tiles - awful to have to change/replace at a later date. And there are so many beautiful wall-hung mirrors to choose from. They will hopefully be a really nice feature.





    • Souzette Lovell
      hace 4 años

      HI Paul it's been a while since I've purchased lights. Got the electricians in yesterday and they've installed a temporary led downlight - yes they chuck out a lot of light for a small cheap unit. I reckon adding a dimmer to the installation would be a wise move - it's great to have some atmpsphere in the bathroom (well for me anyway). Yes the colour change facility is good

    • brizcs
      hace 4 años

      I went for LEDs on either side of the mirror. We carefully chose the compatible dimmer to soften the light and avoid any chance of flickering. And twelve months later they started flickering and are now very slow to come on, even when not dimmed. We are stuck with overbright lights. An expensive mistake after a vast amount of mind rotting research. Ugh.

    • Paul Hefford
      Autor original
      hace 4 años

      Sorry to hear that brizcs. I've heard a lot of mixed results with dimming a small number of LED lights. It's been recommended to me to have a minimum of 4 LED lights on a single circuit for dimming. Don't know if there's any truth/science to that.

    • PRO
      Ecofin Solutions ForU
      hace 4 años

      There's no truth in it AKAIK. A dimmable LED light can work independently with a dimmable switch.

    • PRO
      Lauren Shiels Interior Design
      hace 4 años

      If you want a contemporary conservative look, I think just go for a mirror with the built in LED, you can have it connected to a dimmer if you like, practical and suits your style.

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