Poll

Bathroom vanity mirror - are vertical lights next to the mirror useful?

Only registered users are allowed to vote for this poll.
22 votes were received.

Yes	17		77%
No	5		23%

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I'm slowly redoing a small bathroom and I'm considering what I want to get for a medicine cabinet. Its the en suite bathroom for the original master bedroom which is currently used as a guest bedroom. There's a light above the existing mirror which lights the room. There's also a led light on the bathroom which is waaay too bright and doesn't support a dimmer. It would be nice if panasonic supported a dimmer on it.

Vertical lights next to the cabinet seem like a nice option but considering my lack of makeup usage I'd rarely use them. I'm curious if they're generally useful for other people.

Vertical lights next to a bathroom vanity - yay or nay?

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Yes, they are useful. For shaving back in the day when I still did, lighting from vertical lights either side of the mirror was better than that from above. Still find that type of lighting better for trimming my beard.

The facing light is good for more than makeup. Nose hair trimming. Pimple-popping. Inspecting moles. Placing butterfly bandages after the fight.

Quote
JoeH
Yes, they are useful. For shaving back in the day when I still did, lighting from vertical lights either side of the mirror was better than that from above. Still find that type of lighting better for trimming my beard.

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Acer
The facing light is good for more than makeup. Nose hair trimming. Pimple-popping. Inspecting moles. Placing butterfly bandages after the fight.

JoeH and Acer nailed it. Every place I've lived, I wished it had lights beside the bathroom mirror instead of one light above, for many of the aforementioned activities.

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Absolutely. Or do like I did, and put LED strip lighting inset around the perimeter of the mirror, on a dimmer. I put LEDs in all the kick panels on the bottom of the cabinets, and also we have a center stack cabinet, I had that made so it was about 6" from the ceiling with crown molding around the top, and put LEDs in the molding as well, all on the same switch / transformer. With that on brightness level 1, it's perfectly usable at night to not blind you, and if you turn it up it's all you need even in the daytime.

There's still can lights over the sinks, mirror lights over the mirrors, and so on but the LED strips get 90% of the use.

SO worth doing if your'e renovating the bathroom and have access to put boxes where you need now's the time to do it.

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Good Luck!
Jamie Dresser
Other World Computing

>I had that made so it was about 6" from the ceiling with crown molding around the top, and put LEDs in the molding as well, all on the same switch / transformer

Hm, interesting idea. Crown molding is often decorative but its very nice when a gap is left and it can be used for lighting or hanging art.

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At this point I think I'll probably go with a) lights next to mirror and b) dimmable overhead led on fan. I hate having too many switches in a room and I think the overhead light will work well enough for general use when paired with a dimmer.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2022 01:14PM by mattkime.

Or get a mirror/medicine cabinet mirror with integrated LED lighting.

Yes.

It can do the job of above the mirror lights as well as add better lighting to the sides.

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With or without side lighting, we splurged for lighted, wall mount, articulating, magnifying mirrors for close up work.
Highly recommend. We got the SimpleHuman rechargeable wall mount for both bathrooms, but there are others.
The older you are, or worse your eyes are, the more you need magnification (or if there's a female in residence).

Additionally, our bathrooms are bright white so there's lots of reflected light. If you have colored, or dull walls, you'll need more
light to start with, and side lighting is a great way to get it. If you have can lights in the bathroom, additional lighting is needed
to knock the shadows out. Obviously the goal is a well lighted subject..... usually your face.
Ya gotta do what's necessary to achieve that goal.
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Live in 1930 building. Put in strip lights (candelabra bulb) on either side of the original cabinet with outlets over 20 years ago. Difficult spacing, but made it work.

Was going to replace them, but found out not made any more, especially with the outlets, which we need. And nothing that will fit.

There is NO way I'll give them up now.

I like that mirror.

Mine also has two arms and three joints, but only two pivot, so it doesn't have the same articulation as yours, assuming both of those joints pivot.

That Simple Human mirror is worth a look.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.