AFX Lighting Vanity Light

Vanity lights function as a crucial component to bathroom lighting. Bathrooms, like many other rooms in the home, benefit from a layered lighting design. This includes ambient, task, and accent lighting.

Bath vanity lighting provides enough light to do makeup, style hair, or perform other daily grooming tasks. A vanity fixture typically refers to the bar of light or multi-light fixture across the top of the mirror but can also include the surrounding lights, like wall sconces or wall lighting.

For single sink vanities, wall sconces can flank the mirror to provide adequate lighting. But in areas where you cannot use wall sconces, you can use a light bar or multi-light vanity light. With a large mirror, you can use a combination of these fixtures. Pairing wall sconces with vanity lights provides even illumination across large mirrors and helps eliminate shadows.

Depending on the type of fixture, you can place lights above or to the sides of the mirror. Bathroom vanity lights installed above the mirror should hang around 75 to 80 inches above the floor. Ideally, you should place it around 78 inches above the floor, though this can change depending on your needs. Place vanity lights so there is a space of about three inches between the bottom of the fixture and the top of the mirror. This provides the most even illumination.

Wall sconces often see use on the sides of the mirror. When installing them, they should fall about 28-30 inches apart and between 65-70 inches above the floor. This should reach about eye level and allow for the light to fully illuminate your face.

Whether you need lights that hang up or down depends on the type of lighting needed in the room. If you plan to use the fixture for task lighting, like putting on makeup or styling hair, use a fixture that points down. This angles the light down towards your face.

If the room only needs an indirect light source, then consider angling the light upward. This creates a softer light but casts less shadows. Upward lighting also works well in rooms with a light color palette as it can reflect the light back easily.

Some, but not all, vanity lights can install with the light facing up or down. Check the product description or spec sheet to determine if the fixture can mount in either direction.

A few factors can make or break your decision when it comes to vanity lighting, including the size of the fixture. When choosing light bulbs or using fixtures with integrated LED technology, you should also consider the color temperature and CRI of the lights.

• Size - the length of your vanity fixture should not exceed the length of the mirror. Instead, it should extend to about 75 percent, or 3/4 of the length. If your bathroom uses a particularly wide mirror, consider two smaller fixtures mounted over each sink.
• Color temperature - warmer, redder color temperatures, around 2700K-3500K create a warm and welcoming environment. 4000K to 5000K feature a cooler, bluer light. The best color temperature for ambient lighting in bathrooms is 2700K or 3000K as it presents the most flattering light. For performing tasks, you can choose a higher color temperature around 4000K.
• CRI - the color rendering index (CRI) measures how accurately the light source shows an object’s true colors. The score ranges from 0-100. The closer to 100, the more accurately the light bulb shows the object’s true colors. Fixtures with a CRI of 90 or above offer excellent rendering.

AFX Lighting offers a wide selection of LED vanity lights for an energy efficient lighting solution. They offer various style options to match your bathroom. Choose from modern designs like their Barlow LED vanity light series. These lights can install vertically or horizontally and come in satin brass, satin nickel, polished chrome, and black. They also offer more traditional designs, like their 3-light Annabel vanity light or 18.5W LED Hollywood fixture.

AFX Lighting offers a wide variety of other fixtures to help you light your living room, dining room, or bedroom in style. Find a selection of pendant lights, flush mount, semi flush mount, fixed rail lighting, overbed lights, and more.