You have many choices available to you when choosing bathroom vanity lighting. Fixtures can come in as many styles as you can think of, but they’re generally broken down into the categories modern, contemporary, and traditional. Each one applies to a different style of bathroom furniture and choosing the correct fixture for your furniture or remodel is a must to keep your bathroom looking well put together. Mismatching pieces can be an eyesore, and even drastically reduce the resale value of your home and nullify any advantage to a remodel.
The first thing to take into consideration when choosing your vanity lighting fixture is what style is most fitting to your current bathroom (or end product, if going for a remodel). If you’ve got a modern or contemporary bathroom, with clean edges and a single color with chrome accents then you’re probably going to want to go with a lighting fixture or fixtures with a clean, sharp appearance. You can find these types of fixtures in an array of colors and materials. Colors generally are metallic or glossy – black and chrome are both popular. Metals would include stainless steel and brushed nickel. All of these choices offer a simplistic, clean appearance that will compliment your contemporary or modern styled bathroom furniture.
However, if your furniture is more of a traditional style, such as those made of wood with ornate carvings then you’re going to want to go with a more traditional look in your fixture. You can pick up fixtures in antiqued brass or oil rubbed bronze that will fit in with this style of furniture. These fixtures are usually much more ornamental than contemporary or modern styles, and add a feeling of classic style to your décor.
The other thing you need to take into consideration is the light itself. You’re definitely going to want bright light in front of you vanity for when you’re applying makeup or otherwise doctoring your appearance. The bright light is necessary to make sure that you look your best. However, throughout the rest of the room, you may prefer dimmer or even natural light. This is accomplished through the globe or light covering. Open ended styles like you find on traditional styled fixtures allow bright light to come down in front of your mirror with nothing to stop in, while the frosted glass surrounding it helps diffuse the ambient light.
Modern and contemporary styles can either be recessed with or without a cover, dimming the ambient light by blocking it, or using a number of bulbs enclosed in frosted glass to concentrate the brightness in the area in front of the mirror while dimming the rest.