How do we heat and light a bathroom with three-metre ceilings?
Hi there,
Does anyone have experience lighting and heating a bathroom with 3m ceilings? It's my 1927 renovation project.
I don't want recessed ceiling lights because every time a light needs changing, a ladder will be involved. I want to install pendant and wall lights instead.
I'm planning a pendant light in the centre of the room (outside of the wet zones). There will be will be two lights over the vanity, mounted on top of the shaving cabinets, and a couple of wall lights. There will be led strip underneath the shaving cabinets. There will be two light control switches, one for the central and LED strip, the other for the wall and cabinet-mounted lights.
Here are my issues/questions:
- it's a very cold climate. I'm concerned heat lamps in the ceiling just won't reach down to ground level! Can you install heat lamps on the wall, closer to where people actually stand?
- I'm installing a heated towel rail on a timer. Will this be enough?
- is a light over the shower really essential?
- can anyone recommend a good budget bathroom lighting range? So far, Ikea seems to have the best IP66 and IP44-rated lamps within my budget
thoughts and insights appreciated thank you :-)
PS below images are only sketches, the Reece online planner is very limited in terms of finishes and tiling options etc, unless you want it all-white or neutral of course. Also I'll probably be building my own vanity - long 1500mm wide under the mirror cabinets with a semi-recessed basin and back to wall toilet
Comments (23)
5 years agoHere are examples of bathroom fan heaters. I do not know of any lamp heaters available for walls. You can also still get the bar heater for walls. We had one in our first home, a 1965, original.
It gave off sufficient heat. But, I would check out the energy rating of these products. To see if they are cost effective.
Souzette Lovell thanked dreamerRelated Discussions
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Comments (1)Some photos here on house may inspire:...See MoreDesign advice please on small bathroom reno to queen of UNcreativity!
Comments (26)hi we have about six months ago now, re done our bath room , similar size to yours, and , i can take some photos and email them to you , we have maximised space, and walls , put in a white stone bath under the window , it is a metre in width , with a cool water spout coming off the centre under the window we pu t afalse ledge in to sit , candles etc on , , we tiles floor to ceiling, off white , wall mirror cabnit with three mirrors , inset into the wall so its only sits out a we bit from the wall tiles , floating bath room vanity , so that it makes the floor space look bigger , . matching stone square basin sits ontop of the vanity to one side so plenty of room to sit all your bath room stuff when need be , seperate shower all tiled as well , with inset , shelves for shampoo etc, also , when you open the bath room door and walk in when you close the bath room door behind it next to the shower is a very narrow floor to ceiling shelvec for towels, now the hole is there we jaust havent got the shelves put in yet. , we gt loads of comments as the bth room dosent look small evn though it is , , most expensive item the sqwat extra wide stone bath , made to order basin / tap ware and shower spray thing ,oh and the white stone vanity which we had made to order as well , due to the sizing ....See MoreCan't decide on bathroom vanity lighting
Comments (20)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......See MoreRenovating a tiny bathroom
Comments (33)Hello everyone - Despite Coronavirus fears, I plugged away at the bathroom (the thought of several people in lock down with just ONE toilet was surprisingly motivating). And I just want to thank everyone for contributing to my tiny, but now very pretty, bathroom. I am a terrible photographer, but I truly hope the final result sort of appear! It is truly lovelier than it appears. We left the window in the original location. Because the bathroom intersects with another roof line, I could only move it across if I accepted a smaller opening. Instead, the frosted glass has been replaced with clear glazing. So now the room looks larger and more open. With the outlook from the window, somehow it made sense to use a softer tone than I first planned on the floor. It's now a patchwork tile. DM Stan was right - when I pushed the builders one more time, I could not raise the roof height...but I COULD follow the external roof slope better and rake it down to the lowest point. The high point is now 2.50 m high, which looks amazingly better! The door has stayed in its original position (shown) . Thanks to the raked ceiling I had enough room "above" to put a slider for a barn door on the inside - but when we marked it out, I realised I "lost" the logical space for the light switch, fan switch and some towel racks. After some deep angst (cavity slider?) I splurged on a heated floor AND heated towel rails, with the "heating"connecting wires and rods hidden in the wall cavity. My new luxury is that I can reach out of my walk-in shower and grab a warm towel, without soaking the floor. The vanity and the toilet are now side by side. Even though I can technically still see the toilet from the door, it's no longer the main focus. And the room feels much more spacious. Thank you again, everyone. If it was not for your advice, I would have ended up with the same awkward layout and oppressive ceiling. The first shot is the reminder - it was truly awful! It truly did look like this! The new walk in shower. Reach out and grab a dry, warm towel! With the Houzz - game changers shown: vanity and toilet rotated, and the sloping ceiling. Thank you a hundred times over!...See More- 5 years ago
hi thanks for the ideas and feedback :-). Bigreader, I know it seems obvious but I had totally blanked out the option of radiant bar or electric blow heating. But these may work really well considering the space is not used continuously and these would be quick and responsive. I've saved your pictures to my idea book. MB I'm getting an underfloor pad costed up, but am not holding my breath within my budget :-). My main reservation with both towel rail and in-floor heating is the response time - a trip to the bathroom would need 30 mins notice to switch it on to pre-heat. I can't justify leaving it on 24*7...... Nothing a thick cosy bathmat and slippers can't fix I hope!
siriuskey - Im in Goulburn, even colder than I imagine Albury is atm, we have snow forecast this weekend!
Christine, thanks for the tips on lighting, especially the comment about the ceiling if it's dark. I hadn't considered that, and I haven't painted a ceiling dark before. I've had a quick look at your website and that lovely old house you've worked on - I can see even with the bold dark walls that you've kept the ceilings light/white. It even looks like there are skylights in two rooms? Is your recommendation to avoid painting a ceiling dark? I like the lighting you've used in your bathroom. Would you mind please sharing the range of lights you used there? They are nice and sleek without looking out of place in a classic setting.
This is what Im planning on using atm, the round wall light is from ikeacentral pendant light (a smaller version of this, metal is painted white not gold and the lights point down - not ikea)
walllights:
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- 5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
Would you consider something like this, you have different numbers of bulbs and they hang down from the ceiling so you can reach to change bubs, LEDS and very cheap at the moment
- 5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
I actually thought that this type of light could really work with your love of Eclectic styling, The bathroom being internal will be quite dark so you could consider painting the ceiling black to really make a statement with this pendent/chandelier style, the following photo is to give you an idea of what I'am suggesting
PRO5 years agoWhat about something like this for wall lights beside the vanity. It evokes the era of your house but it quite timeless and would be easy to clean.
If you like the globe idea, which can look fabulous if done right, which would also mix ok with this wall light, why not something simple like this. If you can't afford a real designer one, there are plenty of them in the 'chain' stores. Just chose a really simple but well made one. Or you could use a pendant in the same family as the wall light.
Souzette Lovell thanked CHRISTINE HALL ARCHITECTS LTD- 5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
I should have mentioned that if you paint the ceiling include the wall above picture rail height as well this along with pendent/chandelier will bring the ceiling down which I think is important when the length of the bathroom is 2.8m and the ceiling is greater at 3m
You could also look for a vintage "School House" or other light
Souzette Lovell thanked siriuskey 
PRO5 years agoSouzette Lovell thanked Kitchen and Home Sketch Designs- 5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
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