Vanity Lights

Vanity lights are the cheapest upgrade with the most visible daily payoff in any Canadian home. Swap a builder-grade bar for a fixture with real diffusion and a high-CRI bulb, and you stop wondering why you look better everywhere else.

Two specs decide everything

CRI 90 or higher. Colour Rendering Index measures how accurately a light shows colour against natural daylight. Below 80, skin tone goes sallow and makeup shades read wrong. Above 90, colours are true. This one number matters more in a bathroom than in any other room, and almost nobody checks it.

Diffusion. A bare-bulb bar aimed straight down recreates the shadow problem you're trying to fix. Look for frosted glass, fabric or opal shades, or bulbs angled outward rather than down.

Placement and size

Above the mirror: mount the fixture 75 to 80 inches from the floor, roughly 3 inches above the mirror's top edge.

Width: about 75% of the mirror's width. With no mirror to match, roughly one-third the vanity width. Too narrow is the usual error and it makes the whole wall look unbalanced.

Double vanity: either one long bar spanning both sinks, or two fixtures each centred on its own sink. Don't split the difference with one fixture between them.

Damp rating and code

A vanity light above a sink in a normally ventilated bathroom needs a damp rating. Anything within or directly above a shower or tub enclosure needs a wet rating and generally GFCI protection. This is what a home inspection and an insurer will look at, so it isn't a formality.

Check for the CSA or cUL mark on any fixture going into a wet location.

Colour temperature

2700K to 3000K for a bathroom used mostly morning and evening — warm, flattering, and consistent with the rest of the house. If the bathroom is your main makeup space, 3500K to 4000K is closer to daylight, but be aware that makeup applied under cooler light can look heavy under warm evening light.

Wiring

All fixtures run on 120V at 60Hz, standard Canadian residential supply. Vanity lights are hardwired — swapping an existing fixture on a sound box is reasonable DIY with the breaker off, but a new location in a bathroom is electrician work and usually needs a permit.

From a Canadian company that has stood under a bad vanity light at 6am.

Frequently asked questions

How high should a vanity light be mounted?

75 to 80 inches from the floor, roughly 3 inches above the top of the mirror.

What size vanity light do I need?

About 75% of the mirror's width, or roughly one-third the vanity width if there's no mirror to match.

What CRI should bathroom lighting have?

90 or higher. Below 80, skin tone and makeup colours render inaccurately. It's the most important and most overlooked spec in bathroom lighting.

Do vanity lights need to be damp-rated?

Yes for fixtures above a sink in a normally ventilated bathroom. Anything inside or directly above a shower or tub needs a wet rating and usually GFCI protection.

One light or two over a double vanity?

Either one long bar spanning both sinks, or two fixtures each centred over its own sink. A single fixture placed between the two sinks looks unbalanced.