mine's boring overhead. this is cool:

You can't do it unless the bottom of the fixture is 96" from the rim of the shower pan or tub. (technically this gets broken with recessed cans in ceilings over bathtubs --the ceiling is closer to the tub rim than 96")

You don't want someone to be able to grab a live fixture if they slip.

Really --- that is not the case with my shower stall here in CT. The stall is large, like 7 feet by 7 feet or somesuch. There is a built in teak bench all along one wall and two of the lights flank it. They are not 8' off the floor. Maybe the config is so unusual there is some other rule that applies?

As an aside, though, why do you really need a light in a shower? The electricians have added so many lights to our plan in the beach house (not just showers but a lot over overheads ... though i insisted NO cans). Are we over-lighting today? I was just thinking about this. Why does everything have to be so goddarn bright? Won't i lose some charm?

I personally like to take darkish showers. I never turn on the shower light.

Technically your shower violates International Residential Code, then, but that's really not at all uncommon.

Even if the fixture is wet location rated the problem is is someone grabbed it and fell they could pull the fixture off the wall and expose live wires. This is the theory anyway. Or I suppose someone could stick their finger in a socket with no bulb in it while taking a shower if it was easy to reach.

To answer your question. Yes, in my opinion houses are over lit in new construction.

It just never occurred to me until I was looking for the shower light. And then I was thinking I have so many lights to buy ... and THEN i thought, why? For the newly built out attic space, ok. But why so many extra lighting sources elsewhere...

Oh drat, it may be too late.

Those look like accent lights instead of task lights.

I prefer brightly lit showers for shaving, but I haven't had that option in a long time. I swear I missed the same area behind the knee for 6 months, that's how long the hair was! Being near-sighted doesn't help.

Christopher Lowell always used to say that you want a balance of light in a room....so lighting that's up that shines down, lighting that's down that shines up and mid range lighting.

If you have glass doors then lighting within the shower is not as much of an issue. But if you use an opaque shower curtain, then the shower will get very dark.

We used a waterproof recessed flush wall fixture under the bench in our shower for ambient lighting as it is also a steam shower, and I didn't want to steam in the bright overhead. Perhaps you can use something like that so there's nothing to grab.

I never even heard of a light in a shower stall. Boy I'm a rube. There is a ceiling fixture close by though so it must be giving off enough light for me not to complain. Your shower sounds beautiful tho.

I think you have to take into consideration that Christopher Lowell's background is in Retail, and Theatrical Set design.

ineffable, it did lead to wonderful textures and layers of lights in his rooms, and his up lights in corners really helped make small rooms look larger. Roger Hazard always used that technique...though never talked about it...when he staged houses to sell...it really makes a big difference in the look of a small room. All about creating both light and shadow...not an operating room. And especially in rooms where you want to use deep colors but don't want the rooms to be dark...the deeper the colors, the more light needed.

Or as Candace says (I know, retail background) you can always install lots of light and dim them or turn them off, but it's a lot harder to add more installed light fixtures once the project is done. Don't I know it...I wanted more light in my Library and was vetoed by DH, architect and electrician. 2 years later, I had my remodeler come in and add more lights...what a mess! But my eggplant accent wall and cherry book cases look so much better now.

I really do think we are over-lighting America. I have a call into my GC to see how far along we are on some of the new electrical. People lived in our beachhouse for 100 years without any overhead in most of the rooms. There is a certain ambience that comes with that. I suppose like anything it's a delicate balance.

I think Candace and CL's lighting shows off the items in the room well, but I am not sure how it lives.

Come to think of it: We have an overhead shower light, and I can't remember ever having it turned on on purpose.

Dad always said you need an over head light in the bedrooms...otherwise you can't see into the dresser drawers. Dad was nothing if not practical.

Annie, that generation was very practical. My father is the same way. I try to think like him when I'm stuck. Unfortunately, he's much smarter than I.

You need to have at least one light switched from the door in each bedroom. In some places this is interpreted as meaning a fixture, in others it means that some outlets for lamps are switched near the entry to the room.

I think they are both very talented, but I think they both over light their residential projects. It's just a difference of opinion, I know, but I think their projects take on a commercial appearance, or at least an appearance geared toward taking dramatic photos of them . I've been in some really pleasant rooms that are very difficult to take a good photo in, but the lighting is comfortable for living in.

I've been in some recent construction at open houses or show houses that feel Hot because of all the lighting.

I do agree wholeheartedly with the concept of overlighting and dimming.

OH, that hit a nerve. IMO not only homes but commercial spaces are way, way over lit. I'm not sure what causes the every increasing lighting standards - the desire to sell more fixtures, give electricians more work or ensure more research funding to discover more economical bulbs and fixtures because buildings have more bulbs and fixtures.

My employer shut off half the lights in a long interior office corridor which has no windows or skylights. This was done during a heat wave by request of the electric company for commercial buildings to conserve electricity. We were all commenting how there was more than enough light in the hallway with only half the lights. The hallway is only used to go to and fro, not perform brain surgery. Yet, after the heat wave, all the lights were turned back on.

As for homes, uplighting in two story great rooms to highlight beams, lighted niches, paintings and the like remind me of museums and theaters (no offense intended; it is a matter of preference after all). A room at night should look like a room at night lit with artificial light, not high noon at the OK corral. There's nothing more inviting, relaxing and comforting than a room lit with low wattage incandescent bulbs (the one's still made and sold!) in table lamps with silk shades.

I recall touring the Dana House in Springfield, Illinois one cloudy afternoon shortly after it had opened to the public. The interior is normally dim because of the large eaves Wright put on the place and the electric lighting was also dim compared to today's standards. The home has most of the original furniture and fixtures. The tour guide actually apologized for the low levels of lighting and explained that at the time the house was completed (1904), electric lamps more or less only sought to duplicate the light level of kerosene lamps which they replaced - a matter of convenience and instant light, not more light. I, however, found the home to be very tastefully and comfortably lit.

I'm just a frump who was born 100 years too late! :(

And yet, I turn on my shower light for every shower. Oh, the hypocrisy! ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: Frank Lloyd Wright's Dana House

This post was edited by DreamingoftheUP on Mon, Mar 3, 14 at 22:36