Bathroom

A bathroom is a wet room and lighting has to respect that. In European homes fixtures are chosen against IP zones, and using the wrong one is a real safety and warranty problem, not a detail.

The IP rating tells you how well a fixture is sealed against water. Zone 0 (inside the tub or shower tray) needs IP67. Zone 1 (directly above the tub or shower, up to 2.25 m) needs IP65 minimum. Zone 2 (0.6 m around Zone 1 and above the sink) needs IP44 minimum. Anywhere further from water can take a standard fixture. For most bathrooms the practical rule is IP44 for anything above the vanity or the tub, and standard indoor rating for a chandelier or a ceiling light in the centre of the room.

Beyond IP, prefer low-voltage LED with 90+ CRI, dimmable if the ceiling light doubles as evening ambient, and a warm colour temperature between 2700 and 3000 K, which reads skin honestly for shaving and make-up. Cool white 4000 K looks clinical and is best reserved for a small hidden mirror-back strip, not the room light.

Every fixture on our bathroom lighting collection lists its IP rating and mounting height on the product page, and our team confirms suitability by SKU before shipping.

The single most important lighting decision in a bathroom is what sits around the mirror, because that is where the face is judged every morning. There are three canonical answers, and each has a right context.

• Vanity light above the mirror. The classic. A horizontal bathroom vanity light mounted 15 to 20 cm above the top edge of the mirror covers the widest range of faces evenly. Best when the mirror is wide and the ceiling is standard. Prefer two or three shaded lights on a bar rather than a single naked LED strip.
• Pair of wall sconces flanking the mirror. The professional choice. Two bathroom sconces installed at eye level (roughly 165 cm from the floor) on either side of the mirror light the face from both sides and remove the shadow under the chin and eyes. Best for tall mirrors and for anyone who applies make-up seriously. Requires enough wall on both sides of the mirror.
• Pendant or mini chandelier over the mirror. The couture option. A single small bathroom pendant hung 75 to 90 cm above the vanity works when the ceiling is high and the vanity has generous width. Style choice, not a functional light, so pair it with sconces or a downlight for real face light.

For most European homes with 260 to 280 cm ceilings and a single mirror over one vanity, the sconce pair is the answer that reads most like a designed bathroom rather than a hotel room.

A bathroom looks resolved when three lines agree: the width of the vanity, the width of the mirror and the light distribution around it. Missing any one of them is what makes a bathroom feel builder-grade even when the tile is beautiful.

Start with the vanity width. If the vanity is a single sink of 80 to 100 cm, the mirror can be as wide as the vanity minus 10 cm, so it does not overhang and does not touch the wall corners. For a double vanity of 140 to 180 cm the classic move is two matching mirrors above each basin, each with its own sconce pair, rather than one wide mirror with a single central light.

Then the light. A horizontal vanity light should be within 5 to 10 cm of the mirror width on each side, so it does not extend past the mirror. Sconces flanking the mirror should sit at 165 cm from the floor and be spaced 60 to 90 cm apart, so the beams cross at the face rather than at the shoulders.

Finally the material. A vanity in walnut or lacquered oak sits better under a warm-metal fixture (brass, bronze, antique brass). A vanity in Carrara or Calacatta wants nickel or chrome. Mixing warm and cool metals in the same bathroom rarely reads intentional. If you use a bathroom mirror with a metal frame, match that frame to the fixture, not to the tap.

Send us the vanity width, ceiling height and a photo of the tile and we return a compatible fixture and mirror pairing.

Bathrooms are unforgiving on fixtures. Steam, temperature swings, chlorine from cleaning, hard water on the metal. The roster we curate for a bathroom is not the same as for a living room, precisely because some finishes age well here and others do not.

Brass and antique brass. A living finish that patinates gently with humidity and cleaning. The Visual Comfort bathroom range is dominated by antique brass and hand-rubbed antique brass, both wet-rated on the vanity lights, and both age gracefully in a shower room over five to ten years. This is the finish we recommend most often for a warm, resolved bathroom.

Polished nickel and chrome. The cool alternative. Polished nickel from Visual Comfort and the metric chrome from Quintiesse is bathroom-tuned, sits well against Carrara and Calacatta and stays true over time. Chrome shows fingerprints and hard water fast, nickel is more forgiving.

Glass and opaline. Murano and blown glass from Vistosi and Fabbian works around the vanity when kept in Zone 2 rated fixtures. Frosted or opaline diffusers soften the light and hide fingerprints better than clear.

Ceramic and plaster. The atelier finish. Reactive glaze ceramic and plaster wall lights from Italian ateliers such as Karman add texture on the wall without competing with the tile, and hold up well outside splash zones.

What we avoid recommending for bathrooms: raw iron (rusts), untreated wood (warps), paper shades (absorbs steam), leather (dries out). If a fixture has any of those materials, we place it outside Zone 2.

The two rooms need different plans, and treating them the same is the fastest way to overspend on the small bath and underspend on the master.

Small guest bathroom, 3 to 5 m². One functional layer is enough. A single wet-rated ceiling light or a compact semi-flush mount in the centre, plus one vanity light above a small mirror over the sink, covers the entire room. Skip the sconce pair unless the wall geometry is generous. Warm 2700 K, 90+ CRI, dimmable if possible, and choose a fixture in the same finish family as the tap.

Family or master bathroom, 8 to 15 m². Three layers. Ambient from a small chandelier, wet-rated ceiling light or a pair of pendants in the centre of the room. Task from a sconce pair around the mirror at 165 cm, or a wide vanity light above a double mirror setup. Accent from a floor-level or plinth-level light on the tub apron, or from a picture light on the tile feature wall, so the room stays warm at night without turning on the full ceiling.

The difference is not just budget. A small bathroom asks for one strong choice; a master bathroom asks for three coordinated pieces that read as a set. Both need dimming from the switch, because a bathroom read at midnight is the third scene of the day.

Bathrooms are a specification-heavy category, so the practical side of ordering matters as much as the design side.

We deliver across continental Europe within 14 days for in-stock lighting, with the full IP rating and installation drawing on every fixture. UK bathroom fixtures are handled directly by Visual Comfort and are not part of our EU shipment, which we mention upfront so architects planning a UK renovation do not waste a briefing.

We are an authorized dealer for the Visual Comfort catalogue and for the Italian ateliers on our roster, which means the bathroom fixtures we ship carry the manufacturer's warranty and are wired to European 220-240 V. Every US-brand fixture is delivered ready to install, no third-party rewire, no voltage step-down box.

Our Milan showroom at Via Turati 3 keeps live samples of the bathroom vanity lights, sconces and mirrors that appear on this page. Interior designers, architects and specifiers can also join our trade programme for project pricing, direct quotes on bathroom packages and pre-order finish confirmation on the Visual Comfort and Malerba mirror ranges.