Lighting for Half-Baths

Your lighting dreams are big, but your bathroom space is small in a one-bedroom apartment, cottage or prefab home. If you have a half-bath you can start to feel claustrophobic. Your bathroom may be cramped, but you can make it look larger and more inviting without knocking out a wall.

If you can't change your living situation, you can change your lighting by following the techniques that experts use with enclosed toilets. You don't want a naked, absolutely clear bulb or a globe with harsh fluorescent lighting, which gives the half-bath or bathroom a "prison cell" effect. Try to follow this bathroom lighting guide:

• Light bathroom mirrors with bright bathbars and wall sconces. Bathroom light around the mirror can flood a small space.
• Use recessed lighting with incandescent R-lamps the way you would for a larger bathroom.
• Use fluorescent flight with frosted glass, which is cooler and also easier for older people, especially around both sides of a mirror.