Bathroom Sconces 101, the Dummy Version

Bathroom sconce lighting

Our Antisocial Network staffers absolutely hate it when they come across some random freelancer pulling that old bait and switch in their writing. You know what we mean; like titling a piece "How to Win the Lottery" and then filling it with self-serving links ("associate" links) to lottery tickets: crap like that. Today's DotD candidate is Sara Shea of Catalogs.com, who pulled a bait-and-switch by titling her piece "Installing bathroom sconce lighting." After that title, though, she said nothing about installing. Period.

Well, we take that back: she did refer to an eHow title "How to Install a Wall Light," but for some reason her link to that content redirects to an SFGate post on how to hang a chandelier in a two-story foyer, which we submit is not the same thing... but we digress. Shea has a lot of boilerplate crap about the history of sconces, including such useful information for would-be bathroom decorators as

"Sconces are particularly ideal for dim hallways or stairwells, where there is simply no space for standing lamps, and where overhead or recessed lighting may either be too bright, or impossible to install. When installing hallway or stairwell sconces, care should be taken to select fixtures that do not protrude too far into a narrow passage way."

We aren't particularly certain how all that applies to the subject of "installing bathroom sconce lighting," but OK. So: let's see what Sara actually has to say about sconces installed in bathrooms: "Ultimately, sconces should be positioned to accentuate the focal points of a room, to frame a space, or to offer soft nuances of ambient lighting in dim areas, which makes them ideal bathroom lighting fixtures..." ...oh, now we get it:

"Installing bathroom sconces is typically a question of properly framing and lighting a bathroom vanity area. A symmetrical pair of sconces will reflect light off the ceiling, and the bathroom mirror, thus providing ambient lighting as well as directional task lighting for personal grooming."

...except that sconces are pretty much worthless for directional lighting, since -- as Sara already noted -- they reflect light off the ceiling!
So Shea blew it by not actually knowing what sconces are and what sort of illumination they provide. Our biggest concern, however, is that Sara did say "installing" in her title, and uses the words "install" and "installing" a total of eight times; yet she never actually discusses installing these lights. There's no mention of the wiring requirements, code for placement of a light fixture in a wet location, switches, or anything install-y. Nope, all Shea does is blather a bit in decorator-speak and babble about the history of the sconce. When it comes to actual installation, she refers her readers to two out-of-print articles. No bueno, Sara: all that does is earn you the Dumbass of the Day award!

copyright © 2016-2022 scmrak

DDIY - LIGHTING