The cool spark your bath design needs: a Mid Century wall light
Design: Time & Place Interiors / Photo: Gloria Kilbourne
Your bathroom might not take up the most real estate in your apartment’s square footage, but its design shouldn’t be an afterthought. The small space gets you ready for your busy day, and then helps you wind down at night. It should be not only functional, but also feel luxurious.
The most effective way to accomplish that? Through lighting, which is jewelry for interiors.
Beautiful luxury light fixtures are an instantaneous upgrade of sophistication. And, conversely, generic lights are a dead giveaway of lackluster space.
I like to swap out contractor-grade vanity lights with a cool vintage fixture to add personality to a plain white-box apartment. And when I plan bathroom renovations, sconces are high on my priority list of design elements.
To give a bath the spark it needs, I love to employ vintage Mid Century wall lights from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Their striking forms and streamlined materials always elevate a bathroom’s design. There are funky Bauhaus styles, luxurious European Kalmar vintage glass lights, or colorful ceramic fixtures that give contemporary bathrooms an extra punch of style.
Here’s a roundup of luxury bath designs with Mid Century Modern vintage bathroom sconces and vanity lights that’ll make you want to linger in the bathroom, guaranteed.
- Ksenya, founder of Time & Place Interiors
The vintage European glass Kalmar light, along with the Moroccan zellige tiles, make this small bath feel luxurious and masculine. Design: Eric Wink / Photo: Nicole Franzen & Adrian Gaut
In a contemporary bath, minimal Mid Century sconces and a vintage mirror blend seamlessly while adding a punch of character to the scene. Design: Gillian Segal / Photo: Nick Mele
For my Pre-War bath project, I sourced a pink vintage sconce by Bauhaus designer Sigvard Bernadotte. Design: Time & Place Interiors / Photo: Gloria Kilbourne
This dreamy bath called for vanity lights that were stylish for the luxury space while being subtle enough to not compete with the pink pendant. The same model of vintage European sconces by Sigvard Bernadotte as above, flipped vertically, did the trick. Design: Nicholas Potts / Photo: Jennifer Hughes
And here’s the sconce in brown, above a wicker mirror and fabulous vintage mint green sink. Design: Harding & Read / Photo: Seth Carnill
Moody character was brought to this renovated Brooklyn bath with the help of Mid Century German theater wall lights. Design: Frederick Tang Architecture / Photo: Gieves Anderson
A vintage Mid Century glass vanity light updates an earthy 1920s bath with its original Art Deco pedestal sink. Design: Mark Grattan / Photo: Maureen M. Evans
Vintage Murano glass sconces accompany a vintage mirror and a funky custom vanity. Design: Meg Sharpe / Photo: Kyle Knodell
Elevating your home with curated design
Time & Place Interiors offers residential design for New Yorkers seeking a thoughtfully curated space. Founder Ksenya Malina brings full service design and art direction using her signature combination of vintage + modern elements. Use the link below to explore opportunities for us to design your own unique home:
