Make the buzzing stop!

March 19, 2008 7:17 AM

Help me de-eighties my bathroom lights!

I have heinous fluorescent lighting in my bathroom - the long bulbs, drop-ceiling kind of fluorescent lighting. It buzzes and flickers, and just generally makes everything look awful. I'd like to replace it with something more appealing. Hive mind, please make suggestions as to what kind of lighting I can get!

Here are the specifics:
-There is no window in this room. The room is pitch black without some kind of lighting.
-The fluorescents were part of the original house design (early 80's), meaning that there is a foot-high, 6 inch deep gyproc barrier coming down from the ceiling to hold the support rails for the lighting panels. I am not looking to knock this barrier out right now, so any replacement lighting will be "sunken" into this recessed area in the ceiling.
- inside the panels, there is one light fixture, containing two bulbs. This fixture is just the same size as the kind of fluorescent fixtures they use in offices.
-The fixture is "fed" by a single electrical cord coming out of the ceiling, but it's not centred. The electrical cord is in the ceiling near the door, on my right as I look up at the fixture. It's right over the bathroom sink, if that helps any.

Any suggestions on how to de-eighties my bathroom lights would be much appreciated!

(I don't have pics as of yet, I'll post some when I go home tonight.)

posted by LN to home & garden (5 comments total)

Simple, perhaps short term solution: replace the ballasts with modern electronic ones, and the bulbs with full spectrum ones. I find that mixing the bulbs, white and warm-white, and such gives a more natural look. Modern fluorescents are nothing like the old ones.
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:30 AM on March 19

Yes, replacing the ballast will stop the buzz and flicker.
posted by winston at 7:34 AM on March 19

I'm no expert on the electrics, but is it possible to put in halogen (spot)lights? They completely ujpgrade the feel of a place
posted by Marzipan at 10:14 AM on March 19

Seconding modern fluorescents. And (if I understand your description correctly), I would install them against the ceiling and get a single textured translucent plastic panel, which you can get cut to size at a glass or plastic shop, and install that in the opening by means of molding tacked around the edge.

Alternatively, and more complicated, you could frame over the opening and create a level sheetrock ceiling into which you would install several recessed fixtures (use screw-in fluorescent floods).
posted by beagle at 2:16 PM on March 19

I've seen a really nice rework of a lighting recess like this done where they replaced the lighting with recessed can-style lights and then reworked the corners to create an oval. Made it super-swanky.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 4:58 PM on March 19