GRONO in the loo

Materials: 6 Grono lamps, 2 Ljusdal shelves

Description: We recently moved into a new apartment, and being inspired by both the space and ikeahackers we had a lot of fun designing and decorating. Of course budget is always a consideration, so using lots of "as is" items added to the challenge and also the satisfaction. I have a few different hacks to share, hope you find mine as inspiring as I've found all of yours!

Bare fluorescent tube fixtures have their place I'm sure, but over my bathroom sink is not one of them. With my husband's electrical experience it didn't seem like it would be a big deal to replace, but then we ran into the snag of finding something we actually liked! Seeing as the bathroom counter spans the whole room, one of the normal vanity bars (other than being boring) looked too small. We played around with a few ideas, and eventually came up with this.

We mounted two Ljusdal shelves side by side (touching) centered on the wall and flush to the top of the mirror. We then placed the six Grono lamps upside down, evenly spaced on the shelves. We are using fluorescent bulbs in the Gronos, so heat is not an issue in spite of the bulb being enclosed this way. My husband cut off all the cords to the length needed to reach the electrical connection, and then hard wired all the lamps together into the outlet. This way the individual lamps operate as one via the wall switch. The inverted lights glow through the frosted glass shelf and make a bright but diffuse light perfect for the bathroom.

Budget-wise, it's not the absolute cheapest solution we could have found, but then again bathroom fixtures tend to run expensive anyway, so I figure we paid about the going price and the result is custom made for our loo.

~ marikorose, Athens, Greece