IME, the only member of the household who spends any time at all looking into the powder room is the cat.

Powder rooms are often placed so that the entry isn't front and center from the rest of the house.

For me, every room needs a focal point.

a dark windowless powder room can be a statement if there is some relief.

A mirror, the fixtures, the floor... even an unusual ceiling treatment.

Thanks for comments. I may have found a solution for my dilemma, a little nightlight with a photocell.

Our powder room door is kept closed mainly because we have a motion detector sensor for the light fixture. Curious , ” high impact experience for guests ”, my guests get that in the rest of my house, I hope, especially from what comes out of the kitchen. i’ve been told we have very interesting art, probably not everyone’s ”cup of tea” though.

Motion switch is a cool idea. The light switch in my workshop is about 8 feet across the floor from a side door. Not wanting to grope in a cluttered area, I removed the toggle switch and replaced with a motion switch. I can relate to inadvertent triggering when the door gets left open.

"high impact experience for guest" HAHAHAH Where do we get such insanity!?? Guests want to find/use the facilites, check themselves in a mirror and get back to the gathering. No one is looking for a high impact experience in a BATHROOM!!! Don'tever think offering a cave is going to impress anyone!!! I never want to over hear my guests oooing and awwing about the DRAMATIC TOILET!! I would be mortified if my bathroom became the talk of the party!! We took a group of high school students to a very high end steak house in the city one year. The servers and owner were mightily confused when the kids all were taking turns touring eachohter in their bathrooms!!! We have this great food we are serving you and all you want to do is check out the bathroom!?!?!?! Skip the drama. Maye your space clean and tidy and comfortable as possible.

I did years ago do an all black bathroom for a male client , I meam ALL black great halogen lighting, no window and one fresh rose always in a vase on the back of the toilet. I will say it was pretty cool and his guests often oohed about.. Pretty sure his cleanng lady did not love it.. I often do PRs very dramatic with wallpaper , fun art etc. To me a space where you spend little time so have some fun.

" Much has been written about the virtues of dark powder rooms. They present opportunity for drama in a small space, high impact experience for guests, etc. "

Where is this written? Why has this been written about? I do not think I need the high impact experience from a powder room, actually I am afraid to ask what that even may be.....................

Hmm. Let's take the powder room described above by Patricia Colwell. If I opened the door to that, I think I'd say "Whoa!". I would consider that a high-impact experience.

Your mileage may vary.

I do not see myself ever feeling any powder room would be a high-impact experience..........................

Alrighty then.

I have a small powder room that has a window, white tile and fixtures and white wainscoting about halfway up. I painted the top half of the walls a dark gray. It's very different than my other bathrooms and the colors in the rest of my house. I do like the contrast, and wouldn't want everything to be the same dark gray. Just my experience.

One very dark bathroom belonged to someone who regretted installing black fixtures because they showed hard water spots. Another pitch dark bathroom could have used both a nightlight and illuminated light switches.