The Simple Automatic Bathroom Light Solution That'll Make You Feel Safer At Night

When nature calls in the middle of the night, the last thing you want to do is turn the bathroom light on at full brightness and shock yourself entirely awake. It's also not safe to meander into the bathroom in total darkness — you could easily trip, stub your toe, or bump your head. This is even more true if you have kids in the house who might be scared of the dark and whom you want to feel safe. To solve this issue, you can install an under-cabinet motion sensor light in your bathroom.

While installing an attractive night light can also serve to illuminate your bathroom, you'll be limited with where you can place it based on where your outlets are located. Plus, the majority of night lights are not motion sensors, so your light will be on at all hours of the night when you really only need it every so often. The beauty of under-cabinet lights is that you can place them anywhere, whether it's under your vanity, somewhere on the wall, or over your door frame. Plus, these lights are magnetic, which means if you have a metal surface you can attach them to, you can easily pull them off in a pinch and use them as a flashlight. 

Available on Amazon in a pack of two for $30.99, this is also a solution if you have more than one bathroom you'd like to illuminate to make your home feel more secure.

There are three ways to attach this motion sensor bathroom light. One is to attach it to a metal surface. If you don't have any magnetic surfaces in your bathroom, you can place a magnet on the top of a shelf, and then the magnetic light will stick to the bottom of it. Alternatively, you can use the adhesive metal plates the lights come with to attach them, or you can mount them with screws.

These lights have both a motion sensor and an always-on mode. The battery lasts longer in motion sensor mode, but you can also leave them in always-on mode if you want to use them to replace your outdated bathroom vanity lights. Additionally, they are dimmable, so you can set them to your desired brightness. In motion sensor mode, the lights come on when they sense motion within 10 feet. One potential downside of these lights is they turn off 20 seconds after detecting motion, and this feature is not customizable. A possible solution is to place them somewhere in the bathroom where the motion sensor will be easy to trigger if the light shuts off prematurely.

A slightly more whimsical alternative to the under-cabinet light that will still make your bathroom feel safe is to install this toilet night light. These stay on for two minutes after their motion sensors are activated, which is much longer than the under-cabinet lights. They also are waterproof and can turn the toilet bowl 16 different colors, which can be extra fun for households with kids.