With the bathroom fast becoming a place to relax or refresh, as well as for maintaining cleanliness, the lighting in the room is increasingly important. To find out how best to light your bathroom, read on.
Task lighting
If you use your bathroom for tasks like applying makeup or shaving, you’ll need to make sure that as well as the main lighting, you have adequate task lighting in place to do so safely and with precision. Lights installed on either side of the mirror, or above it, can help direct light off the mirror and make it easier for you to see what you’re doing.
An alternative is to invest in a bathroom mirror that has built-in lights, while some are also equipped with plug sockets, so you won’t need an especially long shaver lead or to stretch it into another room.
Matching styles
You’ll want to make sure the lights you choose for the bathroom will fit in with the style you’ve decided to create in the space, so spend some time researching the type of light fittings that will complement the look you’re going for.
A luxurious bathroom is the ideal place to hang a decadent chandelier and fit gilt-covered sconces at either side of a vanity unit, while a contemporary family bathroom might be best finished with spotlights to allow plenty of illumination – plus their style means they won’t need cleaning as often as hanging units!
Pinpoint areas
As well as illuminating the space, light can be used to create zones in the bathroom if there is enough room. You can do this by having spotlights or a number of fittings installed in different areas of the bathroom that are controlled independently via separate switches. You might opt to have some lighting installed over the shower cubicle, bath and vanity unit, and – depending on the time of day or the mood you want to create – have one area or all three lit up at once.
This will allow you to change the mood in the room, so you could make it low key and dim in the evenings when you want to relax, for example. An alternative is to install a dimmer switch to adjust the brightness levels if you haven’t got an especially spacious bathroom.
Create space
Commonly known as the smallest room in the house, the bathroom is traditionally relatively compact, but you can open up the space through inventive use of lighting combined with other elements.
Fitting spotlights can really brighten up the room, and if you combine these with neutral decor and large mirrors, you’ll be able to create an illusion of space in even the most compact of bathrooms.
Signature items
Lighting in the bathroom is useful for obvious reasons, such as being able to navigate the space and carry out tasks with precision, but you can also use lighting to draw attention to items or parts of the room.
If you’re an art lover, you might have decided to hang paintings or place sculptures throughout the area, and you can light these up with feature lighting, such as spotlights or wall lights that will cast a glow directly on to the signature items you want to showcase.
As well as pieces of art, furniture like a lavish chaise longue and specific areas of the bathroom like a wetroom can also be illuminated to draw the eye, especially if you want to attract attention to a high quality finish and opulent materials like marble and slate.
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