Bathroom Lighting Made Easy

Perhaps with the exception of the kitchen, a bathroom is often the busiest room in a house, and we spend an awful lot of time in there; washing, shaving, brushing our teeth, fixing our hair, or perhaps just unwinding with a nice hot soak in the bath. Whatever the purpose of the visit, bathrooms are occupied for a lot of time throughout the morning and night. And yet, for some reason, the bathroom is almost the last place (except for perhaps the broom closet or cellar) where we think about the importance of effective lighting. As you'll see though – proper lighting in the bathroom is both simple, and very necessary.

Practical and Effective Ambient Light

As we all know, ambient lighting is the main source of light in a room. Its purpose in the bathroom? Simply to help us see what we are doing. It should be bright (but not too bright – after all, that won't got down too well with a hangover) and serve its purpose. By all means, get fancy if you like; some people have chosen to adorn their bathrooms with luxurious chandeliers or a series of small lights build into the ledges or recesses of the bathroom wall. There's nothing wrong with that of course. But if you’re not trying to set a cinematic lighting backdrop whilst you shave and brush your teeth, an energy saving LED (from Bright Lightz or another quality company) is probably a far more sensible – as well as affordable – purchase.

Vanity Lighting

As well matters of cleanliness, bathrooms are all about vanity. So in many ways, the type of vanity lighting you go for is an important choice. Unlike ambient light – where a simple LED will do the trick – cheap or basic vanity lighting (usually in the form of a single fixed ceiling light) could have horrifying effects first thing in the morning. There's nothing worse than trying to do your make-up, with a ceiling light that casts shadows reminiscent of The Godfather Trilogy. Don't want to look like a grizzled, ageing mobster when you look in the mirror? Install small lighting fixtures on either side of the mirror.

Basic but Absolutely Essential

These are pretty basic approaches to lighting, but it's amazing how many people don't know them or put them into practice. Particularly given the low cost of implementing these techniques, one would be foolish to disregard them.