Bathrooms are the one room in most houses that are used vigorously and often but are the least looked after. When you think about decorating your home, the last place you would think of is your bathroom.
But your bathroom is more important than you’ll let on. It is where you set your appearance, do your make up and get ready. A lot of young women have gotten into bathroom selfies alone or with their friends. You also seek comfort in your bathroom; when you’re feeling low or tired, a warm bath and some good ambiance can cheer you right up.
Bathroom lighting plays an essential role in defining the look of your bathroom; however, you can’t merely fix up a light bulb and expect efficient lighting. Just like how you analyze angles of your face while clicking photos, you have to analyze the bathroom angles and effectively put up lights that would function like a system of lights.
Everyone has a different bathroom, so picking lights may seem confusing at first. Still, with a few easy steps, you can assess what kind of lights you need, what purpose you’d want them to serve, and where you’d like to place them. You don’t need to be a light expert, but having a guide to walk you through is always helpful in picking out lights for your bathroom.
We will discuss a few general bathroom lights that are popular in India and specific lights based on functionality.
Types of General Bathroom Lights:
Ceiling Lights:
Most bathrooms have a basic ceiling light or a bunch of them, fixed on to fixtures on the ceiling or overhead on your roof. These lights provide centralized lighting to the entire bathroom and are controlled by a switch.
These lights will light up your entire bathroom, but for better lighting in every bit of the room, more lights are added.
Shower Bars:
Shower bars are lights that look like a shower bar or lamps that hang off a shower bar. They are usually placed above a mirror and highlight the highest point of the mirror.
Wall Scone Lights:
Scone lights are lights that come in pairs and are most often places on either side of the mirror. These lights are bright and add depth to the sides on your face and highlighting the entire face.
They are great lights for styling purposes since they are placed at the head level. This makes them the brightest and most eye-catching light, so you can customize them with different colors.
Let us discuss more purpose-specific lighting options:
Light Dimmers for all seasons:
Dimmers can be your best friend in any instance. Dimmers are devices connected to a light source, which dim or increase your light source’s intensity. Getting bright lights and fixing them up with dimmers will be great for you, as you can choose which instances need light intensity.
The most common type of bulbs that can be hooked with a dimmer are fluorescent light bulbs, LED light bulbs, and halogen light bulbs.
There are various types of dimmers, and most lights work with a universal dimmer. However, make sure to cross-check if the light bulb you buy, even the ones mentioned above, are compatible with dimmers and if so, which one.
Tasking Lights for zones:
Having bright lights is pointless in your bathroom if they are poorly placed and face contrast.
Tasking lights are unique lights used in specific zones along with the ambient light of the room. They focus on particular tasks that require handling small or low contrast objects, like shaving or makeup.
Recessed Lights for focus lighting:
Recessed lights are light fixtures installed into openings or holes on the ceiling. This light is directed downwards and acts as a spotlight.
It is excellent for bathrooms, especially smaller ones, as it also saves space. These lights provide focused lighting on one spot and poorly illuminate the rest of the room; so you can either get
multiple kinds of similar lights or pair these with brighter lights.
LED for energy efficiency:
LED bulbs are electrical light sources that produce light via light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED bulbs are great options for your bathroom if you want to conserve electricity and reduce energy use while saving on your electricity bill. LEDs convert most of the energy used to the light, and a minimal percentage is wasted as heat, unlike traditional lights that work in reverse.
Mood Lighting for Ambiance:
Mood lighting is a set of lights used to define the ambiance of a room. It usually cuts off the dull effect of practical lighting and spruces up any room.
You can pick out the colors and set different moods in your bathroom, choosing the brightness, when and where to place them, and so on.
Backlighting to highlight profiles:
A backlight is a light that highlights the subject from the back. This light makes it seem like the edges of the subject glows while the center is darker.
You can add character to your bathroom walls or ceiling with these lights, adding warmth. You could also use them to highlight your profile without paying much attention to your features.
Consider Layered Lighting:
Since you’re aware of a few primary lights and purpose-specific ones, you could consider layering your lights. This process involves you choosing multiple layers/ types of different lighting in different positions of your bathroom to find that effective system of lights.
All you have to do is understand and choose what kind of mood you want to set and what you wish to highlight daily when you walk in your bathroom and place the lights accordingly.
Things to remember:
It’s no rocket science, lighting to fix lights into your bathroom. However, it is an art that takes a lot of consideration.
You have to consider natural light, objects in your bathroom that could obstruct light, how bright you’d want your lights to be, and any contrasts brought about by the positioning of your lamps.
You also want to look into to the accessories you use, like dimmers and bulbs, which have many variations. You must check and double-check if everything will fit and work together in your ideal bathroom.
About The Author
Michelle Joe
Michelle Joe is a blogger by choice. She loves to discover the world around her. She likes to share her discoveries, experiences, and express herself through her blogs. You can find her on twitter
