THE IMPORTANCE OF LOVELY LIGHTING IN YOUR BATHROOM

Great lighting has the ability to make any space look amazing… but get it wrong and it can have the polar opposite effect! Bathrooms run the risk of being cold, uninviting rooms because of the sheer nature of all the hard surfaces. Lighting will be your saviour in bringing warm glowy vibes to your bathroom.

So, where to start?

YOUR LIGHTING PLAN IS KEY!

Lovely lighting in your bathroom (or any room in the house for that matter) doesn’t happen by chance. You’ll need to think about what sort of lighting you want and plan where you want it to go. When considering lighting for each room, we break it down into three groups:

AMBIENT LIGHTING

This is the overall light source for a room and this family of lighting includes downlights, pendants, chandeliers, wall sconces and floor lamps. The importance of ambient lighting could actually make or break how your room ends up feeling. Install too few downlights and you’ll be forever cursing as you search for your favourite lipstick in the vanity drawer. Install too many downlights and your bathroom might end up feeling like a supermarket, especially if you choose cool white globes!

TASK LIGHTING

This is lighting for specific tasks, such as applying makeup in a bathroom, reading in a bedroom or working in a home office. Be very clear on what you want achieve in each space, then light it accordingly. This may mean installing wall sconces above your vanity, placing soft lighting at face level around a bathroom mirror and placing small lights in cupboards or wardrobes.

ACCENT LIGHTING

You like the drama, Mama? That’s what you’ll get from accent lighting. Accent lighting can be used to highlight things around your home that you want to draw attention to. An example of this might be spotlights above a piece of art or lighting in cabinetry to illuminate the decorative objects on display.

Once we’ve decided what types of lighting we want to use, how many lights we’ll need and where we want them to go, we draw them up on our Electrical Plan.

We whipped this one up in PowerPoint (it doesn’t need to be fancy!) to share with our sparky for our latest bathroom project. Your plan should be a simple floor plan of the room with a key and symbols for lights, powerpoints and switches (and any other electrical items).

Remember that a bathroom is a wet zone - so it’s important to check all your desired lighting products and placements with your electrician to make sure everything is placed safely.

HOW THIS BATHROOM GOT LIT

Here’s what lighting we chose for our latest bathroom project:

Downlights - Buyer beware, not all downlights are created equal! We chose 4 ‘LEDlux’ downlights from Beacon Lighting and spaced them evenly in the bathroom ceiling. We love using these downlights because they’re colour changing, meaning you can flick a switch inside the light and choose between warm white, cool white and daylight. If you ask your sparky nicely they should be happy to let you see each colour in situ in your bathroom before making the big decision. They’re also dimmable which is handy if you love to relax in a warm bath without being blinded by the lights.

Wall sconces - These sexy beasts are made from natural alabaster stone so each light is totally unique… which makes us love them even more. They’re called the ‘Times’ LED wall sconce, also from Beacon Lighting. We paired two side-by-side for extra glowy goodness. These lights can also be dimmed - turn them up when you need a little extra task lighting to apply your makeup or dim them down in the evening and they look like pieces of art on the wall.

Natural light - never underestimate the impact of natural light in a bathroom. Wherever possible, we like our bathrooms to have windows for airflow and skylights to flood the room with light.

BRIGHT IDEAS

Depending on the climate where you live, you might like to incorporate underfloor heating, heated towel rails and heat lamps to keep your bathroom warm and toasty. Don’t forget to include those in your Electrical Plan too.