| Bathroom Lighting |
If you’re designing the interior lighting of your new home, or remodeling an existing home, don’t overlook bathroom lighting in your overall plan.
Many people don’t give much thought to bathroom lighting, focusing instead on the kitchen or the dining room. Which is all well and good, but be aware that many people today look at their bathrooms as mini-spas, complete with spa tubs and steam showers, and they’re spending more and more of their time there.
And as bathrooms are increasingly becoming places to recharge and relax, the lighting in these special rooms requires additional thought and planning. This is extra work and expense, no doubt, but if the job is done right, you'll get a great return on your investiment in time and money. The bathroom is, after all the room where most of us start and end our days.
When designing the lighting for your bathroom, keep in mind that a good lighting plan revolves around a series of lighting "layers." The idea is to place adaquate like whereever it's needed, including around the vanity for shaving or applying makup, in the shower, and other light sources to create the mood you're looking for.
A good place to start when you're planning the lighting layers in your bathroom is the vanity. In the past, many bathrooms were equipped with a vanity strip over the mirror and little else. But many of today’s bathrooms are larger and have more areas to illuminate, requiring extra thought and a wider array of fixtures.
You might start by considering where light will be needed in your bathroom. You’ll probably want ample task lighting in the areas where you’ll be shaving, styling your hair or putting on makeup, while going for more subtle lighting to create a relaxing mood around the bathtub or shower. A bathbar installed above the vanity mirror is a good choice for task lighting, while wall sconces or a ceiling fixture can provide general light for the rest of the room.
When designing your bathroom lighting, you’ll probably want to avoid putting recessed ceiling fixtures over the mirror. These cast facial shadows that can make grooming and makeup application difficult at best. For even illumination on the face, a better choice would be sconces mounted on each side of the mirror, or similarly-mounted vertical fixtures.
If your bathroom doesn’t allow for this lighting arrangement, you’ll probably have to go with the traditional fixture over the mirror. Bathbar fixtures should be at least two feet long and and provide at least 150 watts of illumination so that the light spills evenly across the face and hair.
And lastly, always consider safety when choosing lighting equipment for your bathroom. Because bathrooms are full of moisture, there is always a risk of electrical shock. Any lighting equipment installed in bathrooms needs to be of enclosed construction and be stated by the manufacturer to have a degree of “ingress protection.” In other words, splashproof and steamproof.
Also never position any lighting switch or fitting within touching distance of a person in the bath or shower, nor where the fixture is at risk of being splashed with water, unless it is specifically certified by the manufacturer to be used near water. In addition, portable heaters, TVs or radios that operate on line voltage should never be taken into a bathroom. And the only wall sockets should be by the vanity for shaving, and should have equipped with circuit breakers.
Further Reading
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Outdoor Lighting
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Lighting Fixtures
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Lighting Fixtures
There's a wide variety of lighting fixtures to choose from depending on your needs and budget. When going over your overall lighting design, make sure you have the right fixtures for every room and every lighting application.... Read more |
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