Unless you live in a huge home with a luxury bathroom, dressing room, and separate en suite, chances are you’d probably wish you had a larger bathroom at some point.
This is often the case if you’ve even been forced to share a bathroom with family members, friends or flatmates. Similarly, those with uninspired bathrooms must often feel that they want to renovate, but are unwilling to splash out on a whole new suite.
The good news is that rather than spending thousands and waiting years for an extension just to make a bathroom appear more spacious, or splashing out on all-new fittings to make it feel like a spa, investing in some clever lighting solutions can instantly transform the space, giving the illusion of a costly transformation on nothing more than a light bulb budget. Read on to discover a series of exciting lighting tips from the experts which may change the way you view your bathroom forever:
1. Location, Location, Location.
Any estate agent will tell you that it’s all about location, location, location. And if you’re planning to revamp your bathroom with clever lighting, one of the first tricks to learn is placement. Focus on the key areas where you need illumination in the bathroom; the shower, the bathtub, the basin and the mirror. These are the areas which will inevitably get the most use, and therefore will need the most lighting.
Mirrors can be maximized by combining them with two wall-mounted fixtures on either side of the frame to achieve an even level of illumination when the mirror is in use.
2. Quality
It is also important to focus not just on the fixtures themselves but also on the quality of the bulbs. Energy-saving bulbs such as LEDs consume less energy and have a much longer life span than older-style lamps. Modern LEDs and GU10s are also available in a variety of colour temperatures, which should always be considered to add a mood effect.
For maximum effect, look for colour temperatures of around 2700K (Kelvin). Colour rendering is also a key quality; CRI spans a scale from 0 to 100, and the higher the CRI rating, the more effect it will have on a bathroom.
3.Mix it up.
When you want a bright and airy bathroom to wake you up early or provide excellent illumination for the school run, utilise spotlights, overhead lamps and as much natural daylight as possible. This will add the advantage of making the room feel as big as possible.
4. A softer side.
When you want to relax in the bath after a long day in a cosy, spa-like haven, use candles, soft, smaller lamps, or dimmable LEDs, which can set the mood and transform the room entirely. It is possible to install dimmer switches in bathrooms, which makes managing the lighting hue that much easier and more convenient.
