Bathroom Lighting

Much as with the kitchen, master bathrooms are a central focus of the modern home and should therefore be provided with a variety of lighting options. Focusing on the various tasks that occur in the bath can be a guide to providing appropriate lighting.

Lighting for Grooming

The most important task lighting solution and the first layer for consideration is lighting at the vanity area. The primary task here is grooming, including applying makeup, shaving, etc. The grooming tasks generally require the highest level of lighting in the bath, and this lighting solution is therefore extremely important.

The most ideal solution for grooming is to provide lighting at the sides of the mirror. Placing the lighting at the sides allows the light to wash the face from a horizontal direction and creates no shadows on the face. This type of wall-mounted or mirror-mounted lighting can be use either incandescent or fluorescent sources. Both of these sources can be dimmed, and it is highly recommended that a dimmer be provided for the task lighting for grooming.

Incandescent Fixtures

Incandescent wall fixtures for the vanity area are available today in an extraordinary range of styles. The older incandescent vanity strips that used exposed globe light bulbs remain available, but are not generally the best solution for purposes of an appropriate design solution. Interestingly, these vanity strips do provide an excellent quality of light and that is why they are often used in dressing rooms in theaters and movie sets.

Whatever the style, it is extremely important to find fixtures where the light bulbs are shielded by a shade and therefore not visible. However, it is also important to find fixtures with shades that have enough diffused quality so that the light effectively exits from the fixture without creating glare.

Fluorescent fixtures

Fluorescent vanity fixtures also are available for placement either on the sides or the top of the mirror. Although not as many design options are available using fluorescent bulbs, there are more options than you might expect. One of the benefits of using fluorescent fixtures is that fluorescent lighting today is extremely efficient and therefore provides excellent light with very little heat exposure.

Fluorescent bulbs in today’s market are available in a range of options that are classified by their “color temperature” and their “color rendering” ability. Older bulbs were called by terms such as “cool white” and “warm white” but these terms are not used today. The color temperature scale defines the relative visual “warmth” or “ visual “coolness” of a fluorescent lamp. The higher the number, the more cool that the bulb appears, and the lower the color temperature, the warmer that the bulb appears.

In the bathroom, it is most appropriate to use bulbs with a color temperature in the range of 3000-3500K. The Kelvin scale is used to define the color of the bulb and how it renders neutral surfaces. Bulbs within the 3000-3500K scale are close in color temperature to incandescent bulbs and will appear very comfortable in the bathroom.

Fixtures above the mirror

If placing fixtures on the side of the mirror is not possible or practical, there are many fixture options that can be placed above the mirror. Typically, this placement is more common and often easier than placing the lighting on the sides of the mirror. The key to create a successful lighting solution is to choose a fixture that is appropriately sized to the size of the mirror.

A general rule of thumb is to provide 100 watts of incandescent lighting for every 18" of horizontal width of the mirror. Placing fixtures above the mirror is equal in quality to fixtures placed on the side as long as the fixtures provide an adequate intensity of light.

Dimming

Using a dimmer on the vanity fixtures is extremely important and can add tremendous comfort to this area of the bath. Most of the time the amount of lighting provided by a vanity fixture is excellent for the grooming tasks, but it is excessive for the general use of the bathroom. Providing a dimming capability allows the fixture’s light intensity to be modulated for the other tasks that occur in the bathroom. It cannot be overstated how important this option can be for adding comfort to the bath.

Lighting for the shower and tub

For the other tasks in the bathroom, it is important to provide another series of lighting layers. In the shower or the tub, it is important to place lighting directly above these areas. In order to meet the standards of the National Electrical Code, these fixtures must be labeled as meeting the requirements for wet conditions. This are typically called “wet label” fixtures. There are many varieties of fixtures that meet these requirements, and they can be either recessed or surface mounted.

The recessed fixtures are more common for this application, and they are available in new designs that use halogen bulbs in the MR16 shapes and MR shapes. These halogen sources provide excellent lighting quality that far exceeds the typical shower fixtures that use standard household “A” or general service lamps.

Lighting for the water closet

In smaller bathrooms, the vanity lighting is often sufficient for general lighting in the water closet area. However, if the water closet is far from the vanity or is placed in a separate compartment, it is necessary to provide a separate light source for that area. It is useful to provide a decorative ceiling mounted fixture for this purpose, or a recessed fixture placed close to the water closet.

Decorative fixtures are being used more and more for bathroom applications. In the water closet area it is also appropriate and useful to use wall-mounted decorative fixtures that provide excellent task lighting.

General ambient lighting

Placing a decorative lighting fixture in the center of the bathroom is an excellent lighting solution for any bathroom. The decorative options available for this type of fixtures are endless, and it has become very common and appropriate to use highly decorative fixtures in bathrooms. There are many options available, including surface-mounted fixtures, close-to-ceiling, and hanging chandeliers. When these fixtures are also controlled by a dimmer, they add a tremendously high sense of elegance and comfort to the bathroom.

See a Lighting One sales consultant for more information and design ideas.