The importance of selecting the right lighting for the bathroom

Bathroom lighting is essential. This is usually the first room we enter in the morning, setting the mood for the rest of the day. It is also the room we enter when we are half asleep in the middle of the night.

Washing, putting on makeup, shaving, grooming, and taking medication are just some of the daily routines in the bathroom. There is no other room in the home where optimizing both daylighting (outdoor daylight) and lighting (light bulbs) is more critical.

Daylight is important for our overall health and emotions as it sets our circadian rhythms (how natural light affects and resets our biological clock and consciousness). Lighting is essential for our safety (80% of all falls in older adults occur in the bathroom) and personal hygiene.

Natural lighting

Nothing comes close to beating the warmth, beauty, and emotional value of windows and skylights. These brighten your mood by helping you feel more refreshed and full of energy. They make a smaller bathroom seem much larger. They also have the added value of fresh air and help reduce humidity levels (high humidity levels can create harmful levels of mold and bacteria and destroy your walls and ceilings).

Windows provide free, energy-efficient and cost-effective lighting and ventilation. They are actually good for you. Daily exposure to natural light has been shown in several leading studies to improve mental and physical well-being, increase focus and energy levels, and offer a host of other unexpected benefits.

Multiple windows allow to balance natural light, cross ventilation and “open” the bathroom to the outside. Larger windows may have bottom-up or top-down blinds for privacy. The windows can also be opened in various combinations. Skylights, especially tube-type skylights, offer tremendous opportunities for natural light in small spaces where a traditional window isn’t practical. A 10″ tube skylight lets in at least 5 to 10 times more light than a typical 2×3 sliding bathroom window.

Turning on

Recessed lights, especially LEDs, are great for adding task lighting to the overall space, including the toilet. For most bathrooms, recessed LED lighting on a dimmer is best. It’s always better to “over light” and use dimmers to adjust. Never use fluorescent lights, the bathroom is not a store.

A light over the tub and shower is ideal for providing ambient and personal grooming lighting. Shaving your legs is so much easier when you have overhead lighting.

For vanity areas, wall sconces mounted on the top or sides of the mirror are best. This eliminates shadows on the face, making makeup application much easier and gives definition when applying lines. The combination of wall sconces and recessed lighting within the vanity area solves shadow and homework concerns. Doing makeup and hair is so much easier when the two are combined.

Always use multiple switches and dimmers for lighting. This permit has a wide range of possibilities for everyone who uses the bathroom. Everyone has different needs and the value of doing this cannot be stressed enough.

An LED socket type photocell night light is perfect in the toilet. It’s ideal when using the setup at night without having to turn on the bedroom lights, which blinds you and wakes your partner.

For LED lighting, color temperature and lumens are very important. Temperature does not refer to degrees. Rather, it refers to the color: reddish to sky blue. Lumens refer to the amount of visible light or brightness. Compared to incandescent bulbs, LED lighting uses 70-90% less energy, saves a tremendous amount of money over its lifetime, lasts up to 25 times longer (23 years or more), and helps protect the environment ambient.