Good lighting can be a small touch that does big things for your bathroom. While bathrooms are a common area for remodeling in a home — due to how valuable they are to a home’s resale value — lighting often gets forgotten behind fixtures, colors, and other facets.
Adding some tasteful lighting choices can bolster the appearance of your bathroom, creating a space where you enjoy spending time while you take care of daily tasks such as showering, grooming, and the like. There are various different lighting options that can boost the aesthetics of your bathroom, with four primary types that are more than worthy of your consideration.
Task Lighting
This type of lighting earns its name. Its purpose is to help you carry out tasks in the bathroom, similar to how task lighting in the kitchen helps provide an environment conducive to food prep and cleaning.
In the bathroom, task lighting helps illuminate the area in front of the sink and mirror to make it easier to apply makeup, shave, and carry out other cosmetic tasks. An effective form of task lighting is to place two fixtures next to each side of the mirror. This design choice is often referred to as cross illumination and does not produce shadows on your face like other types do. Placing a single light about the mirror is a big no-no, as this technique casts shadows on the face, making grooming much more challenging.
Ambient Lighting
Ambient lighting also helps to reduce the amount of shadows cast by light sources by bouncing the light off the ceiling first. This most often comes in the form of ceiling fixtures that reflect the light toward the ceiling to provide an artificial form of natural lighting.
Ambient forms of lighting are not good substitutes for task lighting, but they can help to provide light over a large area as ambient lighting tends to fill the room, spreading out from its source.
Accent Lighting
Accent lighting does exactly what is sounds like: it helps to spotlight certain features in a bathroom, such as artwork, alluring fixtures, and other decor.
Accent lighting can be implemented through sconces, other wall-mounted fixtures, and recessed lighting pointed toward what you want to highlight. Accent lighting helps to layer lighting in your bathroom, which provides a well-rounded, visually appealing atmosphere.
Decorative Lighting
Decorative lighting not only helps to illuminate your bathroom, but it adds a decorative touch, as well. Chandeliers, sconces, and other types of noticeable features help to decorate your bathroom and give off a unique feeling or sense of character.
Adding a chandelier over your bathtub could help to add luxury to any ordinary bathroom, while sconces can help to give off a similar high-end look that will have your bathroom feeling like royalty.
When considering your bathroom remodeling plans, don’t forget to entertain the types of lighting you think will work best with your project. While it comes as an afterthought to many, the proper bathroom lighting can help to add a decorative, luminous upgrade to your home.