Aussie’s spend a lot of time in the bathroom and as a result, the team at Balnei & Colina highly recommend that lighting become an essential part of bathroom renovation planning in order to ensure your new bathroom is both functional and beautiful.

From pendant lights, chandeliers to downlights, there are various ways to get creative with lighting inside your bathroom space. Lighting is often underestimated when undertaking a bathroom renovation, it not only provides illumination to perform daily bathroom tasks but is essential in helping to create ambience.

In this month’s B&C Journal we cover everything you need to know about bathroom lighting, and show you how best to illuminate your space and still keep the bathroom look your after. Enjoy!

The team at Balnei & Colina

Image credit: Stoffer Photography

Bathroom Renovation - Lighting Design 

To create the right atmosphere in any room the right mix of lighting fixtures and layers is required. Bathroom lighting is no different.

When designing a dream bathroom, lighting is one of those considerations that we often leave till last, and sometimes even forget. In any new bathroom design concept, achieving the right balance between natural versus artificial light is vital to providing sufficient illumination for everyday bathroom activities like washing and make-up application. 

The Balnei & Colina team of bathroom renovation experts always ensure that lighting is executed to illuminate the key bathroom zones - vanity, shower and bath evenly, with the ultimate goal to mimic natural daylight, as this provides a more accurate representation of the colour of our face, hair, make-up, and clothes. 

Finishes for eg wall and floor tiling, colours etc will also help determine the type of lighting and placement that is best suited to the new bathroom layout. 

The bathroom design team at Balnei & Colina work closely with clients to ensure that we have a strong understanding of all their functional bathroom requirements, as well as the mood, look or theme they want to create in order to provide the best lighting solution for their Sydney bathroom renovation project. 

Balnei & Colina Bathroom Renovation Sydney

TYPES OF BATHROOM LIGHTING

AMBIENT LIGHT

Ambient light refers to general lighting - lighting that will illuminate more than one area. This acts as fill light. Examples of these inlcude: downlights, large pendants or architectural fittings, like recessed lights.

Cove lighting is great in bathrooms with high ceilings. It creates good indirect lighting and hides both the fixture and the light source itself, and therefore the glare, too.

Image credit: Interior Design RGP

TASK LIGHTING

Task Lights provide stronger and more concentrated lighting for tasks like shaving and make-up application. A light point above a mirror will help you see clearly – but it's important to have vanity lights either side of the mirror, too, as this will eliminate shadows and deliver a true reflection.

Balnei & Colina Bathroom Renovation Sydney

Image credit: Even Wilson Photography

Vanity Lighting

For everyday grooming, you’ll need even lighting around the vanity mirror that won’t create shadows. A pair of sconces placed either side of the mirror will provide the best lighting for more detailed grooming tasks like make-up application. You can achieve this with a few different combinations of vanity lights. Depending on your preference and size of the bathroom mirror, place a single vanity light above the mirror or two shorter sconces flanking it. In the case of larger mirrors, consider using all three.

Vanity Lighting Measurements

Sconces on either side of your vanity mirror should be approximately 900mm-1m from one another and the centre of each should be approximately 1500mm from the floor.

• A vanity light above the mirror should be centered and placed approximately 2m above the floor.
• Ensure your bathroom downlights and vanity lighting are on a seperate switch.

Image credit: Shannon McGrath Photography

Bathroom Lighting tips

• To reduce glare, opt for translucent or frosted lights.
• For greater functionality add dimmer capability to allow you to adjust the intensity of the light
• Always dedicate a seperate switch for your bathroom exhaust fan 
• Seperate switches - Having your task and ambient lighting on seperate sources will enable greater flexibility, and allow you change alternate lighting depending on the activity being undertaken or the mood your looking to create. For example, soft mood lighting will help create a more relaxed atmosphere while soaking in a bath, whereas strong task lighting should be used when applying make-up. 

One of the key benefits of a custom bathroom lies in the fact that the design layout is tailored specifically for your given bathroom space. The bathroom designers at Balnei & Colina are experts and can plan and design a new bathroom layout specifically suited you and your family’s needs. We’ll work to ensure all aspects of your bathroom renovation are covered including materials, fixtures, colours, and all important, lighting.  

Still not sure how to create a bathroom lighting scheme for your bathroom renovation? Leave it to the experts.

Book a bathroom design consultation with one of our bathroom renovation experts at Balnei & Colina phone 1300 450 320. You can also send us your bathroom renovation project details via this contact us form.  

If you’re looking for bathroom inspiration and ideas, signup to our newsletter or connect with us on Instagram and Facebook to stay up to date with the latest bathroom design trends.

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Image credit: Sean Fennessy Photography