How Lighting Helps Create Bathroom Design and Feel
When it comes to bathrooms, most people want a zen, spa-like feel to their space. It’s often assumed that the spa feel is created with accents like plants and natural elements like wood, bamboo, and rattan. The truth is, you can create a spa feel in any bathroom no matter the style or accessories you use to fill the space. How? The answer may surprise you. It’s all in the lighting!
All the Pretty Lights
It’s no secret that lighting is a crucial design feature for every room. But if you’ve heard the phrase “mood lighting” then you should already know that lighting isn’t just a design feature, it’s a powerful necessity that can make you love or hate the space. Bad, unattractive lighting will quite literally send folks right back out of the room. This isn’t the result you want in your home and we have a few ideas and design suggestions that can help prevent the wrong effect.
Want a Spa Feel in Your Bathroom? Layer It Up.
Repeat after us, “Layered lighting equals spa.” The “trick” to achieving a zen feel in your bathroom is to layer up your lighting sources. For the best results, you need a combination of ambient or natural lighting, overhead lighting, and some other type of accent lighting such as pendant, LED, under the cabinet or toe-kick lighting, or art or accent lighting. Take a look at each of these lighting options and how they affect your bathroom space.
Ambient lighting is another term for natural lighting. If you have outside light entering the room from a window before you actually flip a light switch, you have ambient lighting. Natural lighting is necessary for biophilic bathrooms. Read more about biophilic baths here.
Overhead lighting is exactly what it sounds like--lighting that is over your head. Overhead lighting can include recessed or can lighting, surface or flush mount fixtures, track lighting, recessed cove lighting. Pairing overhead lighting with another type of lighting is necessary to avoid shadows.
Pendant or hanging lighting creates a warm light close to eye level. It creates a soft, even effect.
Wall sconces can be mounted to drywall, tile, or a mirror. Wall sconces create light without shadows and is perfect for grooming.
If you’re not a fan of pendant lighting but want the same benefits and effects, try LED lighting.
Under-cabinet or toe-kick lighting is created using LED tape light and works well as modern-day night lighting.
Art or accent lighting is perfect for highlighting a piece of art or to accentuate an area.
The best part about creating your lighting is that you can combine just about any lighting type together to create the desired effect. Other factors to consider when choosing lighting is the color of your walls, the type of style you are going for, and material choices for your flooring, cabinets, countertops, and backsplash.
Lighting is just one of the many choices we’ll help you make when you choose McCarley Cabinets to design your new bathroom space. Ready to get started? Click here to request your free project quote now.
