Bathroom Lighting Tips Fit for a Spa

Bathroom lighting - do you give much thought to it?
Perhaps you have just the one hanging lightbulb in the middle of the ceiling to provide general light.
It need not be so plain and bare!

Bathrooms, as well as being functional rooms, can also be a room of relaxation, where you can wile away time unwinding in a tub of water with bubbles and candles, soft music and a magazine to indulge yourself.

Many bathrooms have a light so bright that it resembles the kind of lighting you see in the surgical operating theater - not very conducive to relaxation at all. If that is the case then it is time to tone it down using more contemporary and subtle forms of lighting.

Although it is important to have good lighting around your mirror the rest of the room does not have to be lit up so brightly.
Keep it soft and subtle. Of course it really does depend on what you use your bathroom for. If you see it as a place to merely to shower, brush your teeth, shave or put on your makeup, then good light is necessary.
However if you desire a bathroom that is more like a spa or a retreat then the options are limitless.

One way to immediately soften the lighting in your bathroom is to get rid of any fluorescent or halogen fixtures and replace them with incandescent or energy conserving light bulbs.
If you need light that more resembles daylight, then by all means invest in full spectrum light bulbs which closely replicate the light of day. In fact, this is a good light for doing your make up under as it will clearly show you any flaws and irregularities in your make up.

Even though you may be removing the harsh light from fluorescent or halogen light bulbs in your bathroom it is still important to have the mirror well lit. You can accomplish this by hanging a pendant light fixture or a series of them over the bathroom mirror or you can add wall sconces on either side of the mirror.

You can use sconces and pendant lighting with colored shades in the bathroom for a soft romantic look. Art Deco looks from the forties in maternity pink or hospital green immediately modernize the look of any bathroom and cast a flattering glow.

Stainless steel lighting fixtures look great in a bathroom and a probably the easiest to clean. The lighter colored the globes are on your fixtures the easier it will be for you to see when they need cleaning.

If you want your bathroom to simply become a more romantic or spa like place you can also consider putting dimmer switches on all of your lights. This way you can have the bright lights available for when you need to perform certain personal routines and the dimmer lights available for when you need to create atmosphere.
This way you can vary the type of mood you want to set in your bathroom - for shaving and makeup use the lights surrounding the mirror but when you are relaxing in your bathtub, turn out the light and just have dimmed wall sconces and perhaps a few candles. The perfect setting to unwind in.

You can also replace all your bathroom light fittings with frosted glass ones as these are great for giving a more subtle and diffused light.

Because the bathroom is a place that can have a variety of different materials and textures that look great when bathed in light, such as marble, porcelain, glass and stainless steel, the lighting in your bathroom can look simply stunning if done correctly.