Bathroom Mirror Lighting

[Julie-Ann]

When designing your new bathroom lighting is key to it working well for you. I must confess to having "issues" with trying to get bathroom lighting perfect for myself and my clients. I found this great article on how best to light your bathroom mirrors.

The importance of vanity or mirror lighting:

Anything that affects a person’s appearance can come under heavy criticism if not done correctly. Retailers, hoteliers and hairdressers have been aware of this for many years (and if they’re not you should take your custom elsewhere) because making the customer look good means they’re more likely to have a pleasurable experience and come back for return business.

These industries go to great lengths to make sure the mirror lighting on their premises is just right – bright enough so you can see but not overly glaring that it blinds you while being accurate yet still flattering your appearance. You can apply the same standards in your bathroom so you, and your guests, will look good and feel good.

Mirror lighting tips:

Don’t rely on ceiling lights or recessed downlights in your bathroom to light your face while at the mirror. These lighting fixtures will cast too many shadows on your face. Use this type of lighting as general lighting in the room and combine it with mirror lights.

Mirror lighting should surround the face of the mirror with light whenever possible to minimise shadows falling under the chin, cheeks, eyes and forehead. The most common mirror lighting is on the wall above the mirror. Because the light is only coming down in one direction the light should be strong enough illuminate both sides of the face.

As we’ve mentioned, task lighting a mirror can be achieved from the top but you can also achieve a similar effect by lighting it from the sides. Wall-mounted strip lights fitted both sides of a larger mirror work really well.

It’s a good idea to install a smaller lit mirror next to your main vanity mirror. Sometimes referred to as a ’shaving mirror’ it can help magnify what you see and improve lighting for closer attention tasks such as shaving or doing your make-up.

For added convenience you can buy mirrors that have tasks lighting fixtures built in. They can be lit from both sides as well as top and bottom and take the fuss out of installing extra electrics in the bathroom.

Personally I like the lights at the side of the mirror at face level, as they evenly light the face. If the mirror is however too wide then I would go for lighting above the mirror. Always choose light bulbs that give a natural light that is close to reflecting true light.

I hope this is useful to those of you looking at doing bathrooms in the future.

[Trish]

Great article Julie-ann, the tip about the loight globes is probably the most important. I am a hairdresser, I used to own a salon. We chose light globes that are as close to sunlight or true light as warm light globes make your colours look yellow & the cool lights prevent you from seeing the true colour result, which is not good when doing blondes. I love the lighting beside vanity mirrors as well!!!

[Julie-Ann]

So glad that I'm not the only one who strives to get the bathroom light just perfect. And I can see from a colour point of view it would be crucial.

[thisisme]

Would having adjustable downlights and pointing them towards the mirror so the light bounces off work? When I say work, would it actually be any good?

[Julie-Ann]

I don't think so Thisisme. From what I understand the trick is to evenly light the whole of the face not the mirror. But to be honest I couldn't be sure.

[clp]

Thanks for this - the lighting will be an important issue when we sort out our bathroom.

[yvette72]

we just had downlights installed above our bathroom mirror

[Julie-Ann]

Do you find they cast a shadow around your eyes Yvette? Ours do. And at my age I don't need to look any more tired than I already do

[mjm]

my boys bathroom has a set of 3 down lights in the ceiling above the sink and it makes me look awful! Our ensuite bathroom has a large mirror in a frame with the lights built into it at the top sides of the mirror, pretty much face height, we also have heat lamps and a couple of down lights in there. The lights on the side of the mirror are sooooo much kinder to me

[Julie-Ann]

Rofl Mjm. You get to certain age where how kind the mirror is to you is VERY important