And unwind…………….
Is it possible that lighting design in your bathroom has any effect on how you live your life?
This is the question I am posing?
Is there any connection between the 2? bathroom and lifestyle!?
Let’s go back to the nuts and bolts.
- Where do you start the day (once you’ve dragged yourself out of that nice warm cosy bed).
- What’s the first room you visit in the morning?
- What’s the first thing you see when you go into the first room you visit in the morning?
- What’s the first thing you think (or say) when you see the first thing in the first room you visit in the morning?
Do you see where I’m going here?
More often than not, from the moment you wake up at OMG o’clock your introduction to the day starts in the bathroom.
Aspiration
For me, lighting design in the bathroom is soooo key. First thing in the morning, I don’t want to see anything normally except the toilet and the shower. I certainly do not want bright lights glaring down at me and illuminating my face at that time.
The perfect lighting design in this situation is some low level lighting – at floor level is just fine, and even better if it’s on a sensor so I don’t have to grope around for a light switch. I just walk in, and the low level lights fade on and I see pretty pools of light down by my heavily socked feet (I have circulation issues and the coldest feet in bed in the world – well so says my long suffering partner!!)
Once my eyes have accustomed to some form of lighting I’m ready for some more – but not too bright please. I press my dimmer switch and the wall lights either side of my basin mirror spring to life. They give a soft glow to my face and I don’t look that bad I have to say. Of course my eyes have not quite adjusted to the morning and everything is a little blurred – but that’s good for me.
It’s shower time and I have enough light to do my bits and pieces and by the time I get out of the shower I switch on the main downlights and everything in the room is glowing brightly and I’m feeling refreshed and enlivened and ready to face the day ahead.
That’s my perfect morning with my perfect lighting.
Reality.
I designed my bathroom 9 years ago. At that point I was not working in interior design. I had no idea that you should or could have more than one source of lighting in a bathroom. I grew up with a single pendant light – and now, in my teeny tiny bathroom I have 6 – yes you read that right – 6 halogen downlights. The heat from these alone – warms the bathroom without the need for a radiator.
When I enter in the bathroom at random points in the night – all 6 lights beam down on me (actually 2 have recently blown and I’m loathed to replace them – but let’s ignore this fact for my story for now).
So 6 hot halogen downlights come on. I only want to go to the toilet – but I’m now fully awake and I walk towards the mirror (which is no difficult task in my teeny tiny bathroom). EEK!! (polite word in case my father reads this). I run back to bed. Tell myself that it’s not time to get up yet anyway and I have more time for the alarm to sound and my eye bags to reduce in size and then guess what!!!
ALARM – BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!!!!
Really!! I have to get up NOW. I’ve just seen myself, and I need WAY more sleep. I go back into the Blackpool illuminated bathroom . The day has not started well.
Do you see my point now?? Is it just me? Has anyone else got the worse bathroom lighting EVER!!
Do you agree – your bathroom lighting really does affect your life. Better lighting therefore leads to a better life (Simple)
How’s your bathroom lighting looking? Would you change it if you could or have you got it just right? If you have, send me a pic.
In my next post – I’m going to give you the best tips ever for getting your bathroom lighting right on whatever budget you have.
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