The Best Lighting for Bathrooms: Tips, Tricks, and Ideas

Bathrooms shouldn’t be dark and gloomy. More and more people are expecting bathrooms to be spaces of luxury and spa-like serenity. But to meet this desire, the lights need to be right, and determining the best bathroom lights for your space can get tricky.  

Choosing the Best Lighting for the Bathroom  

If you want to update a bathroom, you need to think about lighting. The right lighting can make the bathroom bright and inviting, instead of dark and grimy. Especially if you are thinking of selling soon, these tips on the best lighting for bathrooms may help.

More is Better 

Less is more doesn’t really apply here. Bathrooms can sometimes be void of a lot of natural light, so artificial lighting is often needed to make up for it. While you do not want the room to be blindingly bright, you do not want it to look dark and dingy either.  

Bathrooms especially can benefit from lots of lighting. A bright room may look cleaner, something most people want in a bathroom. Bathrooms are also a space for grooming where good lighting is a necessity. If your bathroom is dark and lacking in light, do not be afraid to add more light fixtures to the space. Especially if the bathroom is larger, you want light to fill up the entire room.  

Match Styles 

When determining the best bathroom lighting for a space, you need to consider how the light fixtures will look all together. If you have one vintage overhead lighting piece and contemporary vanity lighting, the room will feel odd. At least one feature will look out of place.  

You want all your light fixtures to match in design style, color, and materials with each other as well as with the rest of the room. If you are going for a contemporary look, look for light fixtures with an industrial feel, geometric shapes, and clean lines. On the other hand, a traditional bathroom will benefit from lighting that is a bit more ornamental with small details and brass or crystal materials. Finding complimentary light fixtures may take a bit of planning, but it should pay off in the end.  

Lightbulbs Matters 

Along with matching the light fixtures themselves, you will also want to match the light bulbs for the bathroom fixtures. Different light bulbs can create patches of differing brightness and color that can leave the room feeling broken and imbalanced. You want cohesive lighting in the bathroom. Try to find lightbulbs that match in wattage and color temperature, especially in light fixtures with multiple bulbs.  

Typically, the best light bulbs for bathrooms will have a neutral or cooler color temperature (anywhere from 3500k to 6500k). If you are updating a larger room, you often need bulbs with higher wattages (around 75 to 100 watts) but if you are updating a small bathroom, you can get away with something lower.  

Vanity Lights Are Important  

The best lighting for a bathroom vanity will depend on the space itself, but these lights may be the most important lighting in the room. Functionally, good bathroom vanity lighting is imperative. At a minimum, guests will take a glancing look at themselves in the mirror as they wash their hands. In other cases, the bathroom vanity is used heavily to apply makeup, do hair, put in contacts, and do other grooming tasks where a lot of light is required.

Instead of only having vanity lighting above people’s heads, another vanity lighting idea is to have lighting elsewhere as well. These added angles can help minimize unflattering shadows cast from high lighting alone. Led light strips can be used to outline the entirety of the mirror for a glowing look. Another option is to add wall sconce lights on either side of the mirror.

On top of functionality, bathroom vanities can be focal points of the room. The best vanity lighting can act as a statement piece to up the look of the space. In other cases, these light fixtures can help tie together the entire look of the room. On the flip side, the wrong light fixtures can throw off the room or create an outdated look.

Don’t Ignore Overhead Lights 

Overhead lighting is the most basic bathroom light fixture, but it doesn’t mean it should be ignored. The best ceiling light fixtures for bathrooms will help brighten up the entire room. If the room is sizeable, then you may even want to consider multiple ceiling light fixtures.  

These can be simple recessed lights that are meant mostly for functionality or a statement piece to create a sense of luxury and up the aesthetic of the room.  

Try Dimmers 

Whether you are trying to take a soothing bath or stopping in for a late-night bathroom break, you may not always want the lights to be so bright. Installing dimmers to the bathroom light fixtures for softer lighting can help. They can also add a sense of luxury to the room.  

Add Shower and Tub Lights 

To really create a luxurious and spa-like environment, add lighting to the showers and bathtub spaces. These obviously need to be wet-rated but can help significantly brighten up the room. Recessed ceiling lighting is often a winner in these areas, but LED light strips can also add to the design of the room.  

Recessed wet-rated ceiling lights, modern wall sconces, and LED bath bars —  There are so many different types of lighting that determining the best bathroom lighting for your home can be overwhelming. If you are thinking of selling soon, this task may be even more challenging. How do you find the right light fixtures for the bathrooms that buyers will love? Fortunately, we want to help.  

At Curbio, we help homeowners like you not only pick the best lighting for bathrooms with the highest return but also, we take care of the installation. You do not need to stop there either. Our services extend far beyond bathroom lights. We do a variety of pre-listing updates so your home is ready for the market and can sell for top dollar. To get started, talk with your agent about partnering with us, or contact us to get matched with an agent in your area.