Remodeling your bathroom can be a lot of fun, and the most fun part – aside from enjoying the results, of course – can be the dreaming, brainstorming, and researching part of the journey. This is when you start thinking about what you want to do with the room, how you want it to convey your own personal style, and which materials, appliances, and accessories will help you do that.
Lighting can make all the difference in the world in a bathroom. So don’t settle for your old light fixtures when you’re changing out your tile, wall paint, sink, vanity, and medicine cabinet. Lighting sets the mood. It helps you shave or do your makeup. It gives you a relaxed feeling when you step into the shower. Don’t let boring, bland lighting ruin a great remodeling job. Instead, check out these great trends in bathroom lighting for 2014.
Strategically Placed Pendant Lights
Pendant lights come in large and small sizes, along with a number of different colors and styles for their covers and shades. When you hang them in a line, you get a modern, ambient effect. When you cluster them, you get a modified chandelier effect.
Pendants are incredibly stylish and modern, but if you want the freedom to install them in any pattern or clustering you like, you’ll need to be able to do some re-wiring. This is probably a job for the professionals.
Earth Tones Are In and So Is Warm Lighting
Natural light is almost always more flattering than artificial light, but when you decorate your bathroom in warm browns and reds, accented with lush greens and yellows, and pair those colors with the right ambient lighting, you’ll get something similarly uplifting and flattering.
Amber tints on your ambient lights will give the space a warm and inviting feel. Add a couple of wall sconces around the mirror for task lighting for shaving, doing makeup, and brushing hair. Recessed lights in the ceiling over the shower will add light there, too, and help to gently wake you up in the morning while you enjoy a hot shower.
Vanity Lighting
Instead of a single, large wall sconce over the vanity to light the whole room, install a ceiling fixture or recessed lighting for ambient light and devote two wall sconces, one on either side of the mirror, for task lighting. This is trending in bathrooms of all styles all over the place this year. Whether you want a more modern or a more romantic look, you’ll find sconces that fit your style and give you the light you need for your mirror tasks.
Lighting from either side instead of from above is more flattering and gives you a better view of your face, so you’ll have better success, whether you’re shaving or applying eye shadow and mascara.
Accent Your Décor
Accent lights were once only meant for museums. Private collectors and average citizens with great taste in interior design started using accent lights to show off their art pieces, display cases, and other things of beauty in their homes. More and more, people are taking the time to really decorate their bathrooms and create beautiful spaces in them.
That means they’re hanging pieces of art and displaying sculptures and other pieces of décor in their bathrooms. The next step, of course, is to better display these things. A small recessed light or two, aimed at an alcove of shelves can perfectly accent the contents of the shelves. You can use this for display purposes or to better see your shampoo and conditioner bottles.
Additional Shower Lighting
Recessed lighting above your shower can give it a bright, warm feeling. If you’re showering before bed, you can dim all of the other lights and just turn on your shower lights for a soothing, relaxing segue to bedtime. If you’re getting up in the morning, warm ambient lights are a much better wakeup sight than a harsh, bright bathroom light, but they’ll soon lull you back to sleep if you let them.
That’s why the trend of additional lighting over the shower is so refreshing. With the light dancing down over the drops of water falling on your head and shoulders, you’ll feel like you’re showering in a waterfall on a late spring day. It’s the perfect way to wake up.
Under-Cabinet Lighting
If you like modern designs, you’ll love the combination of floating vanities and under-cabinet lighting. This low-level ambient light is incredibly modern and beautiful. It gives a cool, clean look to the room, especially if you have dark cabinets and lighter walls.
Under-cabinet lighting also looks great if you have a colorful tile floor. It will accent those colors and shapes beautifully, and, paired with a few pendant lights, it will create the perfect ambience in your new favorite room in the house.
Look at some of these trends as you shop for your new bathroom appliances and fixtures, and see what fits your style best. Good luck, and have fun picking out your new bathroom lighting!
