A bathroom that has bad lighting feels either like a dungeon or a sterile hospital. The good thing is that improving bathroom lights is easy. It’s simple to swap out a few light fixtures or change out the lights to attain the proper level of lighting. You’re in an even better situation if your light fixtures are just outdated. In this post we’ll take a look at both situations and some easy steps you can take to improve the lighting in the “business room” of your house.

lighted vanity mirror

Improving bathroom lighting doesn’t take much, but there are some things that you have to watch out for. The position of the lighting around your mirror is important. You have to take in to consideration the directions that the light is pointing and the shadows that they cast on the face. Putting on makeup or shaving is difficult when your face is covered in shadows in the mirror. Lighting that is too harsh from the top will do just that, and unfortunately most vanity lights are set up as such. The ideal setup will have light coming from both sides of the face, as well as from the top. Light colored countertops will help reflect light back up onto the face.

In your bathroom lighting fixtures you should avoid harsh fluorescent lights. These lights certainly help reduce your electricity bills, but the create an unattractive yellow glow on the face that makes matching makeup colors hard to do. Instead, you can use tungsten light that creates very natural light without having the regular energy draw that incandescent light does.

Replacing light fixtures for the bathroom is easy as well. In most cases you can just buy one, disconnect the power and the old light, plug the new on in and you’re ready to roll. Wiring bathrooms to put lights in new places isn’t much work either. It can be done by you if you have some electrical experience, or inexpensively by an electrician.

Improving bathroom lights is one of the easiest things that you can do to improve your home (and its value!). It’s easily one of the best projects for any weekend warrior!