Archive for November 2009

Designing lighting for your bathroom

When you've designed your beautiful new bathroom, don't spoil it with an ugly 60 watt light bulb hanging from the ceiling! The right lighting is the perfect finishing touch to your bathroom.

Direct lighting where you need it
It's worth spending a little time thinking about where you'll need light in the bathroom, and what sort of light it needs to be. Around the mirror and often above the basin, you'll need bright, direct light for shaving or applying make-up.

There are lots of options here, but we love the Hollywood-style mirrors with light-up frames, often incorporating a circular fluorescent tube. They're simple, elegant, and do the job.

If you're after a more traditional look, sconces or spotlights either side of the mirror can work well.

Safety first!
Remember that electricity and water don't mix. When buying fittings, choose those which have been specially designed for bathrooms, as they're resistant to moisture in the air.

Traditional rocker-type light switches may not be fitted inside bathrooms, only pull cords. It's worth hiring an electrician to fit your bathroom electrics so you know everything is absolutely safe.

Time to relax
Once you've got the direct lighting where you need it, think about creating the perfect, relaxing atmosphere in your bathroom. Our Luxury Chrome Underwater Light creates a mirror-effect in the water, or use Chromotherapy Underwater Light to bathe yourself in colour.

Top of our lighting range is the Multi-Mood Lighting System, which gives you ten lights with a bath-mounted controller. You can cycle through the whole rainbow, or pick one colour to enhance your mood. We can fit this kit to any bath you choose, or why not fit one to your existing bath and add a touch of colourful luxury to your bath.

Archive for November 2009

Do I need a left-handed or right-handed bath?

Is your bath left- or right-handed? It sounds like the beginning of a really corny joke, but when you're designing your bathroom and choosing a shower-bath, it's crucial to get it right, otherwise you could be left with furniture that just won't fit into your room.

The easiest way to decide if you need a left-handed bath or a right-handed one is to imagine you're looking at it from above. Spin the bath around so that the short leg of the L or the loop of the P is at the top: which way is it pointing? If it goes left, that's a left-handed bath; if it goes right (yes, you guessed it), it's right-handed.

left-handed L-shaped bath	right-handed L-shaped bath	left-handed P-shaped bath	right-handed P-shaped bath

If you're looking at an offset corner bath, then think about the way the bath is "pointing":

left-handed corner bath	right-handed corner bath

To avoid confusion and to ensure that you get the right product for your project, always take plenty of time to plan things out first. Draw up a layout of your bathroom on paper, making sure you mark windows and doors as well as fittings, to make sure you have everything in the correct place - and the right (or left) way around!