Do you find yourself squinting due to intense glare whenever you’re in your bathroom? Glare caused by poor lighting design can make activities like putting on makeup or shaving unpleasant. But custom lighting shades offer an attractive solution to banish glare. Let’s explore why glare happens and how the right shades can completely transform your space.
What Causes Bothersome Glare in Bathrooms
Bathrooms are prone to problematic glare for a few key reasons:
Excessive Brightness
Overhead ceiling fixtures meant to brightly illuminate the space often lead to harsh, uncomfortable glare. Natural light pouring in from windows can also contribute to glare as it reflects off surfaces. Too much light focused in a compact room makes for glary conditions.
Reflective Surfaces
The abundance of hard, shiny surfaces in bathrooms causes light to bounce around. Tile, metal finishes, mirrors, glass shower doors, and even glossy-painted walls amplify and redirect light. This concentrated brightness strains eyes and creates unpleasant reflections.
Poor Lighting Design
Inadequate bathroom lighting design also worsens glare. Common issues include fixture placement that shines light directly in occupants’ eyes rather than illuminating surfaces indirectly. Using lamp shades that don’t properly distribute light can also lead to intense hot spots.
The Effects of Glare in Your Bathroom
Dealing with irritating bathroom glare isn’t just an annoyance. The impacts can include:
Visual Discomfort
Fighting glare leads to eye strain, headaches, watery eyes, and difficulty properly seeing. This makes daily grooming like applying makeup far less pleasant and comfortable.
Safety Issues
Glare shining directly in your eyes or reflecting off wet surfaces reduces visibility of potentially slippery areas around tubs and showers. This escalates fall risks and makes bathrooms less safe.
Aesthetic Problems
Visually unappealing spaces result from glare issues too. Unwanted shadows, uneven lighting distributions, and light leakages into unwanted areas give bathrooms an unpolished, haphazard look.
Benefits of Installing Custom Lighting Shades
Custom lighting shades offer the perfect solution to mitigate glare. From color to design, customized shades provide tailor-made glare relief with added aesthetic benefits.
Control Light Direction
Properly shaped shades redirect intense downward light rather than allowing it to shine directly in occupants’ eyes. Shades provide control over lighting angles for ideal illumination that prevents uncomfortable overhead glare.
Soften & Diffuse Light
The right custom shade materials and textures effectively diffuse harsh light. This softened, spread-out lighting eliminates blinding hot spots and glare patches. Light is blended gently across surfaces for subdued, even illumination free of glare.
Enhance Ambiance
Beyond glare reduction, customized shades set a lighting tone aligned with your unique decor and style. The ability to match shades to bathroom finishes allows you to establish a cohesive, welcoming ambiance.
Popular Custom Shade Styles to Consider
Colored Glass Shades
Tinted glass shades add a punch of accent color to lighting fixtures while aiding glare reduction. Colors like amber and frost filter out harsh wavelengths for softened illumination. The colors also create mood lighting aligned to your design vision.
Etched Glass Shades
With a frosted, lightly textured appearance, etched glass shades provide excellent diffusion to combat glare. Both traditional and contemporary lighting aesthetics benefit from this custom shade material. The translucency reduces glare while retaining brightness.
Patterned Fabric Shades
Custom patterned fabric shades also filter light pleasantly while injecting stylistic personality. From modern geometric designs to classic embroidered patterns, the options complement any decor. Diffusion, colors, and patterns combine for glare-free lighting.
Getting Your Custom Shades Professionally Made
To obtain custom lighting shades sized and shaped specifically for your existing or new fixtures, professional assistance ensures proper fit and installation. A few options include:
Lighting Showrooms
Specialty lighting showrooms offer custom shade services where experts carefully measure your fixtures and craft shades tailored specifically for them. They also provide design guidance to find glare-reducing shades that match your bathroom’s finishes.
Online Retailers
For convenient, affordable custom shade production, many online retailers now offer customization for standard lampshade sizes and shapes. Though specific on-site fixture measurement isn’t possible, generous size and style selections give adequate glare reduction.
Electricians
Hiring an electrician provides a good source for accessing and properly installing customized lighting shades. As professionals familiar with lighting equipment and codes, they ensure correct shade choice, sizing accuracy, safe mounting, and electrical safety.
Tips for Selecting Custom Shades
- Consider whether warmer or cooler light suits the bathroom’s purpose best and install shades that allow the appropriate wavelengths through.
- Match custom shade colors and patterns to sinks, tiles, wall colors, and other finishes for a pulled-together look.
- Mind the proportions of fixture sizes, avoiding shades that seem too large or small relative to overall room dimensions.
By supplying tailored control over lighting angles, diffusion, brightness, and ambiance, installing custom shades is guaranteed to banish the curse of bathroom glare. With styles and finishes that precisely complement your space’s decor, you can achieve both ideal illumination and a welcoming, relaxing environment.
