Best bathroom lighting system

[R8Steve]

I am currently completely renewing my main bathroom and i'm just getting to the lighting part. I am looking to have several different lighting 'moods' and was wondering the best way to do this.

My thoughts were -
Bath - Bath spotlights on dim, bath pelmet led's on, wall downlighters on dim
Shower - Shower light on, wall downlighters on
General - Bath/shower spots on dim, wall downlighters on dim, main bathroom light on full
Main - all lighting on full

The way that seems to be the easiest is to install a 3/4 gang dimmer switch but is there a better 'smart' option that would do this better?

[R8Steve]

Andrew_S said:

Where are you planning to install the dimmer switch?

On the wall where the current light switch is.

[R8Steve]

garyhun said:

My experience tells me that the more complicated you make it, the more pissed off and frustrated it will make you.

You are probably 100% right and my experience is the same as yours but as i am a man that like gadgets and true to PH i'm going to soldier on and do it anyway

[R8Steve]

Andrew_S said:

R8Steve said:

Andrew_S said:

Where are you planning to install the dimmer switch?

On the wall where the current light switch is.

Is it more than 600mm away from the bath?

Yes, it's in the hallway so not even in the same room.

[R8Steve]

B17NNS said:

You could change the bulbs to Phillips Hue. Have as many 'scenes' as you like then. Vary the colour temperature too.

Control it by voice, app or one of their switches.

You could also add a motion sensor that triggers certain scenes at certain times.

Excellent, thanks, it was them and hive i was looking at, i just wasn't sure about the scenes, would i just label the bulbs 'bath 1, bath 2', etc and group them into the bathroom to do this?

My other concern would be...how does a guest turn them on without the app? Can you get a switch to over-ride?

[R8Steve]

TheRainMaker said:

Get the pir sensor, then you wouldn’t even need to touch the light switch again.

How would that work though, it senses someone coming in and turns the lights on, what happens if someone is relaxing in the bath watching tv or reading a book, how does it know to stay on?

[R8Steve]

B17NNS said:

R8Steve said:

would i just label the bulbs 'bath 1, bath 2', etc and group them into the bathroom to do this?

Yes

R8Steve said:

My other concern would be...how does a guest turn them on without the app? Can you get a switch to over-ride?

You can install a Hue switch or motion detector. You can also control it with voice with Alexa, Siri or Google.

This switch can be programmed with 4 scenes.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Personal-Wireless...

What you're trying to do is exactly what Hue does very well.

Edited by B17NNS on Friday 20th July 19:46

Excellent, thanks for that, final question, do they have any issues running in a bathroom? Steam, moisture, etc?

[R8Steve]

h0b0 said:

This is current bathroom.





I realise you did not ask for photos. But, these examples show the idea of zones you light up when in use

Thanks for the pictures, your dark bathroom is very similar to what mine will look like.

I’ve went for a sectioned in and slightly sunken 1900 x 1200 hydrotherapy bath, black slate flooring with gloss black 600x600 tiles for the walls, flush fit mirror and black flush fit waterproof tv so the lighting will need to be similar to yours to give the desired effect.

B17NNS - very helpful in these matters as always so thanks for taking the time to walk me through it all. I’ll maybe start a bathroom build thread to keep myself in check