Bathroom Lighting Explained

Not ideal, right? The lighting in your bathroom is key to create a cosy, inviting scheme – but you’ll also need to see clear for some tasks or to get ready.

So how do you make it work?

First of all, you’ll need to make sure any fixtures are safe – after all, electricity and water don’t mix. But how do you do that, I hear you ask?

Every light comes with an IP rating. IP stands for ingress protection, which, to put simply, means how much (or little) water will get into the fixture and, as a result, how close to a water source it can be installed.

Brooklyn Outdoor & Bathroom Dome Wall Light - 8 Inch - Pewter & Brass by Industville (Image credit: @annas_attic_interiors_shop)

If you see the letters IP, they’ll be followed by two numbers – so, for example, IP44. The first number means how protected the light is from anything getting inside. This scale runs from 0 – not at all – to 6, which means dust tight. (Sometimes, this number is not relevant; in that case, it will be replaced with an X.)

The second number tells you how water tight it is and will be somewhere between 0 – once again, not at all – and 8, which indicates that your chosen bathroom lighting is suitable for complete, longer immersion.

A spotlight rated IP67, for example, is safe for immersion in up to 1m of water for up to 30 minutes – and a light rated IP68 is hermetically sealed and can be used as a pool light.