If you’re about to embark on a bathroom re-style this may well be the article for you. We’ll give you style notes and tips for creating the perfect period bathroom and inspire the perfect choice of period bathroom lighting. Your bathroom will have you flushed with success!
We’ll look back at key style elements of the past, and assist with some of the tricky period property dilemmas. Before we make a splash with all the beautiful styles be sure you are up to speed with the regulations. Definitive Guide to Bathroom Lighting, will help you ensure your lights are safe for bathroom use
There’s often confusion about what is a period bathroom. Indoor bathrooms are a relatively new invention as it was not until after World War One that indoor toilets became commonplace. If your home was built before that, there probably wasn’t an indoor bathroom. So anything that’s there now is not true to the period. If you have an older home you may wish to have a period-style bathroom, whilst maintaining modern convenience and luxury. (Or not such good old days as you’d most likely be sharing your throne with the neighbours.)
As late as the 1890’s the Victorian Era it wasn’t deemed a requirement for working-class homes to have an indoor toilet. Whilst the wealthy at this time may have had indoor toilets, servants still used toilets built in outhouses. Buy Bathroom Lights to suit a Victorian Home
Toilets and baths have not always been in the same room. If you have only one bathroom, there will no doubt have been times when you feel this could be a great idea. It’s common for the bathroom to be a dedicated room to pamper and indulge in some quiet time. I’ll go further to say we are looking at the bathroom as a sanctuary. Away from the stresses of life, we want to soak our troubles away. Make this space a little more luxurious and a whole lot more private!
You can see with bathrooms being additions to a period home, that there will not be bathroom safe antique lights available at the time. The regulations for bathroom safety with electrics came along to protect people from harm and lessen the risk of accidents when using unsuitable lights. If you have an art deco home, you may wish to install safe bathroom lights, yet that suit the era of Deco style. Shop Art Deco Style Bathroom Lighting
Is it certainly worth investing time, energy and money into a bathroom?
Renovating bathrooms and kitchens is a major investment but more than any other, these two rooms are said to help sell your property if done well.
Today we are fortunate to be able to recreate period lighting that has all the benefits of modern technology yet still retains the character and feel of times past. So whatever the age of your home you will be able to find bathroom lighting that is not only sympathetic but also complies with the latest safety regulations.
Victorian Style Bathroom
The Victorian period started in 1837 and continued until 1901. To recreate the feel of a Victorian Bathroom, think dark mahogany and cherry woods, deep reds and greens teamed with brass. Victorian style was a little more ornate than you may think. The bathrooms would typically have had free-standing roll-top baths with their characteristic ball and claw feet. Victorian bathroom lighting would, however, have been a little bit more functional and basic.
Electric lighting was only in its infancy at the end of Victoria’s reign so there was little opportunity for Victorians to add decorative lighting in their bathrooms. Today we can show off a bit more by opting for a chandelier above the bathtub. We feel sure they would have approved! If it looks right and feels right, then it is right!
Edwardian Style Bathroom
The Edwardian era came next, a short period from 1901 to 1911. The changes between the Victorian and Edwardian eras were very slight. Some say there was a slightly more masculine look to the architecture and a pared-back simpler feel to the interiors.
The Edwardian period heralded the advancement of a more modern age. New developments, such as the motor car and telephone, that we take for granted today were introduced for the first time.
The Arts and Crafts style spanned from 1890 to 1910 and alongside this, a more continental style. ‘Art Nouveau heavily influenced fashion in Edwardian times.
A fashionable bathroom of the day may have had floral motifs, stylised scrolls and simpler embellishments within the room. Lighting began to be more decorative.
View all Edwardian bathroom lights.
Art Deco Styled Bathroom
George V was now on the throne and we were entering the Art Deco period which was at its height during the 1920s and 1930s.
The Art Deco look was strong and bold and, my, how this style influenced the interiors of the day. Modern production methods allowed goods to be produced more cheaply making them more affordable. Geometric patterns using zig-zag chevrons, sunburst shapes and stepped profiles all symbolised a new beginning. Women finally were permitted to vote and competed in the Olympics! The female form was depicted as strong, confident and sporty.
The Art Deco trend is seeing something of a revival today and if you are planning an Art Deco-inspired room you’ll be spoilt for choice. Deco-style bathroom lights have a simple elegance and are often manufactured in chrome with opal white glass which is the perfect accompaniment to chrome taps and bathroom fittings. Georgian rooms often featured large crystal chandeliers and these too may be suitable for a bathroom in homes where Art Deco simply is not to your taste.
For those who have homes that pre-date the Victorian, Edwardian or Georgian times, you have possibly struggled to find bathroom light fittings that are in keeping with the age of your home. Aside from candles, we have some great ideas for you too.
If your home is Medieval consider a bathroom style that is sympathetic to this period. Roll-top baths and high wall-hung cisterns seem to fit well with the character of older homes.
A useful tip is to consider using exterior lights in Medieval-style bathrooms – the black and dark metals used in many garden lights can work extremely well in period bathrooms. These lights are sealed and protected against the elements and are manufactured with the same safety specifications applicable to bathroom lighting.