Before your next D.I.Y. home improvement project, you'll want to learn about one of the key elements in any renovation project - Lighting. Whether you're making updates to an existing room or gutting out a room and starting from scratch, you'll get the most out of your investment by investing time in your lighting design. Learn more: http://blog.smartdraw.com/how-to-enhance-your-bathroom-lighting/

1. How to Enhance Your
Bathroom Lighting

2. Lighting Your Home
Bathroom lighting slowly eases you from sleep to awake, allows you to complete your
daily grooming rituals, and can comfort you as you unwind after a long day. But bathroom
lighting can be neglected, and a poorly lit bathroom can be a dim way to start your day.
In this week's post, I'll share with you what we learned about lighting during our two most
recent home renovation projects. Keep in mind that this information can be applied to
lighting in any room in your home.
If you'd like to learn about our renovation projects you can read,
"3 'Must Have's' for Planning Your Bathroom Renovation" and
"12 Remodeling Tips for Your Master Bath Retreat."
This presentation is inspired by the SmartDraw Blog post entitled,
“How to Enhance Your Bathroom Lighting.”
To view the full blog posting go to http://blog.smartdraw.com/

3. Know the Size of the Space
SmartDraw Tip: To automatically calculate
the area of a room, first select the room.
Navigate to the Design Ribbon, select
Dimensions. In the Show Dimensions
dialogue box, navigate to the Area Display
section. You have the following three
options: The Area of the Shape, The Width
and Height of the Shape, or None. Click OK.
1
2

4. Keep in Mind Where Your
Natural Light Comes From
Take note of where the windows are
located and how much light is let in.
Pay attention to large plants or trees
that may partially block the sun's
natural rays. It's also important to
consider both daytime and nighttime
lighting when choosing lights.
Just outside our guest bath we have
two large palm trees. Fortunately, the
morning sunlight has no problem
brightening up the room. On the other
hand, our master bath receives
afternoon light. In comparison, our
master bath has more lighting than the
guest bath to compensate for the
amount of light and the size of the
room.

5. Customize Lighting to Your
Unique Preferences
SmartDraw Tip: There are a number of Template Categories available in SmartDraw. They can easily be accessed from the
Category Screen when you first open SmartDraw. This particular diagram was built upon an existing sample diagram found in
the Healthcare Category. To save time, I simply entered the search criteria of "eye" in the Search field and pressed the Enter key.
Using the Previous and Next navigation arrows, I scrolled through the sample diagrams until I discovered the appropriate
diagram.
Whether I'm stumbling to use the restroom in the middle of the night or getting up early for my morning
workout, I've always dreaded turning on the lights in the bathroom after going from a room of complete
darkness. In the dark, our eyes dilate to take in as much light as possible in order to see. Depending on
whether we've close our blackout shades in our master bedroom, the amount of time it takes for my eyes to
adjust varies.

6. Customize Lighting to Your
Unique Preferences (continued)
SmartDraw Tip: You can easily apply effects, such as a shadow, to any object within a diagram. First, select the object you wish
to modify. In the Home Ribbon, select the Effects control. Then, navigate to the type of effect you wish to apply to the object. In
this case, I selected Shadow which then displayed a sub-menu from which to select the appropriate option.
Our solution was to customize the lighting as well as the lighting controls in our master bathroom. I may be a
morning person but that doesn't mean I don't need time to adjust and get oriented. With that in mind, we
designed the light switches in ascending order from the doorway. When I get up, I just reach for the first light
switch located closest to the door.

7. LIGHT LAYERING
Multiple light sources balances a room by minimizing shadows and glare, while adding dimension and depth.
We used light layering to maximize the appearance and functionality of the space. Here are the floor plan
diagrams that enabled us to easily explain to our contractors: where we'd like the lighting to be installed as
well as how it should be wired to the light switch panel.
SmartDraw Tip: You my notice that the
light in the diagram is transparent. To
achieve this, select the object you wish to
make transparent. In the Home Ribbon,
select the Fill control. Navigate to the
Transparency bar in the Fill drop-down
menu. Select the appropriate percentage.
Repeat the process until you achieve your
desired level of transparency.

8. Task Lighting
SmartDraw Tip: Arrows not only provide direction they
also function as labels. To prevent the arrows from
snapping into place, lock the object(s) in the diagram or
create them in a different layer. I chose to lock objects.
First, select the object or objects you with to lock. Then,
right + click to display the menu. In the menu, select Lock
Object.
In the Home Ribbon, select Line. In the Line drop-down
menu, select Line. Draw the line in the Work Area.
Navigate to the Home Ribbon's Shape Style group, select
Line. In the Line drop-down menu you will have the option
to select the type of arrowhead(s).
Task lighting adds brightness to areas of the room where daily tasks are performed. It prevents eyestrain and
enhances clarity to tasks such as shaving and applying make-up. Effective task lighting should be free of glare
and shadows. Through the use of the vanity lighting and the combined night light and light provided by the
ventilation fan we were able to achieve proper task lighting.

9. Ambient Lighting
Ambient, or general, lighting provides an
area with overall illumination. We
incorporated ambient lighting by installing
recessed lights. They provide a
comfortable level of brightness without
glare.
One term you'll hear when shopping
for your recessed lighting is "trim." Trim
refers to the visible part of the light and
should reflect your individual style. First,
we selected the size. Trims range from 3"
to 6" in diameter. The size of the trim is
personal preference; however, larger sized
trims are able to produce broader amount
of light. Smaller trims are less conspicuous
and are considered to be a more modern
contemporary look. We decided to
install (1) 6" and (2) 4" lensed trims since
they are designed to protect the bulb and
the interior of the housing from moisture
or taking direct hits of water.

10. Accent Lighting
Accent, or directional, lighting is used to highlight certain objects or features. It's not meant as a focal point
but rather to work without being seen. Our accent lighting was provided by the vanity lights installed directly
above each mirrored medicine cabinet.

11. Lighting in Our New
Master Bath Retreat
All the time and energy spent in the design and layering of lights was worth it. We absolutely love our
new master bath retreat.

12. Do You Have a Story to Share?
How do you use SmartDraw?
I'd love to hear your story. I'm
always intrigued to find out how
other members of the SmartDraw
community are using it.
Send me an email at rjbitner@smartdraw.com

13. With a M.Ed. in Human Resource Development and
Organizational Behavior, RuthJoy has become a trusted
advisor and educator working with mid-market to global
organizations providing change management and user
adoption strategy services for more than 15 years. As the
Director of Learning and Organizational Development of
SmartDraw Software she continues to coach and mentor
professionals from non-profits to Fortune 500 companies.
An unashamed perfectionist and absolute “SmartDraw Addict,” she discovers
innovative ways to use diagrams in her day-to-day activities to increase
productivity and efficiency for herself as well as her clients.
About RuthJoy R. Bitner, M.Ed.

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