Lighting design ideas
Last month I discussed ways to place furniture into separate groupings in one large room. How do you light that space? In the olden days, each room had a ceiling fixture in the center of the ceiling. Add a few table lamps and that was that. Now, designers look at lighting as yet another layer of the overall design.
Here are some inspirational photos and a few tips to get you thinking about using light to change the look of your home.
Ambient Lighting
Let’s start at the beginning – ambient light. This provides general lighting so you don’t trip over the furniture. Recessed lighting and/or a ceiling fixture accomplish this.
However, you don’t have to space the recessed lights evenly throughout the room. Instead, take a look at your room and think about what you’d like to highlight. If you have two groups of seating, placing the recessed fixtures over those will provide ambient light, but more dramatically. Putting the lighting dimmers gives you the freedom the add to the drama.
Ambient lighting can also be placed in such a way that it makes the room appear larger.
Task lighting
We all understand this concept. Each room needs to be lit so that we have enough light to read, or work, etc… Use a recessed lights with a focused beam spread,. Pendant lamps are both decorative and functional. The key is to make sure you have enough light without glare.
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Accent Lighting
This is the fun part. Once you’ve lit your room so that you have enough over-all light, think about what you’d like to accent. Here are some ideas:
1. Accent a painted wall or a painting on the wall with a focused downlight.
2. Uplighting is very dramatic. Place a small LED in a potted plant so the light shines up creating a play of leafy shadows throughout the entire room.
3. Light the inside of a bookcase to focus on a collection of objects.
4. Accent a cove ceiling with rope lights.
5. Create a romantic mood by adding light under frosted glass in a cabinet. I used this idea in a custom bar to great effect.
6. Fairy lights are terrific. Hide them behind a screen to softly light a dark corner of your room.
Lighting specialists
The photos in this post are truly inspirational. They’re all from my favorite lighting designer’s site, Illuminart. They design lighting for everything from airports to just a single room all around the world. A lighting designer is well worth the few hundred dollars they might charge for a smaller project.
Interior designers and architects often hire lighting specialists because the technologies are so vast and change so quickly, a specialist is the best way to go. For example, lighting specialists know how to use optic lighting to accent a single flower. They can also create systems that light when you walk in the room, or change according to the time of day.
I’m wondering if you all find these posts useful. Should I talk less and add more photos? I’m thinking more photos.
