Lighting a Room, Simplified

The right lighting can lift your spirits and make you more relaxed and productive. Here’s how the pros do it.

Every room should have a mix of lighting, including overhead, accent and task lights.

Any experienced designer will tell you that lighting is an essential ingredient when you’re decorating a room — not the afterthought that many of us consider it.

If you’re tempted to spend more of your time picking out furnishings or puzzling over layouts, remember that lighting can completely transform a space — not just by brightening dark corners, but by affecting your emotions.

The right light lifts the mood, inspires productivity and motivates us. At home, light enlivens the little things — our morning routines, or the moments we spend with friends.

Mix It Up

Most designers agree that you need more than one source of light in a room. Think layered illumination.

Every room should have a mix of lighting, including overhead, accent and task lights.

In the living room, for example, you might begin by hanging a decorative ceiling fixture near the centre of the room.

Depending on a room’s layout, accent lights could be used to highlight art, and table lamps could be placed besides seating to add another layer of light. And for extra ambience “a candle never hurt.

The goal is to create contrast between the light at the centre of the room and around the perimeter, and the darker spaces in between. Without the darker, quieter moments, everything is flat and boring. It’s the subtle interplay between light and dark that creates appeal.

Go Bright in the Kitchen

One place where bright light is more important than ambience is the kitchen. We would suggest flooding the space by installing recessed lights along main area of the ceiling. If you have a kitchen island, consider hanging pendants to highlight the space without potentially blocking your line of vision the aim is to see your guests without having to look around a hanging light, this is one of the main reasons we use glass pendants

And don’t forget under-cabinet light: Running LED light strips on the bottom of your upper cabinets is the easiest way to create an evenly lighted counter space for food prep and cooking.

Light Up the Corners

“When you have an empty and awkward corner, one trick of the trade is to transform that space with an oversized floor lamp, Look for a lamp that is complementary in finish and material to the surrounding space, and an otherwise lost corner instantly becomes an intentional, polished part of the overall room design.”

Don’t Overdo the Overheads

“Over the years, we’ve found that one of the biggest mistakes is made with overhead lighting. Often it can be excessive, generating spots and unwanted shadows.

We recommend incorporating recessed lighting with pendants keeping the overall effect more interesting.

We recommend hanging a large pendant fixture or a chandelier in open areas. In the kitchen using globe fixtures, “for even lighting” that leaves counter surfaces free. For living rooms, try subtle lighting sources like wall lights and floor lamps, and in dining rooms, a sculptural centrepiece above a table provides depth, while accent lighting amplifies warmth.”

Play With Ambience

If you are adding an extension building a new home. Utilising 5 amp sockets can be useful also the use of dimmers on some of your lights, which allows more flexibility.

Also bear in mind if you are in a position to install a smart system, it can be very useful especially in the high traffic areas of a home. But the lighting of lamps on a schedule can be retrofitted simply by using Wifi plugs. You can create a story of ambiance by illuminating lamps at different times.

Also very beneficial to highlight a home when out of the house.

Be Choosy About Your Bulbs

Our home can now be illuminated by warm-coloured LED bulbs, plus, they’re made for all fixtures now including various shapes and sizes.

For a warm, inviting light, go warm white. Cool light introduces more blue and this ultimately gives that dreaded warehouse look. (Those bulbs — often advertised as “daylight” — do better in more commercial spaces.)