Lighting can be a feature of your home rather than an afterthought. There’s a lot that can be done to improve the lighting in different rooms and make it more appropriate for how the room is used. Not every space needs to be bathed in white light; cooler colours and dimmer switches offer other options for tired eyes and late nights.
Here are a few ideas on making lighting a feature in your home.
Cosy Reading Nooks
Creating a cosy reading nook is an ideal place to curl up and read a good book. It can be a physical book or an e-reader, but either way, losing a couple of hours to an engrossing novel is a wonderful way to spend part of a weekend.
When creating a reading nook, what you need is a free corner of your home. It shouldn’t get much foot traffic, which is why situating it in a corner and not a busy area of the house or flat makes the most sense. Get artistic with the design of your nook to make it decorative and cosy. Be sure to use one or more table lamps like these to provide enough light to read comfortably without risking tired eyes afterward.
Feature Lighting
There’s a lot that can be done with feature lighting. Most commonly, homeowners use LED light strips to create patterns across the ceiling or along the walls to highlight an area purely for decorative purposes. The LED strip lights deliver mood lighting when in red and pink and strike a different tone when using blue or pastel tones alike.
The idea with feature lighting is to accentuate what is already in the space. If the walls are white and provide a clean look but one that needs a little something extra, feature lighting is the solution. Just like that smear of chocolate sauce over a plate to accompany a delicious dessert, this type of lighting while not providing a high level of illumination, makes a good accompaniment.
Different Illumination for Blended Light Effects
The bane of someone who enjoys a good lighting setup is a single light in the centre of the room and no lights anywhere else. Setup this way, the light will always be strongest in the middle while providing poor illumination virtually everywhere else, especially in the corners.
Instead of suffering from this kind of lighting setup, think about situating lights at various places around the room. Different ceiling lights, a table lamp or two, and the ability to separately control their illumination. Blending lighting levels using dimmer switches provides the ability to add greater illumination in the parts of the room that gets the most occupancy while not ignoring the other areas that would benefit from quality lighting at a lower level. Using a dimmer switch also permits toning down the lights at the end of the week when the eyes need a rest.
Light and Function Aligned
When setting up new lights, think about how the room will be used. For instance, in a living room where watching TV is the most important activity, positioning lights to make it easier to see the screen without reflection is best. For a small, dedicated laundry room or area of the kitchen dedicated to this activity, having the highest illumination level and white walls is helpful to see shirt stains more clearly.
Think about when each room will be used. If it’s mostly late at night, then lower light levels might suffice. However, if there’s a dressing table or a wardrobe with a mirror, ensure there’s enough bright light in those parts of the room. Focusing on indoor lighting in this way means you can set things up to be just right for your needs.
Getting artistic with home lighting isn’t just about picking out pretty lighting fixtures. They certainly help, but you also must consider how and where they will be used to get the most out of them. This way, you’ll have the right amount of illumination wherever you are in your home.
