Home Lighting Ideas

You may have a sprawling home, contemporary settings and lovely furnishings, but if you don’t have adequate lighting fixtures and functional lamps to match the tasteful interiors of your home, then all other efforts are effete. One of the most instrumental factors in interior designing is lighting a home. Being the decisive factor in setting the mood of any room, the lamps you choose must be functional, flexible and complement the way you live and work in your house. Your lights must be something more than just mere fixtures. So, before you select the lamps for your home, ensure it serves your requirements. The lamps you choose must serve all your purpose like reading, relaxing, entertaining and working. You must also have a clear idea on the utility of each room so that you to choose the fixtures that are economical, functional and energy efficient. Plus, it should enhance the beauty of your decor. Take a look at the below mentioned ideas on lighting and illuminate your house tastefully and efficiently.

Ideas On Home Lighting

Change Shades
Do you have an old lamp that you are ready to discard? Wait until you try an updated shade to revamp your old lamp entirely. If your chandelier lacks shades, consider having various shades, which you can use in various seasons, in different styles and colors. Adding beautiful finials to the top of lamps or beautifying it using an existing shade will enhance its splendor manifold. You can do this either by yourself or with the help of professionals.

Experiment
If your home decor is purely traditional or if you have too many antique furniture in the room, trying a modern and contemporary lamp will infuse life into it. Though you do not require an expensive lamp to create an impact, having one with a high price tag makes the room look gorgeous and even stand out on its own. Remember, when you invest on an unconventional lamp, it become something more than a mere lamp; it becomes a piece of art.

Illuminate Your Rooms
You can impart a stylish, sophisticated glow to your rooms by combining and layering the light. Using wall sconces in hallways and dining rooms and installing under-cabinet lighting in kitchens will light up the centre of the countertop and won’t emit shadows. To add icing to the cake, you can add floor lamps for added lights that can be used as a task floor lamp for reading too. Adding an up light to fill the dark corner will enhance the visual interest of your rooms.

Lighting With Layers

• Various layers of lighting can be used to illuminate your room.
• Ambient lighting or non-task specific lighting makes the room appear dramatic. The examples of ambient lighting are soffit lighting, up lights and cabinet-top lighting.
• Task lighting helps you to perform a specific task. It is glare-free and helps you to see easily without any strain to the eyes. The examples are valance lighting, recessed lighting, pendant lights, under-cabinet lights and portable fixtures.
• Accent lighting illuminates a specific object like an art piece or an excellent sculpture. Brightens three times higher than ambient lighting, the examples of accent lighting are wall washers, sconces, track lights and under-cabinet lights.

Lighting With Natural Light

• To enable light to enter a room without any hindrance, make sure you get rid of secondary glazing on the window as they absorb light.
• Keeping a mirror opposite to a window makes the room appear larger and reflects the light, making the room look brighter.
• White color and shades of white reflect more light. Shades like blue and lilac makes the rooms appear brighter while colors like black, brown and orange makes the room appear smaller.

Lamps For Living Rooms
Living room is very important as it is the place where most of the activities take place such as watching television or a get together. While choosing lamps for living room, it is preferable to go for general lighting. It would also be great if you include task lighting to reveal the beauty of an art piece or a plant or for added activities like reading, sewing and doing other crafts.

Lighting The Bedroom
General lighting is essential in bedrooms though it is good to go for lamps, which are less illuminated and less glaring. The common types of lamps that can be installed there are wall sconces and/or desk lamps.

Lighting For Kitchen
A place where simultaneous tasks are performed, kitchen demands good lighting. It must be comfortable, functional, well-lit, especially in areas like sink and counter top. Here, pendant lighting would be a great option along with under cabinet lighting and lighting for kitchen island.

Bathroom Lighting
Lighting in bathroom must be strong and devoid of any shadows. You require good source of lighting here for shaving, grooming and for applying make-up. While a small bathroom can be lightened up using wall sconces, a bigger bathroom demands additional ceiling lights for added illumination.

Tips

• Based on the dimension of your house, especially with design elements like high ceilings, open floor plans, larger kitchen and bath areas, ensure you select the fixtures that lits up your room adequately.
• An increase in the lighting fixtures is always great, but not in the electricity bill. Ensure you purchase energy efficient compact-fluorescent lamps, (CFLs), LEDs (light-emitting diodes), dimmer switches and whole-house control systems.
• Brighten up the up-task areas using recessed lighting, under-cabinet lights, mini pendants and island lighting.

Home lighting has increasingly become an important element in interior designing. Now, it’s up to you to style your house with beautiful lamps! Pick your cues from the above write-up and brighten up your world.