Different lighting options can change the feel of a room dramatically, and it’s important to have the right level of lighting to suit a space according to what the room is being used for. For example, you need to have a bright light in the bathroom for shaving or putting make-up on, but you don’t want to be blinded while you try to relax in the bath.

Natural Light

Having a lot of natural light will always make a room seem bigger and more open. If you have a dark room with small windows, you can enhance what little light you do get by adding strategically-placed mirrors and using light colours on the walls and ceiling. Even in a dining room or kitchen where you might not usually expect to find a mirror, a vintage mirror or two with interesting frames can make a nice wall feature.

A dim room can be made to sparkle with the right decor – shiny surfaces will reflect light and give an illusion of brightness, whereas dark, matt materials will absorb any light you throw at them. Shiny ornaments, polished floors, materials with a sheen, will all help to enhance natural light levels.

Natural light levels need to be muted sometimes too. If you like to eat breakfast at the table but find that the morning sun is too bright, cover the table with a dark cloth to absorb some light and stop the table surface from reflecting. Use voile or muslin panels over windows to diffuse light while giving a soft, airy effect.

Ambient Lighting

Most rooms will have one or two main lights which illuminate the whole room, creating a background light that replaces daylight after dark. This is known as ambient lighting. Many houses have a single pendant light in the middle of the ceiling in most rooms, which gives a flat, bland light that can have a detrimental effect on the feel of the room. Try adding a sparkling chandelier-style lamp shade to reflect the light into interesting patterns, or a paper lantern type shade to soften the light.

Installing a dimmer switch on your main light immediately gives you more flexibility. Add a standard lamp in a dark corner to enhance the ambient light of a room.

Accent Lighting

Complement your ambient lighting with accent lights – intended to provide focus and interest. Try a downlighter on a wall to highlight a painting, a small fluorescent strip hidden from view to illuminate a display of ornaments, or halogen uplighters directed at a plant or sculpture to provide interesting shadows. It could be as simple as a group of candles on the mantle, or a table lamp with an interesting shade to give off an unusual effect.

Halogen lights can be fitted into the ceiling which can be angled in different directions, so you can focus the light at a seating area or decor feature.

Task Lighting

Ambient and accent lighting will create a nice effect and light up your room, but sometimes you need a stronger light to see well enough to perform a task. The kitchen is a room where task lighting is often required. Some cooker hoods have built-in lights so you can see what you are cooking, or you could have fluorescent strips fitted under high-level cupboards to light up the worktop area.

If you like to sit in your armchair and read or sew, an angle-poise lamp is a stylish and useful thing to have nearby. Effective task lighting will be positioned so that no shadows fall across your work area, but be careful not to direct the bulb straight at anyone else sitting in the room.

Pull-down pendants can provide a doubly effective solution, as ambient lighting when high up and task lighting when pulled down.

 

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