Lighting: Create a Rich Look Without Busting Your Budget

Imagine engaging yourself so much in designing your own home, spending much of your time, energy and resources to make sure that every part gets special attention, just to end up with the feeling as if something is missing once everything been placed. True, this happens to many people, who after being done with the whole project, can’t seem to see the beauty that their furniture had when they first say it exhibited in the store, or photographed on the web-site. Frustrated, many give up on finding the wrong element in their puzzle, without realizing that they have it all nicely put together, they just miss the crucial element. Yup, lighting.

Lighting is an essential part of any well designed home. It’s the element that gives the room its ambiance, emphasizes the beauty of the furniture, and generally makes the whole space look a lot better. Therefore, don’t expect that your furniture elements alone will do all the trick and cast all over the place the special kind of magic that you’re after if you light your space with ordinary incandescent light bulbs.

Another reason why lighting is so important, is because not all types of lights are good for the human eye. Reading, writing and cooking are all activities that require a certain level of lighting in a room. That being said, let’s see how every room in a house should be lit in order to make the best out of its decor, and of course, to create an enjoyable atmosphere for staying in it.

The Hallway
Downlights are most commonly used here, but unfortunately, practice has shown that most people don’t know how to use these properly and create a rather unpleasant ambiance. First of all, you need LED dimmable downlights, as these are more efficient, offer a lot more possibilities in colour of lighting and have no UV output. Next, if you have art work on the walls, don’t install the lights on the ceiling. Instead, put the LED dimmable downlights on the side of the wall where the art work is hanged. Point the lighting beam to the frames or sculptures and you’ll have the art, the wall and the space lit with just the right amount of light.

Living and Dining Room
The living room is usually the space where people love putting pendant lights over the coffee table. This may not be the best idea as a large pendant light could definitely crowd the room and make it appear smaller. Dimmable downlights that are white but not too bright, would be the better choice here. As for the dining room, a large pendant light would perfectly complement the space as there are not much elements there. However, if this doesn’t fit well in your design, you can always go with a combination of wall lights, up lights and downlights which you can put close to the walls to create a softer ambiance.

Bedroom and Kids Bedroom
The bedroom is always a tricky room to light up. Here you need a calm ambiance – one that will put you in the mood, and will make it easier for you to fall asleep. Also, if reading before going to bed is something you love doing, you should have proper lighting that won’t disturb your partner. Task lighting would be best in this case, so think wall lights over the bedhead. If you have a makeup table, you’d benefit much from downlights over the mirror as they will make you feel as if doing your makeup in a salon. As for a kids bedroom, it all depends whether your kids do the homework and read in their room, or they just watch cartoons, play and sleep there. If they go to school, you’d like to put a small task-oriented lighting on their desk. If you have a baby as well, then task lighting can also be good, but not necessarily. It all comes down to what you want to lit in a baby’s room precisely. The most important part about kids bedrooms is to avoid installing too much and too strong lights – you want them to fall asleep fast and easy once they’re in bed, not to stare at the lamps.