Lighting Design
- Linn Jackson
We present 5 top tips to consider when lighting your home
When it comes to designing a room, lighting is a fundamental consideration. Often people overlook lighting design, or consider it as an afterthought. They choose paint, fabric, carpets, soft furnishings, furniture and then lighting. In-fact, a lot of people just accept what they find when they start a redecoration, and never question the function of a room and how lighting can support it.
Come to understand and embrace how natural light affects your home
Lighting conditions not only change throughout a day but also throughout the year. When you think about a lighting design for a room it is important to consider the changing conditions of the room. Lighting that allows a person to slowly relax into the night is usually preferable to one single unchanging source of light.
Table lamps are undergoing a revolution
It may be that a room, like a sitting room, is not used very much during the day but heavily used in the evening. As the daylight wanes strong lighting can work against room use. In this scenario softer lighting, built of individually controlled layers, will allow different relaxing atmosphere’s to be created. The introduction of LED bulbs is proving a real bonus to lamp manufacturers as the standard table lamp can now provide multiple colours. There is a table lamp renaissance underway.
All your home can now be beautifully lit
With the advent of cheaper, flexible, LED lighting systems it is now much easier to introduce easily controlled layered lighting that can be deployed flexibly in a room. They can produce subtlety and atmosphere and you are no longer tied to a single colour set at all times of day.
Previously hard to light or compromised spaces can now be inventively lit and actually become a feature. Stairways have traditionally had a single overhead light but now through a combination of floor level, alcove and hidden lighting can be made beautiful spaces.
There is a new freedom abroad in the lighting market and just perhaps the day of ill-considered and harsh ceiling lights may finally be coming to an end..
5 Handy Tips To Help You Make The Most Of Lighting
Use layered lighting
Layer your lighting so that you can adjust lighting for areas of the room and times of the day. It’s always better to be able add or remove light as the natural light diminishes
Use light to create focal points
Light can focus your attention on a room feature such as an alcove or fireplace. It can add elegance and charm. It can also be used to deflect attention from a difficult area such as an unused doorway.
Consider low cost, low power, LED lighting
Not only are LED lights flexible but they are green and eco-friendly. LEDs can easily provide under lighting, or hidden lighting. These new flexible lighting systems are very good at warming a room and adding a luxury tone.
Avoid buying cheap LED lights
The higher grade of LED bulb will provide a colour closer to regular tungsten lights. Lower quality LEDs simply do not have the colour range and offer a poor colour rendering (often distorting red shades). Choose LED lights which have a high CRI (Colour Rendition Index) of at least 90 whenever possible.
Avoid Downlight mania
Downlighting when used sensitively can make a room appear larger and more open. However, if downlights are used in excess then there is a real risk that the light can appear crude and unflattering. If they are poorly positioned then they can close a room down and draw the focal point of the room towards the centre.
We can help you make the most of your home with our Lighting Consultation. We will look at your needs, provide expert advice, and will provide a summary of recommendations. We can also source beautiful lighting all the way from lamps to more sophisticated integrated solutions. Why not Give Us A Call or visit us and have a coffee and chat in our Studio in Winchester, Hampshire.