I have seen a number of newly renovated homes. During the day these homes look fantastic. The home owners proudly show off their newly tiled floors, nice new couches, and the walls in their new, formally argued, colors. But at the end of the day, when the home owners turn on their big, lonely ceiling lights, all the nice details in the room become lost. More often than not, it is the lighting that ruins a nicely decorated room.
If you are planning on renovating your home and you want your home to look good at night, this is what you need to consider.
Determine the Primary Function of the Room
Before picking a single fixture, ask what really happens in that room. Good Home Lighting Design is mostly just answering that honestly and then mixing a few kinds of light: some general brightness, some focused light where you work or read, and maybe one or two decorative touches. That’s really it.
Living Room
The living room is one of the busiest rooms in the house. A good lighting scheme for the living room should be designed to accommodate all of the various functions. Usually, the best scheme consists of cove lighting as the main source of ambient lighting, and a good source of task lighting for reading. If there is a nice piece of art in the living room, a good scheme should include a source of accent lighting as well.
Kitchen
You don’t want your light source on the wall behind you. That means most kitchens are useless because the main source of light is in the center. Under-cabinet LEDs resolve this issue, but 3500K-4000K LEDs are better because 3000K LEDs drastically alter color rendering and make things look, well, grey.
One of my favourite little Interior Lighting Ideas is a thin strip along the bottom of the lower cabinets. At night it’s just enough to grab water without switching on the whole kitchen.
Bedrooms and bathrooms
Bedrooms should have a warmer color temperature because everything looks disgusting if lit by the bright ceiling light. That’s a good argument for reading lights, which free up space on night stands. A good trick is to put a motion sensor light in a closet to light up what you can’t see.
Bathroom mirror lights should be on both sides because a single, center, light source creates issues because of how people are designed. Also, make sure you buy lights that are designed to be used in a bathroom because most cheap, wall, moisture barrier lights, are not.
The dining table and the desk
A good example for dining, and a workplace, is to put a single, center light source above the work surface. It should be 30-36 inches above the surface. Most people get this completely wrong, and it is obvious why the light source is there.
Working from home? Make sure you have a good desk lamp on the side opposite your writing hand. It’s not good for your eyes to write with just the computer light in a dark room. We all did that during the lockdowns and it took a toll on our eyes.
The smart stuff
Modern Home Lighting is easier and more affordable than ever before. LEDs also mean a significant drop in your electricity bill during the summer. You can easily find light bulbs with different colors and brightness that you can control from your phone.
When to bring someone in
You should feel free to change a lamp or two yourself, but if you’re not comfortable with wiring or reparations, you should look for help with Residential Lighting Design. A good Residential Lighting Design will have taken into account how other people will interact with the space, including furnishings and where the ceiling is. Look up Lighting Design Pune for a consult and a tour of some of their evening projects.
Last thing
Notice your space and consider where you have to squint. Do certain areas of your house feel unnatural and gloomy? Lamp placement is often adjustable so you can always switch a few lamps for a quick improvement, but if you want to completely transform your space, consider help from a professional lighting designer. You should always keep the ceiling in mind when considering where to place lights, and a good designer will help you with that
