Too often, when a room is designed or decorated, its lighting is considered an afterthought; something you should only start thinking about once you know what needs illuminating. However, you should actually have lighting in mind while you are designing the room.
Otherwise, you can ruin your chances of getting that lighting “just right” – especially if you are trying to figure out how to leave a “centrepiece” effect with your chosen lighting and how it is displayed.
Why is lighting so important?
The decision of how to implement lighting in the room shouldn’t just be tagged onto the end of the rest of the design process. This is because lighting is crucial to the room’s overall look.
You have many different lighting options from which to choose – but, if you decide wisely, you can be rewarded with a space that improves mood, productivity and motivation, as explained in an article by The New York Times. Therefore, the right lighting can enliven rudimentary moments of our day.
Which room do you want to light up?
This can influence the lighting choices you should make. For example, if you are sprucing up the living room, you could start by attaching a decorative fixture near the ceiling’s centre. You could then think about wall lighting’s potential to gently brighten curtains and art in the room.
Meanwhile, if you have a kitchen with a kitchen island, you could hang pendant lights above that to save yourself compromising space that you need for eating and preparing food. When you have guests in the room, pendant lighting will also be less distracting than lighting that hangs down.
In fact, in any interior design, a pendant light can make “a powerful design statement”, says the Independent. It would be much like jewellery for the room – and, for this reason, you ought to be choosy which style, shape, size and colour you settle on if that light will be the room’s centrepiece.
What mood do you want to create?
Naturally, the mood you want to encourage can depend on the occasion. However, it can also depend on how the rest of the room looks – or how you want it to look. For example, in a modern-looking new build, a pendant can serve as just the right finishing touch.
However, if the space is a living room that follows a period design, then a romantic chandelier can complete that room, Architectural Digest explains. The staff at the UK-based retailer Pagazzi Lighting have a great range of chandeliers – and, no, you don’t have to light chandeliers with candles.
One definite advantage of going for electrical lighting anyway is that you could also install a dimmer switch enabling you to easily tone down – or, indeed, tone up – the lighting to capture the particular mood you want at the given moment. Whichever mood for which you do aim, however, we hope that you will be in one mood above all: happy! It’s time to – ahem – see the light.
