No home is complete without the perfect lighting design. The right illumination makes a room and creates the perfect ambiance. The recipe for a successful lighting design isn’t necessarily found in the aisles of Lowe’s Home Improvement store, but requires the discerning eye of a lighting expert.
If you’re looking for some tips from a professional luxury interior designer, you’re in luck. Allow us to pass on some of our lighting design knowledge in your quest for the perfectly lit home.
First, there are four key components, or layers, of light in every room of the house: Ambient light (or indirect light), task lighting (reading lamps, under counter lights), accent lights (track or recessed lighting) and decorative lights (chandeliers).
Ambient light includes natural light, pendants and overhead fixtures. Task lighting spotlights your work area, such as a reading lamp or under counter kitchen lights. Accent lights highlight a room’s architecture, such as track lights near a fireplace. Last are decorative lights, which speak for themselves – like a chandelier over your dining table or pendant lights over the kitchen island.
Use accent lights to focus attention on important elements, like the fireplace or French doors. Tip: Find ways to incorporate up lighting, rather than down lighting for a softer effect in a room. Looking for softer lighting? Installing dimmer switches saves energy and allows you to tone down too-bright ambient lights.
Don’t try to illuminate an entire room, such as the kitchen, with one or two mega-bright fixtures. Instead, use a blend of ambient, task and accent lights to create the perfect lighting environment.
Final tip: Save the earth and your money each time you turn on the lights by using dimmable LED bulbs (some can last up to 12 years). Get customized advice from a trained lighting specialist/designer, who will create a plan based on your wants and needs.