Lighting is one of the most important and often underappreciated aspects of internal décor which can make or break all the other elements. It is also extremely important to match the lighting with the mood and the theme of a particular room, which is where we often go wrong. Take a look at the following tips to know how you can avoid common lighting mistakes and make your living room shine.
Three Different Types of Lights
The general rule is that a room as large as the living room requires three different types of lighting, which are categorised as ambient lighting, task lighting and accent lighting. While you can get away with skipping the accent lights (especially when the space is quite small), ambient and task lighting are essential.
Ambient lighting
This refers to the general lighting in any living room that acts as the primary source of illumination. There are many ways to go about it, but pendant lighting works particularly well for ambient lighting, given how many widely varying options you get with the ceiling fixtures here. There are tube LED lights, pyramids, cubes, birdcages, disco balls, chandeliers, cluster lights, classic round bulbs and so many other options that it is easy to get spoiled for choice, irrespective of the décor you have going on in your living room.
The ambient lights in a living room are responsible for creating the primary atmosphere, so choose carefully and in the right numbers. What this implies is that a particularly large living room may benefit more from multiple smaller pendant lights, than just one big chandelier, while one small chandelier with a mirror on one wall could actually make a small room look bigger than it is.
Task Lighting
Just as the name suggests, task lighting refers to specialised light sources that serve to aid in a particular function. For example, a reading lamp or a recessed cabinet light meant for lighting up the kitchen counter is known as a task light because it helps the inhabitants of the home in performing certain specific tasks better.
Accent Lighting
The job of accent lights is to highlight points of interest in the room. If you have ever seen cove lighting or tray ceilings, you know what accent lighting is. Alternatively, you can use sconces to accentuate a photo wall or a piece of art that you proudly own and would like to show off to your guests.
Dimmer Switches are EVERYTHING!
The brightness control which dimmer switches allow are a game-changer and until the days come when we can use smart lights everywhere, they are a must for any living room. Not only do dimmer switches allow for perfect ambience control by enabling people to adjust the brightness in accordance with the available natural light, as well as the occasion at hand, they also help in bringing down the power consumption quite a bit over time.
Consider Colour Temperature
It may not look like it at the time of the purchase, but rest assured that unless every lightbulb that you are buying is of the same kelvin colour temperature, the whites and the yellows will differ from each other once you fit them into the fixtures and turn them on. Since a mixture could look quite clumsy, make sure that every bulb you buy has the same rating as the others, especially when dealing with pendant lights.
Making a living room shine isn’t about making it as bright as possible, but more about filling the entire room with just the perfect amount of light which it needs to look bright, inviting and cosy at the same time.