As Autumn is approaching, you’ll notice how crucial your indoor lighting is to create a cosy and inviting atmosphere in your home. In this post, I’m sharing my expert guide to help you illuminate every room in your space. Say goodbye to the gloom!
As daylight hours are diminishing, it’s natural that you will be looking for well-placed lighting solutions in your home. Here’s my tips and tricks to lighting up every corner of your home. Read on
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Expert Guide to Choosing Lighting For every Room in your home
Good lighting choices can make your home work harder in the winter months, allowing you to use your during the day for work, and helping to create a cosy atmosphere in the evenings.
But if you get your home lighting wrong it can be incredibly frustrating. Who likes blinking uncomfortably under a stark overhead pendant, or struggled to read under a dimly light table lamp? Lighting is key to making our homes look both practical and stylish.
Living Room
Our living rooms are multi-purpose spaces serving many functions during the day and night. One way to make them work harder for your family is by layering your lighting, bringing flexibility into your living space.
To create drama, hang a eye-catching pendant light in the middle of the room. Not only does this create a sense of cosiness, especially when hung low, but it also acts as a statement piece in your room. It’s also a great way to set the scene for your interior style depending on your choice of shade.
Next, consider adding in floor lamps. For interest choose standard lamps that have a sculptural appearance with either folded paper shades, angular lines or dramatic sweeping curves. These accent lights highlight reading nooks and dark corners, whilst acting as a piece of art when turned not in use.
Soft mood lighting is essential for your living room because it helps you wind down and relax after a long day. You can achieve this with lots of low level table lamps. For a symmetrical look, place two lights either side of your sofa, or in dark corners for a soft glow at night.
Wall lights are another option for living rooms. You can use them to draw attention to art work. And don’t worry about wiring them in, you can get great plug in versions making it easy to update your living room without calling in an electrician.
BHS has a huge range of lighting options, and they are online too. Take a look here.
BedroomS
When it comes to lighting your bedroom, focus on creating a cosy mood to help you wind down and relax after a long day. You can achieve this through the use of bedside lighting.
Bedside lighting is dual purpose as it doubles not only as a decorative items but also as a handy task light when reading in bed. If you’re going for the more traditional look, table lamps are perfect but if you’re aiming for something different, try a hanging bedside pendant on a chain or on electrical cord.
Whether you’re a fan of French country chandeliers, or perhaps industrial ceiling pendants, a statement light is essential in a bedroom. For a cohesive look, match your pendant light to your bedside tables, or create a contrast with different styles and shapes.
In my own bedroom, I have gone for a huge statement pendant light above with a low watt bulb, but then I had a wall light fitted to illuminate my room when getting dressed in the mornings. I went for a wall light as I’m short on space and wanted to free up my bedside tables.
Hallways
Hallways are the first impression visitors get of our home style when entering our homes. You’ll want them to be a welcoming space and be an introduction for the interior design in the rest of your house. And one way to create a decorative theme, is with lighting. So consider if you want industrial lights, country style, sparkling or sleek modern, and bring this style of lighting through your home.
A pendant light in an entranceway creates a focal point and helps to lead the eyes up, making darker hallways look larger and brighter. You can also have the same lights on your landing for a sleek look – and with the staircase height, you’ll have the opportunity to hang a cluster of lights or one big pendant for maximum impact.
Installing wall lights in a hallway and up the stairs is also another great idea for these tricky to furnish spaces. Not only do these types of lights illuminate darker areas but they can also be cleverly used to highlight interesting architectural features like architrave or plaster mouldings which are more common in these areas of our homes.
KITCHENS
Kitchen are one of the busiest rooms in our homes – and we need lighting solutions that work for every hour of the day.
Opt for lights that will brighten up your entire kitchen space, and distribute light evenly to minimise shadows. You’ll may want to consider spot lights up above for when you’re cooking or filling up the dishwasher.
But don’t be tempted to fill your space purely with spot lights as these can make a kitchen feel sterile. Think about under counter lighting which is perfect for chopping up food. Or a row of pendant lights over a breakfast bar will look sleek and stylish, and set the mood for relaxed meal times.
Then you’ll need softer light for evenings when you may be entertaining or relaxing in your space. I think a kitchen can look stylish with table lamps on a side board, or on a work top. Clip on lights on your shelving, or lighting inside display cabinets are all other options.
When it comes to lighting up your kitchen, the more the merrier!
READ: IDEAS FOR YOUR KITCHEN LIGHTING
Utility room
Traditionally, utility rooms were seen as a practical space to house laundry and cleaning appliances out of sight and out of mind. But now they are an key room in our homes where we can control the clutter entering into our homes, and where we can keep mess under control.
When choosing lighting for a utility room, it is essential to consider both functionality and style. If you want a hard core lighting option, then spotlights are ideal for utility rooms, providing consistent illumination across an entire space, offering a simple and clean aesthetic whilst ensuring dark corners are well-lit. But they can feel a little too practical – and let’s face it, you maybe spending a lot of time in your utility room, so why not treat yourself to softer lighting options.
Clip on lightings that you can fix onto your shelving are a great choice for creating freeing up surface space. They can add an extra boost when your tackling your ironing and they add a stylish touch to your utility shelving. Dot a scented candle in your utility room to banish bad smells caused by pets or welly boots too!
READ: SHOPPING FOR MODERN LIGHTING WITH VITA COPENHAGEN
Dining Room
When hosting family and friends around the table, good lighting is a must to set the perfect party atmosphere.
Create a focal point by hanging a decorative pendant light above the dining table. you can’t beat a show-stopping chandelier or a ultra modern wall light! An amazing pendant light will fill your room with an ambient glow, creating a cosy atmosphere for an evening of entertainment.
Standard lamps are also great in dining rooms for a a softer mood lighting, and a couple of table lights on your side board will help you set the tone, and of course a run of candles down your dining room table.
For mid week meals, you’ll want more practical lighting where you can chat through your day with loved ones. That’w where a dimmer switch steps in. Putting your dining room lighting on a dimmer means you can have low for entertaining, to bright for when using your dining table for home work or family meals.
READ: WHERE TO FIND THE BEST LIGHTING – RIGHT NOW!
Home office
When working from home, you’re going to need good task lighting. Desk lamps now can be both practical and stylish.
If, however, your home office has multiple purposes, such as being in the kitchen or living room, make sure your room has the basic lighting sources, ceiling lighting, a couple of mood lighting and an accent light.
This ensures that there are multiple light sources that can help to achieve your desired lighting set-up as the day progresses.
If low levels of natural light are a concern, position your lights around the room to surround the interior in light.
Conservatory
An amazing source of natural light, conservatories rarely require any lighting through the day, but when night falls there’s nothing cosier than a beautifully-lit conservatory.
When it comes to lighting these unique areas of your home, I’d recommend lighting the edges of your conservatory with a modern track light. Track lighting is available in a range of sizes, styles and shapes to perfectly personalise your home lighting to the fullest.
Along the track, the adjustable spotlight heads can be customised to your liking – allowing you to switch the lighting in your room easily. For them cosy nights relaxing in the conservatory, we would also recommend a decorative lamp such as a tea light bar. You can also get rechargeable bulbs which you can place inside lamps and control with an app. These are ideal for spaces that are short on plug sockets!
These smaller additions add a snug, ambient mood light to the space perfect for winding down at the end of the day.
READ: TRY THESE 8 PRETTY GARDEN LIGHTING IDEAS
Bathrooms
When planning out your bathroom lighting you’ll want to focus on practicality above anything. So, choosing lighting based on the size and layout of your bathroom is vital to make sure the room is properly lit.
Natural light is a key consideration when choosing lighting for the bathroom. Assessing where the natural light will enter your bathroom will help to decipher the best positioning for the lights. If you can, you’ll want a light source from above which can be a spot lights or a flush ceiling light, then wall lights by your mirror to help with applying makeup.
Remember, you’ll need to invest in specialist bathroom lights for health and safety reasons.
What do you think of my Lighting Guide?
As you can see there are so many ways to light up your home this Autumn. From wall lights, standard lamps, and task lighting – there are so many ideas. They key is to layer the lighting in your room depending on the time of the day and what you plan to do in the room. I hope by getting the lighting right, you’ll maximise the use of your home this winter.
Love Maxine