By Jen Hughes, Arcform
When creating ambience in your home, make sure you give enough time, thought and consideration to your lighting. From where the sockets and switches are to the use of the room, the style and overall look.
Considering your lighting alongside the rest of your room design will ensure a cohesive look. The right lighting design can enhance and transform your home’s ambience.
1. LIGHTING CAN MAKE OR BREAK THE AMBIENCE OF A ROOM
You can have the most beautifully, well thought out room design with stunning pieces of furniture but if the lighting is an afterthought the room won’t work. It will feel unwelcoming and the lighting won’t work for you. You need to layer your lighting and ensure every area of the room is considered. Assess what the light is like throughout the day. Check for dark spots in the room. Think about what you are using the room for. What do you want to highlight in the room? Do you work in the room, do you entertain, do you relax, is it a family room?
2. THE PRACTICAL ASPECT
There is nothing worse than a stunning room with unsightly wires running across corners of the room. You don’t want to have to rely on extension cables. So you need to get the electrics and fixtures right. If you consider your lighting early on you can ensure you have plugs, switches etc in the right place. Two ways to quickly and easily create ambience are changing lightbulbs and installing dimmers.
3. THE LIGHTBULB MOMENT
Light bulbs are really important. Bulbs that are a warm, white colour is best for ambient lighting, this gives off a warm yellow glow – think in lumens now not watts. Lumens rather than watts are a more accurate measure of the brightness. Use candles to create ambience. For ambient lighting, bulbs don’t need to be as bright as task lighting – this will create a more relaxed atmosphere.
4. SHOWCASE THOSE FEATURES
Have you chosen beautiful fabrics, have you chosen stunning artwork? You have probably spent ages pouring over fabric samples, choosing just the right piece of furniture, choosing a fireplace or the perfect bedside tables. The right lighting can highlight and enhance the textures and beauty of these pieces.
5. CREATE A WELCOMING AND RELAXING ATMOSPHERE
The right lighting design carefully thought out makes your home welcoming, relaxing and a joy to be in. Make sure all your lights have dimmers. No one wants to struggle to read a book on a winters evening because the light isn’t good enough and ensure lights are fitted/hung at the right height to avoid glare in your eyes. No one wants to have dark areas in their kitchen that they don’t ever use because of a lack of task lighting. By taking time to think about all these things you can ensure you lighting really works. Use warm materials such as brushed copper for lights.
ABOUT JEN
After years of property development, moving into lighting was a natural step for her. She has always had a passion for lighting, investing in unique lighting for her own homes and for the properties that she developed. Creating her own lighting range has come as a result of years of experience in styling homes. Jen wanted to create beautiful lighting that was designed and crafted to stand the test of time.
