The Basic Principals of Good Lighting; Ambient, Mood and Task Lighting Explained.
What’s the secret to great lighting designs?
There cannot be a single soul involved in the profession of lighting that doesn’t understand and use the magic rule of ‘layering light’. It is essential to create a more interesting and balanced ambience that highlights successful interior designs perfectly. Often retailers and designers don’t share the tips as readily as they could. That’s a shame, as a bit of forethought and planning can really pay dividends to your lighting design. We would prefer to give you some tips and inspirations for your lighting before you buy, that way you can work out the style of light you want in conjunction with considering the effect it will bring to the room.
We have seen examples where rooms have been overhauled, only for people to realise that there is something lacking with their home lighting. Quite often, you’ll only need to add a little lamp to just cosy up a corner. The difference adding this lamp can make is unreal! If you’ve ever done the same, you’ll know that small addition alone will elevate the room to another level.
If simply adding a lamp alters the mood of the room, can you imagine what the same consideration will do to the setting? When you consider the whole effect at the outset, you will tap in to the untold ambience that would have otherwise been left in the shadows.
It’s a tricky thing to understand how light can enliven your spaces, as it’s only really easy to see how important lighting is to objects and garments, when it’s missing! If you’ve ever wondered around a fancy boutique after they start turning the lights off, the look of the space dulls and the products they sell become less appealing somehow. Good lighting is something that you don’t always notice; but when it’s lacking, your room and it’s personality can seem less than three dimensional.
Light, shade and contrast play a valuable contributory to art, make up, a picture, a business… a home.
The first principle is use 3 forms of light in every room.
General light – sometimes described as ambient lighting. General light is the light that you switch on to give you enough light to see when you are in the room. We used to call this the big light when I was a child. This is typically where most people stop, the main light.
Mood lighting – this may be table lamps, wall lights or picture lights that give added interest and highlight objects or architectural features within the room.
Mood lighting is the most creative form of lighting and allows you to put some depth and context to the design.
I’m aware that most people worry about getting this wrong. Luckily most often you can try out a few things before you commit to buying a new lamp.
We’d recommend wandering around the room with a lamp borrowed from another room and try plugging it in at different locations.
If you like the effect of the light when you hold it in close to the wall, choose a new lamp that is narrow.
Try at altering height levels, perhaps next to your favourite object and feature in the room and if you like the effect try to replicate it with either fixed wall lights or table lamps.
Lampshades make a difference too, darker colours will hold more light in and lighter colours let more light out. The colour of the room also alters the colour of light you get following the same traits. Rooms painted or decorated in darker colours will require more light. Pockets of brighter light in dark spaces is intoxicating and creates a very dramatic effect.
If you are looking for a particular lighting effect, contact sales@lightingcompany.co.uk We have plenty of expertise we can offer. We know what’s popular; we know what new lighting is arriving and have fabulous trend prediction to help you achieve the look you want.
Finally, task lights – this is a brighter light, placed exactly where you need it. Designed to be useful, they can be switched on only as and when you need it. The most common use of task lighting is as a reading light. This could be a floor lamp next to the armchair, a desk light or a bedside table lamp. Moreover, often you can add an extra lamp as a finishing touch when you know how you will use the space.
Don’t overlook task lighting in any room; it’s quite often that we forget the kitchen – maybe some under cupboard lighting to give lots of light on the worktops or a good strong light above the sink or cooker, so you are not working in shadows. The pendants above a kitchen island do require wiring so make sure you don’t forget these when planning the kitchen. Or for that matter the task lights you need by the bathroom mirror.
Before we move on to summarise, check out the guide to kelvins, this short video informs you about colour temperature of light bulbs. Having light bulbs in your lamps that are a similar warm or cool colour keeps the space connected and cohesive.
In summary this short guide will give the basic principles of lighting. You should always include three types of light no matter the size of the room.
Once you have a mix of lighting types, consider where you’ll place them. Ensure your light bulbs are all the same type of colour.
If you need some inspiration you can speak to the experts at LightingCompany.co.uk
It’s also well worth getting some ideas from the vast collection of blogs here’s a few suggestions by room.
