Hints and tips to lighting an open plan home.
This article will be useful for those of you who are planning a home renovation or, if you’ve moved into an open plan home and it’s not working well. You’ll gain insights and bright ideas to make your home the envy of the neighbourhood. We’ll be highlighting some bright ideas to make your home a light, bright modern space to enjoy.
Creating a stylish open plan home filled with light and laughter is what many of us want. A free flowing social space; a great place for entertaining or keeping an eye on the kids. It seems easy to do, just knock a wall down and you’re done! Not quite. Amidst all the mess and mayhem, you may question yourself, have you done the right thing?
Is open plan living a good idea?
Open plan living, rooms that flow ergonomically are all the rage these days. Most popular being the kitchen dining living spaces that open to the garden, this arrangement suits most of us perfectly. With the UK having some of the smallest homes in Europe it’s no wonder we want to feel some space around ourselves.
Yes open plan is a great idea, especially as families grow up, most younger adults stay with the parents for much longer than in past generations. According to Experian a quarter of the UK’s young adults are still living at home and have little chance of affording to move out till 31-35 years old when the chance of getting a mortgage becomes a realistic option. About that time you may have the grandparents move back in. It’s clear to see why homes are expanding. Space is tight.
Renovation project
The coveted light, bright living space that you dream of can be a reality. But is that what you want? Ensuring it lives up to our lifestyle aspirations when complete means planning, planning and more planning. You’ll need to know exactly what you want if you don’t it often falls a little flat when it comes to actually living in the space. Unless there’s been a great deal of careful thought about the aesthetics and time given to the apportioning of zones, it is often just a big, messy confused space.
As those who have knocked through from one room to another will testify. Bashing things down whilst messy, is the easy bit. Next comes the tricky bit – ensuring the space does look like it’s part of the same house, rather that just tacked on. Any extension or conservatory added to a home can feel disjointed. What you want is a cohesive unified style.
But how do you get the dream open plan lifestyles you see perfectly staged on social media?
Lighting! often a last thought, should be a first thought. Lighting an open plan room well and laying it out sensibly is a crucial part of making it a success. Often it’s the added or converted room that is lit differently to the rest of the home this differing light level cast a dark shadow over what was to be a lovely space.
Unifying a large Space
One little know tip you must know from the outset. Lighting should be the same colour temperature. Some lights give a blue light and some a yellow, neither is wrong – it’s just preference, however mixing colour renditions is bad. The effect is confusing.
For Further advice Check out Our Video – What does the colour temperature of bulbs mean?
Colour Schemes
Choose a colour scheme and stick to it throughout. 3 colours that compliment are best unless you are highly skilled at co-ordination it can look disjointed going for more. If 2 of the colours are variations of the same tone and one is a contrast it works best. Light colours reflect light and dark colours absorb light.
Choose light fittings to zone spaces. For example a light or row of lights above an eating space clearly delineates that space as a dining zone. A reading lamp or standard lamp next to a chair turns this into a quiet reading corner, whilst table lamps in a long area shows this space is a chill out relaxing space. Strange as it sounds a chair alone in a big space isn’t that inviting, just give it a purpose pop a lamp and table next to it and it has a lifestyle look rather than a random chair. A lonely chair makes lovely occupant, whilst a lifestyle with a well lit purposeful chair beckons you to sit and enjoy the space.
Light fittings should have some commonality between them, so that when viewed from one end of the room to the other nothing looks in congress. A fabulous trend to consider is the new country collection. A lighting trend specifically handpicked to work together in bigger spaces. New country is relaxed easy to live with lights that have a informal elegance.
Scandinavian and Mid – Century looks
If the space is for the whole family, make it inclusive choosing furnishings and lighting that is simple and functional means you can mix in various types without things looking cobbled together. Scandinavian and midcentury looks are ever popular.
Personalise further with art and soft furnishings that have a theme be that geometric, floral, or quirky the choice is endless. Best to to keep in mind your colour theme you may stray a little from the 3 colour suggestion we mentioned earlier. We know with the best will in the world and a choice of cushions you’ll be seduced and wonder off the look you initially wanted, but do try to rain it in. Too many variations just looks messy.
Storage
Talking of messy this is one of the biggest downfalls to open plan, if you don’t have enough storage space there’s no-where to hide clutter. Have more storage than you ever though possible, bookcases and shelves also double as a room divide.
If the room is very large you will need to vary heights. Everything at a low level can make the space feel a tad boring. It sound counter intuitive to put up a divide when you’ve just knocked down a wall. Surely you’d want one plan to be just that: open! However some high line bookcase or lower hanging ceiling pendants help to zone and make slightly more private spaces. Hotels foyers do this very well as lots of guests like to be together in a social space whilst wanting a little privacy. Low level or mid level planters, screens or lamps help create a barrier that doesn’t exclude it simple respects quite time and people s boundaries. Uber important when you are sharing space with others to have a little peaceful sanctuary. Trust me on this it’s worth doing.
If you place divides in a room try to make them only partly obscured. Geometric grid work and open shelving is a good choice for this. Put a lamp nearby to provide low level lighting that does not spill out too much. Darker lampshade help retain the light in a pocket just below the shade. This low level light keeps some interest and provides an ambience that’s conducive to relaxing.
Flooring
Floor coverings are hotly debated should it be the same throughout or should it be a varied patchwork tile, wood or carpet. Practicality wise you’ll want something easy to clean in the kitchen and possibly dining yet many prefer softer flooring in living room zones. whatever you choose stay neutral don’t fall fowl of going down the fashion of the moment route, flooring is expensive and not easy to change one laid. Choose something you can live with for the next 20 years. You can always change it up with a rug here and there.
Our best advise is look at the things you need firstly. Floors, kitchens, storage, seating, tables and lighting. Do not fall into the trap of thinking lighting is an accessory it’s not, lights are vital to the scheme that’s why lights are called fittings. When you think of fixtures and fittings lighting is in this mix. One of the biggest faux pars is not considering the cabling, switches and sockets at the outset.
There’s a super informative guide to avoiding the frequent mistakes made when lighting a room. It’s truly enlightening, worth a read if you want to get a beautifully lit home.
Check out our guide to avoiding frequent mistakes of Lighting. HERE
Realised too late you haven’t enough light in your room?
Ok! You’ve discovered that lighting should have been a priority and better planned but it’s too late now you’re all decorated. Don’t worry we are great at finding solutions. You are not alone we solve lighting problems for so many people without having to redecorate. Drop us an email explaining the problem and our expert sales team will help. sales@lightingcompany.co.uk
Looking for lighting styles and trends to inspire your choice of light fittings explore the lighting trends that will make your home a light bright space to be proud of. You’ll find modern ceiling lights in an array of styles to dazzle.
LightingCompany.co.uk are proud to provide a stunning collection of lighting, modern unique lamps and light fixtures to bring a room to life. Lighting to enliven the mood or mellow the ambience, lighting for the way we live our lifestyles today.