Haulguild Home and Office

Posts Tagged ‘lighting ideas’

Living and dining rooms

In these rooms, lighting must meet the needs of all the activities that occur, as well as creating atmosphere and enhancing furnishing. Keep it flexible, with lots of table top and freestanding lamps and up lighters. For reading lighting should be above, behind or to one side of the reader to prevent shadows falling on the page. Experiment with table and floor lamps and swivel arm wall lights together with good background lighting.

Dinning lighting is best served by direct overhead fittings. Strong and harsh lighting is unflattering, so try an adjustable shaded pendant fitted with crown silver lamps to eliminate glare.

Stairs, halls and landings

Stairways are busy, so safety should be the main consideration. The quality of light should be as bright as or brighter than the lights below without creating a dramatic contrast. So fix ceiling lights at the top of each flight of stairs, on each landing and at the bottom. Put on a dimmer for greater flexibility and ensure lights can be turned on and off at the top and bottom of flights.

Mirrors and tungsten wall light will give an impression of space, whereas central pendants will make a hall appear narrower.

Lighting is one of the aspects which determine the mood and atmosphere of the house. Therefore, correct lighting will add positive energy to the persons in the house. Below here are some ideas for lighting around the house.

Bathrooms

Here, lighting needs to be dual purpose to help you feel energetic in the morning and relaxed at night. It should be task orientated, centered around a mirror, and then work outwards.

Mirror lighting should be soft and shadow free. Theater style mirror lights wit low watt pearl lamps fitted down the sides are a good choice. Cheaper and less dramatic is a fluorescent strip light with built in shaver socket, but it can create shadows below the nose and mouth.

The ceiling is best served by recessed down lighters. Avoid fluorescent strips and pendants because these aren’t very flattering and can be dangerous.

Bedrooms

Here, you want to create an intimate setting for various activities requiring a high level of general lighting combined with task lighting, plus mood lighting. Ideally, you want overall light for activities such as cleaning and making the beds, soft background lighting for relaxing, and lighting for specific areas such as the bed and dressing table.