When you’re installing lighting into your home, it’s not just to help see where you’re going and to light up a room. Lighting should also be used to create shadows and ambience. Certain tricks and illusions can be created through the use of lighting and other home accessories. Who better to ask for some great lighting tricks than the top UK interior designers and illumination experts? Take note and soon you could be on your way to a stylish, trendy and cozy home.
Top lighting tricks
In this article are collected 6 interesting tricks to make your home stylish:
- Layering Lighting.
- Using Dimmer Switches.
- Lighting up certain objects such as plants and flowers.
- Use different types of brightness.
- Less is more.
- Guide the way.
Layering Lighting
One of the key tricks when introducing lighting to a room is through the art of layering. Industry experts such as Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Lifestyle Blogger Kimberley Duran are all for layering. Choosing specific lighting for each corner of the home will help separate and accentuate. Choosing a
floor lamp for a reading nook or a large ceiling light to give a wash of light over a dining table are all ways of accentuating areas. Furthermore, highlighting accessories and furniture with specific lighting such as a table lamp on a side table will give a whole other dimension as well as adding interest and ambience to the room.
Using Dimmer Switches
Whilst a large scope of light is essential for rooms such as the kitchen and dining room for practical reasons. It should still be subtle and not too dazzling. Litecraft recommend fitting dimmers to overhead lighting to change the illumination to a more appropriate level depending on the occasion. Celebrity Interior Designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard raves about installing dimmers. “It adds mood, atmosphere, sex appeal and transition to every room and for me is the decorator’s greatest trick…”
Lighting up certain objects such as plants and flowers
Lighting designer Melanie Freundlich believes in bringing “more light to certain spots and favourite objects.” This is a great way to create intrigue and accentuate accessories in your home creating an overall welcoming atmosphere. Angle
table lamps towards plants and flowers to make the room come alive with colour and foliage. Allowing artificial light to wash over leaves and flowers creates the illusion of sunlight, even in the evening. Therefore, creating welcoming glow spots of warm light.
Use different types of brightness
Channel 4’s Interior Expert Celia Valerie Sawyer recommends choosing “different types of brightness” depending on the room. For instance, a busy room that is used for entertaining or cooking such as the kitchen or play room should feature a brighter illumination. Whereas, a calmer room like the lounge or bedroom should include softer lighting. She also recommends investing in some large mirrors too. Mirrors bounce the light around the room and also create the illusion of more space.
Less is more
When it comes to lighting, Style Expert Nadia McGowan Hill recommends you “keep theme, colour schemes and material finishes consistent throughout the home.” Natural shades will open up your home and give the illusion of more space. A mixture of different colours throughout the home can appear cluttered and messy. If you’re really after a pop of colour, introduce tones through the use of lampshades.
Guide the way
Guide the way more subtly during those dark nights and highlight your home with
recessed downlights. Overhead lighting can be too harsh a light when you’re half asleep trying to navigate your way to the bathroom in the early hours of the morning. So we’d recommend introducing a line of recede floor lighting along corridors and staircases. This is also a safer way, ideal for your little ones late night bathroom breaks. Do you have any lighting tricks to share?
