Have you ever wondered how your living room would look if it had better lighting? Or how you and your family would feel if every time you walked into that space it had just the right light setting? You don’t need to reorganize or redesign your entire living room to get the lighting of your dreams.
Styling your living room can become an uneasy thing to do, especially if interior designing skills aren’t your strength. But hold on! You don’t need to be an expert to understand the basics of lighting a living space nor hold an Interior Architecture degree to create something unique and beautiful in your own home. And you definitely don’t need to spend a considerable amount of money on hiring someone to do that job for you.
Here are some basic concepts and tips to how to light up your living spaces with style and a touch of your own creativity.
The function
The function determines the space. Like every person, every living room has its own essence. Therefore, you need to answer questions like, what would you like to do in your living room? What do you want it to use it for? Is it for family time? Guests and social occasions? Or as simple as a relaxing space?
Knowing the purpose of your living room will help you find the right lighting elements that you need. Identify what you’re going to do in your living room and create the space of your dreams. Is there a TV around? Or perhaps you would like to sit there and read your favorite novel. Whatever it is, keep these things in mind for your light design.
The ambient
There are three basic rules to lighting a living room, and ‘ambience’ is the first one. Most commonly known as general lighting, it creates the overall vision of the space. In other words, it brings the general illumination to the room. Remember, natural lighting is important but not always sufficient.
Do not worry! Ambient lighting doesn’t have to be tedious and boring. Just make sure you provide the right amount of lighting needed for it. For that, you can use a variety of spot lights, track lights, fan lights, chandeliers or any type of fixtures on your disposal.
And why not? Be creative and mix two of these different ambient lights: like fixture lights and a center chandelier for example. Knowing this and reviewing the living space you have, what would you like to do now?
The task
‘Task’ lighting directs the light to specific work areas or it highlights specific targets where you need more light. Have you found yourself in al place where you only had the ambient lighting and needed a bit more brightness?
There’s a variety of ways you can add task lighting to your living room. Things like under cabinet lights, table lamps, floor lamps, guidance lights and more. Perhaps you would enjoy your reading more if you had a table lamp next to it. Remember, practicality is the purpose of this light element.
The accent
Perhaps not as practical as the task lighting, the ‘accent’ lighting gives the extra drama and personality to your living spaces. It’s the one that will draw attention to something that you want to highlight. For example, spotlights on top of your TV cabinets.
This dramatic vibe is totally up to you. If you’re the kind of person that loves ornaments, photography, perhaps art work or anything ele you might want to show in your living room, accent lighting is the best tool to highlight it. Ways to do are by using spotlight fixtures, led strip lights, ground lights and more.
The mix
The combination makes the magic. If you want to create the perfect light balance in your living room you should then mix these three basic elements of lighting. Ambient your space with general lighting: find a nice chandelier. Do you have artwork on the walls or a variety of family photos? Get some spotlights to create the accent lighting. And remember to identify your task lighting.
Mix and match! Find the perfect combination that suits your living room, its purpose and your personality.
The options
Not everything hangs from the ceiling. If your budget is tight and breaking the walls and celling to have a new electrical installation isn’t an option, this section is your life savior!
Being part of this century brings you a variety of solutions. There are many places where you can find different type of lamps and chandeliers that can help you to get the results you want. Do a search and find out what’s the best option.
Perhaps this can help you to interior design your life and light it up! Start with your living room and enjoy of that living space that you have always dreamed of. Let us know if this was helpful. Do you know of any other lighting elements we need to consider?
