Lighting Your Home: The 7 Most Common Mistakes

Lighting Your Home: The 7 Most Common Mistakes

Decorating your home seems easy. Right? All you have to do is put your furniture in the correct room, add some accessories, maybe give a paint touch up, light up the place with some lamps and you’re done. However, in order to achieve a well-designed, organized home, you need a design strategy and structure to go along with it. Anyone can just put things together and say they decorated but many forget or are unaware of the basic design principles to bring it altogether. And the most important design element that is often dismissed is the lighting of a home.

You may have a beautiful-looking home with a clean style, aligned furniture and accessories to compliment the look but if you don't have the right lighting, your house can feel dull, old and depressing.

Here are the top common mistakes made when lighting a home and what you can do to correct them:

You fail to use layers

Many people think that the sole purpose of lighting their home is to generate light to see their surroundings. That's why they only use one type of lighting and lighting fixture and don't see beyond that. As long as they are able to lighten up their home to recognize where they are going and what is there, they are satisfied. However, a home requires layers of lights to enhance a place and provide flexible, convenient options. By incorporating different light sources – ambient, task and accent lighting, you're utilizing your home to its full potential. Ambient lighting will illuminate the area of a room which is great for guest parties while task lighting such as table lamps is suitable for reading and writing. You can even take it a step further and add accent lighting to highlight walls and paintings.

You don't incorporate dimmer lights

Most people use one main light source in their homes and overlook the necessity of dimmer lights. Yet, dimmer lights, besides creating a unique lighting design, allow you to control your lighting depending on the mood you desire. A social meeting at your home would require more light whereas a quiet, romantic dinner would require a softer shade of light.

You use lights in the wrong places

Sometimes we place lights in the wrong places that causes more of an issue than a solution. For example, lights put in certain areas may cast shadows and as a result, block the light when needed. In the bathroom, use wall light fixtures or sconces on either side of the mirror or a long, horizontal fixture instead of one overhead light. This will help to illuminate the room and eliminate shadows.

The size of the fixture is wrong

Sometimes a light fixture doesn't fit appropriately in a room due to its size. For example, when you place a large-sized lamp on a table next to a piece of furniture or a small-sized chandelier over a huge dining table, it makes the entire area look disproportionate. In order to avoid this, rely on measurements, don't guess by looking at it.

You don't place lamps at the correct height

Lamps should be placed at the right height depending on the type of lamp light and its location. If you place a lamp in the wrong spot, the light may get into your eyes or you may not have enough light. For example, if the lamp is too tall, the light will bother your eyes and if the lamp is too short, you won't receive sufficient light.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when selecting light fixtures and where to put them:

• The bottom of the shade of a table lamp should be at the height of your shoulder when sitting next to it.
• If the chandelier is in a dining room, the bottom of the chandelier should be 66 inches from the floor.
• The bottom of a pendant light should be 30 to 36 inches above a kitchen island.
  

You use the wrong paint color for a room

Using the wrong paint color for the walls of a room may make the room look too dark or too bright. The lights and the paint color in a room should work together and create a warm effect. If you paint a room with a grayish tan, it may cause the room to look too dark but if you use a lighter shade of color paint, it will brighten up the room.

You fail to remember that lights consume energy

We all know that lights consume a lot of energy but this is something that we tend to forget. Think about the amount of bulbs you use in your home. Try to minimize the number of bulbs in your house as well as decrease the amount of light used to save energy. Also, think about the type of bulbs you use, traditional or modern bulbs? The most long-lasting, effective lighting options are CFL and LED bulbs.

Lighting is a crucial factor for home designing. When you select lighting for your home, think about the type of mood and ambience you want to establish, using both artificial and natural light, and decorate accordingly. By avoiding these common lighting design mistakes and applying the advised recommendations, you can turn your home into an attractive, welcoming, vibrant atmosphere.

Conclusion

At Cocoweb we understand the importance of lighting design. We offer an entire collection of lighting products using the latest LED lighting technology to brighten up your home and to give it an appealing, visual ambience. Our selection includes picture lights, piano lamps, ceiling and wall fixtures, and much more.