Using Lighting as an Element for Interior Design

Having a spectacular interior design for your home is everyone's dream. However, realizing that dream is not as easy as it seems. You have to consider numerous things before you make a final decision on your house's interior design.

Furniture, paint, and decorations are some of the few things people focus on when they work on the interior design. An important element that many people do not pay attention to is lighting. Lighting plays an essential role in modern interior design. You can buy all the expensive furniture and decorative items you want. However, without good lighting, they will not be as effective in adding to the overall aesthetics of your interior design.

Just installing simple fluorescent lights or light bulbs will not do the job for you. You will need to smartly strategize and think what kind of light would suit your interior design most. Additionally, you will also need to consider where you should install the lights.

Choosing a random place for your lights would not do the trick. Your primary focus for installing the lights should be to accentuate the interior design of your house.

Basic Purpose of Lights

• Ensuring appropriate levels of lighting for safety
• For creating aesthetical effects – shadow definition, artwork, displays
• For creating an area of amenity and comfort
• To carry out other tasks, like operating equipment, reading, and writing

You can instantly change the mood of any place by simply using good lighting. You can even change the perceived size of a room, which tells us how influential good lighting is. Furniture selection, natural light, the size of the room, and color selection are a few things that work in conjunction with the lighting.

You can achieve a combination of functionality and style once you decide on the perfect room lighting. You have to make sure that the combination of the elements mentioned above is seamless.

A modern interior designer who is worth his or her salt knows that interior lighting is essential to add value to any residential place. You can instantly adjust the mood and ambiance of a room by choosing the right combination of lighting and interior design. There are different lighting resources that you can use to create visual space and adjust the lighting according to your needs.

Mentioned below are a few things you should follow to achieve perfect room lighting.

Color Management

Using lighting can make a huge impact on the overall aesthetic of your room. It can easily add or subtract from the current light in your room. Choosing darker and dimmer lights will make your room feel extremely small and cramped.

However, white and bright lights will make your room feel big. The light reflecting on the surface of the wall gives us the illusion of space. You can also use lighting to illuminate the walls to create an illusion of space. You can hang the lights in the center of the room to give it an ambient look. If you want to soften the colors of your walls, go for track lighting. If illuminating the floor is what you are looking for, then go for recessed lighting it has a downwards glow that makes your floor illuminate.

Directional Lighting

One of the best things about lighting is that you can use it to highlight certain elements of your room or illuminate your room entirely; the choice is completely up to you. You can take track lighting as a perfect example of position based lighting.

You can apply track lighting techniques by adjusting the lamps and necks to point them at certain specific elements like a flower vase poster or paintings. Moreover, you can also achieve a vertical beam of light by using track lighting from central light fixtures. One of the most important things that people often forget about track lighting is the fact that you can also hang it on ceilings as opposed to only highlighting certain decorative elements of your room.

Functionality

Functionality is a significant role of lighting in virtually any interior setting. Instead of wasting electricity, lighting should serve an important purpose. The primary purpose of chandeliers is not only to brighten up in extremely large rooms, entryways, and open foyers. Illumination is the key reason why chandeliers are so popular. A centrally installed chandelier makes sure that every corner of the room receives equal light.

By installing wall lights, you ensure that you light the way to any place and add visual length and size to an entryway hall. You should consider the lighting style if you want to achieve the perfect aesthetic for the place you are planning to install the lights in.

There is no denying that illuminating a room is extremely important. However, illuminating just for the sake of illuminating seems to be a waste of electricity and money. You should take your time to make sure that the lights you are installing are functional and meet the demands of the specific area you are installing them.

Space

As we discussed earlier, the illusion of space is something manmade lighting and natural lighting create very well. Bringing full spectrum natural light in a dark room would be an excellent idea for a darker room. The room will feel extremely cramped if it does not have natural lighting.

You will only make matters worse by arranging your furniture, like a chair, sofa, end table, and coffee table in close proximity. Lights centrally hanging on the ceiling, wall sconces, and corner lamps would be an excellent choice to give your room a more prominent appearance. This design is ideal if the natural lighting in the room is not sufficient. You can apply this setting to any home or office and see the tremendous results it will provide you.

Although manmade lighting is great and is extremely effective to add depth to your room, it is no substitute for natural lighting. Its ability to show off colors, adding visual space, and reflecting from the different surface is what makes it so great.

You can quickly get more natural light by installing large windows and skylights. You can also use curtains and sheer drapes to let some extra light in your room.

Utilizing Lighting Correctly

You will not be able to appreciate your hard work if the lighting in your room does not accentuate its look. This reason is why you should dedicate yourself to create an environment in your room by playing extremely close attention to its lighting.

One of the biggest reasons why so many people shy away from lighting is because it seems like a technical subject. However, once you get into it, you will learn and know what is best for you. A continuous process of trial and error is a great way to utilize lighting correctly for your interior design. Moreover, you can follow the advice mentioned above to make sure that you can add visual appeal to your room.

Alternatively, you can also acquire the services of a professional to ensure impeccable lighting for your home.