5 Ways Good Lighting Design Can Enhance Your Living Room

Illuminating your living room needs to be carefully thought out. It’s the most important room in your home. Not only does your lighting need to provide a comfortable balance of atmosphere and practicality, but should create a remarkable first impression too. Here, you’ll find five ways to ensure you get it right.

1.    Create a flexible ambience

Your living room is likely to be used every single day - at morning, noon and night. So, you’ll want a different level of ambience depending on the time of day and to complement the outside sun/ moon light. But how can this be achieved?

Both dimmer switches and lighting control systems are great ways to enable flexibility within your lighting scheme.

Dimmers are easier and cheaper to install, giving you the ability to lower or increase the intensity of your lighting as you please.

Lighting control systems are slightly more complex, and often require lighting design specialists for optimal integrations. They can help you save energy, allow programmed lighting scenes to be set, integrate with home automation products, and improve convenience and safety. The results speak for themselves.

Using either dimmers or lighting control systems, softer lamp lights can be turned up during the evening for a more relaxing ambience. Likewise, you could adjust your lighting perfect for reading a book, watching tv, or socialising.

For more information on how to create a finely tuned lighting scheme for every moment in your home, take a look at our ultimate guide to home lighting control systems.

2.    Choose a centrepiece

Compliment your living room lighting with one eye-catching centrepiece. A large, bold fixture can work wonders for your space and will mean your light sources aren’t competing for attention. Think chandeliers, or architectural and geometric lights. Even lighting sculptures can prove to be a striking focal point for your living room.

Tip: When using a central lighting piece, it’s a good idea to tie in lighting controls or dimmers as mentioned in our point above. This allows you to control the intensity and brightness of your main light source, setting the ambience for your entire room.

3.    Layer your lighting

As a major lighting design principle, layered lighting must be at the top of your list. Not only does it create depth and texture to your living room, but adds the practicality needed for a functional living space.

Layered lighting consists of three elements. Ambient, task and accent.

Ambient lighting is responsible for providing the general illumination of a room. Task lighting is used to assist with your daily activities at home. And accent lighting is seen as the icing on the cake - its purpose is to add style to your space and allow you to personalise your home just how you want it.

For guidance on how to use layered lighting to enhance your living room, discover our blog on interior lighting design.

4.    Illuminate wall art

Wall art can really bring a living room together. It adds character, design, and in some cases, sentimental value to your space. Proper lighting can make all the difference to how your wall art is perceived too. Cast downlighting onto your artwork using either wall or ceiling spotlights for the best effect.

Tip: Anything framed within glass won’t work as well as canvases or oil paintings. The glass will reflect the light source and make it harder to see – the opposite of what you’re looking for.

5.    Pair lighting with your décor

Despite its importance, lighting can often look like an afterthought. To avoid this, pick lighting that compliments your interior with fixtures that match your furniture and any other accessories. This could be your sofa, wallpaper, curtains, rug and anything else in between. Follow this, and your living room will come together in an organised and matching fashion.

Lighting Design Experts

Want a flexible, stylish and functional lighting scheme for your home? Speak to the experts at Hampshire Light today. With over 20 years’ experience transform high-end spaces, we have the creative and technical excellence needed to enhance your living. Arrange a complimentary design consultation with us today.