Whether we feel comfortable in a room often depends on the lighting, because with the right light sources, you set a room perfectly in scene and create a cozy, inviting atmosphere in which everyone feels comfortable. So, light design is a crucial factor in terms of furnishing and decoration. The type of lamp, the degree of illumination and the play of light and shadow can have an enormous impact on the effect of a room. If you don’t want to leave anything to chance here, you will find numerous helpful hints in this article.
The light in a room has the most atmospheric effect when it comes from different light sources. It also gives us the opportunity to make our home sometimes more and sometimes less bright – depending on the mood, time of day and occasion. A mix of lamps distributed throughout the room with different colors, shapes and strengths is ideal.
A continuously bright room without shadows and with constant light has an intrusive, monotonous and uncomfortable effect. If you want to avoid this waiting room atmosphere, you can create isolated islands of light that alternate with less brightly lit areas. This creates an inviting, interesting overall picture.
Bold Lighting
When it comes to lighting design, courage is required to set the stage. Atmospheric lighting accents that match the room and the style of the furnishings are the icing on the cake and add that certain something. So why not design the light in the bathroom in a colorful way? Of course, not permanently, but only as a playful and varied variant to the normal everyday life.
Screened Lighting
If you don’t want to scare away your guests, you should use lamps that are shielded, especially at the dining table and in the living room. After all, guests who are permanently dazzled by table lighting or an intrusive spotlight while eating or enjoying a cozy glass of wine on the sofa certainly won’t feel comfortable.
Spot Lights
Spot light accents are achieved with halogen spotlights. They ensure that the entire room is not bathed in bright light. Our tip: Energy-saving lamps are useful in rooms where the light stays on for longer periods of time.
The right light for every room: Tips for planning your lighting design
LED lamps are the most versatile and economical type of light bulb on the market. They come in many different styles from filament bulbs to breeze bulbs to smart home bulbs. As retrofits, they are even easily compatible with older sockets. LED bulbs are not only much more energy-efficient than traditional bulbs, but also more durable, making them perfect for lighting a wide variety of rooms.
Warm white LED bulbs create a pleasant lighting atmosphere and should be used wherever coziness is desired. Warm white is the ideal color temperature for living rooms, bedrooms and other quiet areas.
LED bulbs with universal white color temperature are ideal for desk lights. They create a businesslike light, which can also strengthen the ability to concentrate. Universal white light sources are also a good choice in the bathroom.
The Best Lighting for the Kitchen
Recessed spots, like ceiling lights, provide uniform illumination of the kitchen. In this connection, however, you need to think about the placement of the spots during the construction phase. This is because cables need to be laid early on and holes need to be provided in appropriate places. Usually this step happens before the furniture is in the room, and it takes a little imagination and good planning to be able to commit at this stage in terms of lighting.
Ceiling lights are also possible, of course, but their shade should not be too narrow. It’s best to choose a material that’s easy to clean and can be wiped down quickly. Because during cooking and baking, grease and dirt particles are created, which easily stick. Luminaires with fabric shades are therefore rather unsuitable in the kitchen. A warm white light color is generally suitable for basic lighting.
Neutral white light for the worktop
As at the desk in the study or when reading in the living room, a luminaire with direct-beam light ensures focused and concentrated work. The same applies in the kitchen, because to cut vegetables into small pieces or decorate a cake, you need sufficient light. Make sure that the light from the kitchen luminaire falls shadow-free from above onto the work surface. For this purpose, you can, for example, choose under-cabinet lighting in a neutral white light color.
The Best Bathroom Lighting
The optimal lighting for the mirror
When it comes to lighting in the bathroom, good mirror lighting is indispensable. It should provide the right light for shaving and make-up. Ideal are two identical lights, which you place to the right and left of the mirror. They illuminate the face and body evenly and do not cast shadows. For large mirror surfaces, it is advisable to install an additional light above it.
To bring atmosphere into your bathroom, you should plan accentuating light. This will create the right flair in your bathroom. Individual points of light additionally loosen up the ambience. For this purpose, recessed lights can be embedded in the ceiling, in the floor or within the wall niches. For shelves, furniture surface-mounted or recessed luminaires are particularly suitable. The light emphasizes the architecture of the room, the furniture or accessories, for example. If you want to make the lighting in your bathroom even more individual, you can use smart light sources that can be controlled either via your smartphone or by remote control and offer a wide range of colors.
Safe light in the bathroom
The bathroom is a wet room. This means that depending on where the light fixture will later hang, you should pay attention to certain regulations when buying it. For example, luminaires that are installed in the immediate vicinity of the shower, bathtub or washbasin should meet special requirements in terms of protection class. After all, with them there is a possibility that they could be exposed to splashing water.
In this context, the so-called protection class is important, which indicates the environmental conditions for which electrical devices are suitable. It is indicated by the letters IP and supplemented by two defined digits. The higher these numbers are, the better the protection against water. Luminaires suitable for the bathroom area often bear the designation IP44.
The Best Lighting for the Living Room
The living room is the focal point in every home and is therefore used in a correspondingly wide variety of ways: Reading, writing, playing, watching TV, listening to music, resting, entertaining or receiving guests. One luminaire is not enough for these different purposes. For the living room, at least three luminaires are the right solution. They provide general lighting and the respective place lighting. It becomes really cozy with additional accent lighting. LEDs in the light color warm white are suitable as light sources, which thus provide the right ambience.
How much light for what purpose is needed at which point in the room? This is the central question of the lighting concept in the living room. Activity and visual task determine the type of luminaire and brightness. Floor, table and stool luminaires are suitable for place lighting at the sofa and armchair, at the TV, on the sideboard or the secretary. Alternatively, pendant lights are suitable for place lighting, for example, above the coffee table. Another pendant luminaire should be provided for the dining table, which is located either in the living room or in the dining room.
What size should the right chandelier be for the living room?
As a remnant of feudal living culture, the chandelier is experiencing a true revival these days. The pompous ceiling lamp is being reinterpreted by more and more manufacturers and thus also made fit for modern living concepts. This naturally arouses the interest of consumers, who are always on the lookout for new interior design highlights. Undoubtedly, the chandelier still holds the highlight character today, because there is hardly any other ceiling lamp as elaborately designed. However, it comes into its own only when it fits into the living room, dining area or hallway. But what is the ideal size for a chandelier? What do you have to pay attention to when hanging it and can you simply shorten the lamp rope?
Not every room is suitable for every chandelier
Undoubtedly, the chandelier has a special charm. On the one hand, as a traditional form of lamps, they decelerate the interior. Thus, they give the impression that they can hold time for a moment. On the other hand, the chandeliers also provide beautiful lighting effects. This is mainly due to the design and the materials used. Glass and acrylic ensure that the light is reflected or refracted, allowing a wide variety of light colors to be seen on the lamp.
The many decorative elements attached to the frame and arms also make the chandeliers appear very valuable and not infrequently create a luxurious impression. However, the elaborate design also has its pitfalls, which you must take into account in any case. For example, real chandeliers, which are made of glass and metal in the traditional manner, are very heavy. In order for them to hold on the ceiling for a long time, they must be properly anchored. Furthermore, chandeliers, of course, magically attract dust. That is why it is necessary to clean the lamp regularly, which is not always easy, depending on the height.
Several factors influence the right chandelier size
So how big should the chandelier actually be? You may have heard this question before when you asked for a chandelier in a furniture store. It is not unusual that you do not know the answer to this question at first.
There is also no blanket recommendation here, because various criteria simply play a role:
- Diameter: The diameter virtually indicates how wide the chandelier is. It also provides information about how pompous this looks.
- Location: You can integrate a chandelier very differently in the room. It fits well in the center of the room. But it can also be positioned above the table.
- Pendant height: the chandelier is a pendant lamp. That is – from the ceiling separate the actual lamp several centimeters. The pendant height mainly ensures that you do not lose sight of the height of the room, otherwise the lamp will quickly become a nuisance.
- Material: surely you know this – a white or silver lamp looks much more discreet than models with a black frame. Therefore, even with a chandelier, you need to keep an eye on the material. It is also interesting, for example, what color is the metal frame.
The trick for ideal lighting:
A balance between low-contrast and high-contrast lighting ensures comfort. This works best with a mix of three different light sources: Backlighting, accent lighting and task lighting.
Indirect light creates soft and unobtrusive illumination because it casts few shadows and is evenly distributed. However, the eyes tire more quickly with indirect light than with high-contrast lighting. Therefore, you should set up zones where there is spot lighting or bright task lighting. When rooms are lit from a mixture of these types of light, they look their best.
Beautiful Light: A Matter of Proper Planning
Lighting determines whether we feel comfortable in a room. Because depending on the contrast, light color or brightness, the light unfolds a completely different effect. Indirect luminaires, for example, create soft feel-good light, while the workplace requires very bright, focused light. To get the best out of a room, the lighting should also be well planned.
In the best case, lighting design is already taken into account during construction or renovation. Take the opportunity to talk to an expert about your ideas for successful lighting. Because the matter of lighting tends to get pushed into the background. Thorough planning saves later disappointments and costly rework. This is the only way to ensure that the sockets and power connections are exactly where they will be needed later, and to avoid ugly extension cables running through the middle of the living room or along every wall in the hallway.
From efficient LED lamps to luxurious chandeliers, there are numerous light sources available for lighting design: A ceiling spotlight creates a different mood than a reading lamp. But creating an ideal lighting atmosphere is not difficult at all. As a rule of thumb, a mix of three different sources = the ideal lighting.
