Our choice of lighting is incredibly important when it comes to how we use our homes. We’ve asked the experts how to tackle the task.
Living room
As well as being one of our most used spaces, a living room is one where we want to be able to relax, and the wrong lighting can throw the whole mood off. What’s most important to consider, says Lauren Martin, co-founder of North Design, is how you want to use the room, as well as its physical characteristics.
“Is it going to be a bright, inviting family room, or one that’s for late evening entertaining? This will dictate whether wall lights, pendants or freestanding pieces will work best,” Lauren says.
She also advises to consider the room’s size. “For smaller rooms, compact fittings like wall lights won’t inhibit your floor space, and spotlights in the ceiling are a good option if a pendant drop would impact the head height, while a statement central pendant can fill the overhead void in a large room.”
Her co-founder, Louise Rankin, points out that as well as planning light at different levels, you should also have a mix of materials.
“The living room is where people relax, so having a balance between metals and fabric is important to bring in softness. For example, if you choose a globe central pendant, introduce fabric shades on table lamps. Recently I’ve been drawn to lamp bases with texture, like clay or plaster.”
Finally, the duo emphasises the importance of having control over all the different kinds of light in your living room, from overhead pendants to picture lights above artwork or LED strip lights in joinery. “We can never stress enough the importance of all lighting being on dimmable switches, and having each fitting on its own switch,” Lauren says. “That way, you have full flexibility and control over lighting levels.”
Kitchen and dining
Our kitchens are some of the busiest and most hardworking spaces in our homes, and as Monica Duggan, managing director at Willie Duggan lighting design points out, function is key.
“When we talk about function, it’s identifying the places where you need light most. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to put in loads of lights. I’ve seen so many times in a kitchen where someone will have eight downlights, but they are not in the right place. You could half that number once you place them strategically.” She advises against LED downlights, as they can create an unpleasant glare, but says that they can be useful when it comes to creating layers of ambient lighting.
Pendant lights are also popular in kitchens over dining tables or islands, and these fall into both functional and decorative lighting camps. “They do have functioned in the kitchen,” agrees Monica, “but other than that, they are a decorative piece.” As such, time should go into choosing a design that contributes to the overall look of your space.
Lastly, you need to add layers of ambient lighting “This is about highlighting features, and can be hidden so you see the architecture rather than the light source,” Monica explains. It’s particularly important in open plan spaces, as our kitchens are increasingly becoming.
“You can be in the living room area, and the kitchen at the other end is finished with for the evening. If you leave that dark, it creates an ominous feel,” she points out. “You want soft light to prevent dark corners, without lighting the whole space.” These kinds of lights can be incorporated into joinery using recessed fittings or LED tape, while wall lights can be used to cast light upwards.
Bedroom
The importance of good lighting is something interior designer Sara Cosgrove strongly believes in. “You can spend as much as you want on a room, but if you’re lighting’s wrong it’ll ruin all of that effort.”
In order to create a sanctuary-like space for you to retreat to at the end of the day, Sara recommends a softer approach for bedrooms than elsewhere in your home. “I think in general there’s an over reliance on downlights,” she says. “I was talking to the lighting designer Sally Storey about it, and she made the point that downlights actually were designed to light art, they were never intended to light a whole room. They can be really useful, but it’s about understanding that the best light is layered light.”
In a bedroom, this takes several different forms. She warns against downlights that would dazzle you when lying in bed, and either placing them strategically, or adding a diffuser to the base of a pendant.
“We sometimes have a downlight around the arrival space, then a pendant point either central or off-centre in the room. Table lamps are important, and reading lights are a lovely little luxury. It means that you can have a very focused beam of light for one person to be reading and the other person sleeping. We’re also increasingly adding nightlights, little floor washers to provide a low level of light if you need to get out of bed in the dark.”
Any key areas like mirrors or storage will benefit from a dedicated light. “For mirrors especially, you need to have the light in the right position,” Sara says. “It needs to be just directly in front, so it’s not casting a shadow.”
This feature originally appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2022 issue of IMAGE Interiors.
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