Illuminating the World of Lighting Design: How Creative and Functional Lighting Can Transform Your Home
Have you ever walked into a space and immediately felt at ease or invigorated by the lighting? This is no coincidence. Lighting design surrounds us every day, even if we don’t consciously notice it.
With the right lighting, your home can become a warm, inviting haven reflecting your unique style and enhancing your daily life. So, what is lighting design and why does it matter in interior design? How can it transform the look and feel of your space? And, perhaps most importantly, how can your interior designer work their magic to create a space that is uniquely designed for you and your life?
What is lighting design?
At its core, lighting design is the study of light and how it impacts spaces. It goes far beyond sourcing the right light fixture for your space. Good lighting design is actually a complex decision-making process that involves taking into account many different variables, from the size and space of the room in question to the traffic patterns throughout the home, natural light, color temperature, light placement, and more.
This careful consideration of different factors is how I accomplish a well-lit space for my clients that expertly balances practicality with their desired aesthetic.
When we evaluate lighting for your project, we consider three categories of lighting to give your home a perfect glow.
General Lighting
The foundational layer for well-designed lighting in every room of your home, general lighting is soft diffused light that evenly illuminates a room without focusing on a specific area or feature. As a designer, my first priority is to create a comfortable space for your family’s everyday living. General lighting plays a huge role in the atmosphere and functionality of your home.
Recessed cans, which are lights installed in a ceiling opening, are a popular choice for general lighting.
Decorative Lighting
Decorative lighting, placed strategically, can add charm, character and personality to your home, transforming an ordinary room into a beautiful sanctuary that reflects your unique style and taste. From elegant chandeliers to whimsical pendant lights and stylish wall sconces, there are countless options to choose from when it comes to decorative lighting.
Task Lighting
Task lighting provides pools of focused light that can be directed to illuminate a specific space or surface in a room. For example, activities like reading or chopping vegetables in your kitchen benefit from task lighting, making it easy for you to focus on the job at hand.
A secondary purpose of task lighting is to minimize glare and reflections. Since our eyes naturally grow more vulnerable to glare as we get older, task lighting is especially important to consider for your home or your parents’ home as you age.
Let's explore the essential elements that will help you achieve the look, feel, and ambience you desire.
The size and shape of your space
The size and shape of your space is a crucial factor that will influence our choice of lighting.
In a smaller space, you need fewer light fixtures to achieve a well-illuminated space, while a larger room requires more fixtures and a higher wattage output to create the perfect ambiance.
By considering the room's size and tailoring the lighting design accordingly, we can create a cozy and inviting atmosphere that makes your space feel neither too dim nor too bright.
Traffic patterns through the home
Your home is more than just a collection of rooms - it's a reflection of your family's unique personality and lifestyle. By taking into account how each space is used and the natural flow of traffic throughout your home, we can create a lighting plan that enhances your daily life and supports your family's needs.
Here are a few things I always take into account when planning the right foundational lighting for my clients’ everyday use:
The height and shape of your ceiling
Light naturally reflects off your ceiling and walls. So if you have a lower ceiling, our goal is to aim for an even spread of light and avoid any dark corners or areas of high contrast. For this purpose, recessed lights work best.
For rooms with a high ceiling, I recommend applying the rule of thirds to make sure the room is well-lit from top to bottom. To accomplish this, we’ll start by mentally dividing your room up into three equal parts. Next, we’ll strategically add lights to each level: ceiling lights to fill the top third, low pendants or tall floor lamps to enhance the middle third, and table lamps to illuminate the bottom third. This is a great way to make rooms with a high ceiling more visually interesting.
2. The spacing of your lighting
When it comes to planning out your recessed lighting, a less-is-more approach works best. To properly space out your recessed lights, divide the height of your ceiling by 2.
Typically, I recommend to my clients that we use one recessed light for every 4-6 square feet of ceiling space.
3. The right diameter for your lighting fixtures
For simple general lighting that doubles as decoration, I recommend pendant lights.
Pro tip: To find the perfect diameter of pendant light for your kitchen, take the width and height of your kitchen in feet and add them together. Change the resulting number to inches and you’ll have the diameter for a pendant light that’s perfectly scaled to fit your space.
4. The color of each room’s walls
Light-colored walls and finishes reflect more light, while dark-colored walls will absorb more light. So, a room with walls in a darker color may require brighter lighting to achieve the correct level of illumination.
The nuances of task lighting
When it comes to the kitchen, task lighting is essential to make your daily kitchen routine easier to complete. For the kitchen, consider both overhead lighting and under cabinet lighting to ensure your workspace is functional and free from shadows.
Highlighting the unique features of your home
Chances are, your home has gorgeous art works and distinctive features you’d like to showcase to everyone who visits. I recommend discussing these treasures with your interior designer so you can work together to determine the perfect number of accent lights to bring out their beauty.
Bonus: A practical lighting tip for any home
I recommend investing in a small portable task light so you can move around freely without needing to be close to a power outlet. Most portable lamps are dimmable, which makes it easy to adapt the amount of light to your needs.
Our favorite light fixtures right now
I must confess, selecting lighting is probably one of my favorite parts of my profession. Lighting is truly the jewelry of architecture. I love the way it casts beautiful shadows and glistens with reflective light.
I absolutely love experimenting with different finishes and textures to create beautiful, unique lighting designs that bring warmth and character to a space. It's amazing how a well-designed lighting setup can completely transform the look and feel of a room, creating an inviting atmosphere that just begs to be enjoyed.
Here are some of the light fixtures that we absolutely adore right now:
Manchester Pendant, Arteriors
Industrial Dome Shade Pendant, Shades of Light
