An Interior Designer's Guide to Lighting Your Living Room

If you think about it, other than the bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom, you spend a lot of time in your living room. Making this space comfortable and aesthetically pleasing can enhance your experience. You may even find yourself spending more time in [your living room than anywhere in the house. Aside from having an indoor fountain that promotes peace and relaxation, the kind of lights you have at home also plays a huge part in setting the mood and vibe of your home.] If you’re tired of looking at plain lights that barely light the space, here are some ideas on how you can change this.

Before you start working on the room, figure out the role you’d like the lighting to play. Are you hoping to make the room more relaxed? Do you want to make it brighter for gaming nights? Why are you getting lighting in the first place? Also, segment the living room into different parts. Decide how you will light each one based on its function, and you will be much closer to perfection.

Positioning Lights

It’s easy to get caught up in ambient, task, and accent lighting. However, do not forget that positioning also matters. Generally, you can mount your lights on:

• Ceilings: These lights can either be hung from the ceiling or mounted directly on the ceiling. LED recessed ceiling lights are an easy way to light your room without taking over your space. They fit into the ceiling and brighten the space in a subtle manner which presents well with the living room vibe.
• Floors: Rather than have all the lights facing downwards or mounted from above, lepro.com offers options you can use to overcome gravity. You can have the lights mounted below and still achieve great lighting.
• Tables: Positioning lights on tables enables you to achieve task lighting and brightens the room's mid-section. It’s common to see such lights serving complementary roles in living rooms and other rooms as well.

Choosing Lights

Now that you have a rough idea of how you can mount your lights, let’s focus on the main light options. Keep in mind that lights work differently based on their designs. Take the example of a chandelier that spreads light in multiple directions. It works for a living room where you want to have a bright and airy feel. However, you may need to bring in a table lamp if you want to direct light in a specific direction.

Ambient Lighting

Interior designers often talk about ambient lighting, and you may have heard of it. This lighting fills the room and is an easy way to brighten up your space. However, while it serves the role of creating a vibe, it is not bright enough to help you concentrate on specific tasks. For example, if you want to study, you may need extra lighting to ensure your eyes do not strain.

Examples of ambient lights include pendant lights, chandeliers, and recessed lights mounted on the ceiling.

Task Lighting

In addition to ambient lighting, your living room may need task lighting. It can serve two roles. The first is to highlight spots in the room that you consider to be focal points. For example, you may want to target a table and bring out its beauty for guests to see. The second role is to enable you to perform specific tasks, as the name implies. Take the example of reading a book. Ambient lighting is not strong enough to cater to this need. Instead, you need task lighting to focus on the book and give your eyes some relief.

Examples of task lights include table, reading, and desk lamps mounted on furniture.

Accent Lighting

Finally, this lighting comes into play to highlight the decorative parts of the room. It’s mainly used in highlighting art pieces and breaks in the room. You can also use it to create dramatic transitional effects to entertain the eyes or add a soft glow to the room. Accent lighting allows you to play around with ideas and find what helps bring out the beauty of the living room.

Examples of such lights include spotlights and accent lamps.

Tips on Choosing Lights

Finding the best lighting option for your living room should be an easy task. However, one wrong move can either increase your energy bills or affect the room's overall look. Here are some tips to protect you from shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to energy:

• Use energy-efficient lighting: Going for LED bulbs may look expensive in the beginning. However, these bulbs will serve you for a very long time. On average, an LED bulb lasts as many as 25,000 hours! That equates to years. Add the fact that the bulb will not need replacement in a very long time, making it a great deal. Additionally, it uses very little energy to brighten up your space and can help you achieve as much as 90% in cost savings. [ LED grow lights can also be used when you are looking to grow indoor plants since they allow a highly controlled environment for plants, greatly reducing the need for pesticides and chemical treatments on plants.]
• Count lumens and not watts: When LED lamps first came into the picture, people were confused about their brightness. It was common for people to buy bulbs based on wattage. Given that LED lamps had such low values, it was hard to gauge whether they would be bright. Here’s the thing. Wattage refers to the energy a bulb uses to produce light (its power draw). The higher it is, the more money you will cough up at the end of the month. LEDs have very low wattages, and this points to their cost-effectiveness. Their lumens, on the other hand, are very high. Lumens refer to the power output, which is what you should consider. Gauge bulbs based on the lumens, and you should get it right each time.
• Measure the distance: Always consider how far a lighting fixture will be from objects, people, and other surfaces. The longer it is, the more the light will disperse and grow weaker before it reaches the target. Luckily, LED lights are directional and uniform and will not suffer this waning. However, they can only reach so far. As you position the lights, consider their strength. You may need to invest in higher lumens to reach all the focus areas in the room.
• Check the color temperature: Living rooms require warmer whites which are lower on the kelvin temperature scale. These have more of a yellow hue. If you choose temperatures high on the scale, the room will be very bright, and could get uncomfortable.

Suffer in the dark no more! Instead, get started on planning your living room lighting layout and brighten your space.