In the mood

Gone are the days when lighting was understood only as task lighting and used just to illuminate a room. Nowadays more and more people are using ambient lighting, which can dramatically change the mood of a space.

Illumina

To achieve the most effective ambient lighting in your bedroom and living room, here are a few tips from experts in the industry:

Hestelle and Conrad Wagener of Illumina believe that when lighting up your bedroom and living spaces the goal should mostly be to achieve brighter effects in the morning and intimate or atmospheric scenes at night, which translates into the feeling of sanctuary towards the end of the day.

They say: “Ambient lighting is best acquired with ceiling fixtures such as pendants or chandeliers. This will offer enough lighting for activities where bright, focused light is not needed and usually provide for shadowy contrasts through design. It is worth mentioning that in choosing the correct lighting, any room can take on a more spacious appearance e.g. utilising recessed ceiling downlights close to the front of your wardrobe doors will result in reflected light spilling into your room creating the effect of space.”

Illumina

Bedroom lighting basics

Kelly Klopper of Eurolux shares two tips for effective bedroom lighting, ensuring it’s a calm space for you to unwind in:

1. You want to create a calm and cosy atmosphere in the bedroom. To achieve this, use bulbs that emit a warm white light and install a dimmer switch so that you can control the level of brightness.

2. Use multiple light sources at different levels in the bedroom. This way you avoid the harsh, unwelcoming glare that results when all lighting in the room comes from the same direction. A combination of ceiling lights, wall sconces, lamps, and even floor level lighting should do the trick.

3. Pendant lights make for ideal ambient lighting in a bedroom. They can be hung at different heights to create various lighting effects, especially when using a dimmer switch. A striking pendant, such as a beautiful chandelier, is a strong statement piece and acts as interesting detail and a main focal point too.

Eurolux

Light up your living room

Newport Lighting’s Guy Harris gives us top tips on how to add ambient lighting to your living room making it an inviting and relaxing space:

1. First define the various spaces within your living room to ascertain what kind of lighting you require where. The three main types are general, task and accent. By layering your three types of lighting you can create a space that satisfies all your requirements.

2. Create a focus with a decorative chandelier. This will provide the main source of general light in your living space as well as a talking point.

3. Your accent and task lighting are provided by floor and table lamps. These are used for reading or to create ambience, for example. Be sure to keep a balance by spreading your mood lighting throughout the room while task lighting should be placed in areas that require focused lighting for a specific task.