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Interior lighting plays a massive role in the overall mood and functionality of your space. Implementing some creative interior lighting design can take your home from lackluster to atmospheric and welcoming. Check out some of the interior lighting ideas below to get started on your design scheme.
Use Pendant Cluster Lighting
Interior ceiling lights are one of the easiest ways to bring ambient light to any room. Oftentimes, people will hang a single hanging light and call it a day. Not only does this limit the amount of light that spreads across a room but it often doesn’t do a space justice.
One way to shake things up is to instead add multiple pendant lights to the space. Interior LED lights hung in a small cluster add artistic flair to the room while providing more light than a singular fixture would. This will also bring depth and dimension to a space, while simultaneously creating a beautiful focal point.
By choosing interior LED lighting pendant fixtures in various shapes and sizes, you can also make the formation itself more visually appealing. This is one of the easiest tricks to getting modern interior lighting right.
Use Sculptural Lighting as a Focal Point
LED interior lights can be decorative in their own right. Sculptural lighting refers to fixtures that are artistic and eye catching, often used for decoration themselves.
This type of lighting can be used to generate a focal point in the space. By choosing statement lighting like chandeliers, pendant lights or unique floor lamps, you can light the space and add personality at the same time.
Sometimes, sculptural lighting can be incorporated right into the structure itself. This is usually referred to as architectural lighting. Architectural lighting allows you to highlight the best attributes of your home’s design, such as alcoves, pillars, exposed beams, arched doorways and beyond.
The foyer and the dining room are two of the best places to incorporate sculptural lighting. Both areas tend to have expansive vertical space. Filling this space with an artistic light choice can make the space feel more complete while adding a wow factor at the same time.
Use Layered Lighting Techniques
One of the most important elements of interior LED lighting is how you layer the lighting. Layered lighting refers to the mix of ambient, layered and accent lighting added to a space.
Ambient lighting is responsible for the overall illumination in a room. Most commonly, this comes in the form of ceiling LED interior light fixtures. Pendant lights, recessed fixtures and surface mounted lights are popular choices.
Task lighting allows for focused lighting when partaking in various activities. You’ll find task lighting near desks, reading nooks, worktops and other task-heavy spaces. Table lamps, low-hanging pendant lamps and even carefully positioned recessed lights can handle the job.
Finally, there is accent lighting. The main goal of accent lighting is to create an atmosphere while also drawing attention to certain areas in a room. LED interior wall lights are usually implemented for this job in the form of interior wall wash lighting as well as wall grazing lighting. You may also find spotlights and other indirect forms of lighting used as accent lights.
Combining all three of these light layers ensures that the illumination is nice and even. Balanced lighting will bring versatility to the room and reduce eye strain at the same time. Layered lighting also gives you the ability To turn on individual lights according to your needs instead of having the entire room lit up all the time.
Use Light and Shadow to Enhance Your DesignÂ
Interior lighting UK trends have been leaning towards the more dramatic. Creating drama and visual interest in your home can be as easy as understanding how to use light and shadow with one another. It’s much easier than it may sound, too.
Simply adding blinds instead of curtains over your windows can cast shadows in the late afternoon. This affords a certain textured look that only blinds can bring. However, natural lighting isn’t the only way to create light and shadow.
Indirect home interior lights can also cast shadows when placed correctly. Allow lights to shine down on walls to create a contrast between the bright illumination and the lack thereof beneath it.
Dimmer switches also help you stay in control of light and shadow. Choosing just how bright a light is at any given time will allow you ample opportunity to make the most of this design element.
You could also work with any existing textures and reflective surfaces you have going. Interior wall lighting placed close to a textured wall, such as brick, will create tiny little shadows that accentuate the texture itself. Shining a light against a reflective surface will make it bounce around the room for a more dynamic look.
Use Biophilic Lighting DesignÂ
Interior wall lights and ceiling lights afford plenty of illumination, but what if natural light is more your thing? Unfortunately, not everyone who values natural light has access to it. One way to get around this limitation is to include biophilic lighting.
Biophilic light is a design style meant to imitate natural light patterns and even cycles. Including it can create a balance between the inside and outside world, making you feel more connected with nature. Sometimes, people will go as far as to add skylights to their ceilings to allow the natural light to flow right in.
If you don’t want to go through a costly renovation to achieve biophilic lighting, there are a few ways you can do so with artificial light:
- COLOUR TEMPERATURE. Choosing lights with natural daylight colour temperatures can mimic the feel of sunlight in the home. Even better would be to have tunable bulbs to enable you to alter the warmth or coolness of the light throughout the day.
- CONTROL. By having control over not just the colour temperature but also the intensity and overall distribution of the light, you can replicate natural daylight conditions.
- HIGHLIGHT NATURAL SHAPES AND TEXTURES. If you have wood, stone or even plants in your home, you can easily incorporate biophilic lighting. Use a lighting scheme that highlights these elements to make it feel more natural indoors.
- INCLUDE MORE GLASS. Interior windows and partitions made from glass help move existing natural light throughout the room. This can also be achieved with the use of mirrors.
Illuminate Art to Make It a Focal PointÂ
If you already have artwork on the walls, you can use it as a focal point in the space through the use of wall lights. Interior design schemes that include gallery walls or simply a portrait here and there provide the perfect opportunity for accentuation.
Common fixtures used to light artwork include:
- Picture lights that sit directly above art that are wall mounted
- Accent lights on the ceiling that give you better control of the lighting angle
- Track lights with flexible heads for total control over where the light shines, especially if you intend to change art frequently
Artwork often requires special attention when it comes to lighting. For example, sculptures should be lit from many angles to ensure their details can be seen all the way around. Photographs and prints may cause glare if the light shines on them at the wrong angle.
Through picture lights or track lights, you can shine a focused beam onto the art piece to prevent glare or dulling of the image. A prime example of this is avoiding narrow beams while using wider, more indirect beams of light to showcase oil paintings. This is because they tend to be glossier than acrylic art and are more prone to causing glare.
Generally speaking, you can reduce shadows and glare often caused by track lights by shining the light at a 30 degree angle. This ensures that the light hits the centre of the artwork, which will help disperse it more naturally. You should also use only LED bulbs so that you can choose the brightness, colour temperature and intensity of the light. LED lights don’t emit heat so they won’t damage the medium as hot halogen bulbs can.
Use Colour Changing Light FittingsÂ
Interior lights for home lighting design aren’t limited to white colours. Colour changing lights that span the spectrum of hues will give you more creative control over the mood and atmosphere of your space. Incorporating them into various rooms of the house lends each space more personality.
Bedroom
Install colour changing LED lights in a bedroom to help set a mood. Calming hues such as blues and purples make for great relaxation. Conversely, you could choose warmer tones like orange and red for a more intimate environment.
Kitchen
Such lights in a kitchen can enhance both style and functionality. LED strip lights in a colourful hue placed along the kickboards provide great mood lighting when cooking or entertaining. Hanging them under cabinets and above worktops can give you additional task lighting for food prep while enhancing the style of the space.
Bathroom
Colour-changing lights in a bathroom can make it feel more like a spa. Waterproof LED strips near mirrors, showers or bath areas bring a dash of luxury to your weeknights.
Entertainment Spaces
Home bars, living room spaces, game rooms and home theatres can all benefit from colour changing lights. You can set them on smart systems that will synchronise with movies, music and games to create a livelier, more immersive atmosphere.
Children’s Rooms
Kids love colour, and they are sure to love coloured lights in their rooms. Installing them can encourage a more playful and interactive space for them to enjoy. Hanging them above desks, around beds and in play areas will make their bedrooms a place they love to be.
Getting creative with your interior lighting pays off. If your home feels drab or in need of an update, consider some of the ideas above to breathe new life into the space.
Interior Lighting Ideas
If you’re looking for lighting that is as decorative as it is functional, check out the LWA466 6 Watt Black and Gold Interior LED Wall Light. This gold and black interior wall light features a matte black base with a brushed gold vertical arm rising from it. This arm washes the wall with 600 lumens of 3000k warm white light behind it. Choose to mount it either horizontally or vertically to suit your taste. Overall, the durable IP20 rated aluminium light measures 600 millimeters by 60 millimeters with a 120-millimeter projection from the wall.
Shine stylish ambient light in any room with the CSL022 5 Watt Dimmable Round Recessed LED Downlight Fitting. This recessed light outputs 430 lumens of 3000k warm white light that shines from its aluminium body at a 23 degree beam angle. The shells come in black, white, rose gold or a mix of white and chrome. It measures 83 millimeters in diameter and 118 millimeters in height, making it suitable for most ceilings.
Show off your favourite art pieces with the LWA525 6 Watt 500mm Wide LED Picture Light. This light is designed to sit above a framed painting or photo to show off its details without casting shadows or causing glare. It outputs 600 lumens of 3000k warm white light through an acrylic diffuser that softens the lighting. This durable aluminium light measures 500 millimeters in width with a 120-millimeter projection from the wall. Choose from either black and anodized gold or plain black finishes.
Enhance your kitchen, dining room and beyond with the LPL404 5 Watt Hanging LED Pendant Light. Emitting 430 lumens of 3000k warm white light, the fixture is perfect as a task light over countertops and desks. The high CRI rating ensures an accurate portrayal of the colours of the objects it shines upon. This light is fashioned out of durable aluminium that has an acrylic internal diffuser shade to soften the light. The lamp shades measure 200 millimeters in diameter by 150 millimeters high and sit on an adjustable 2000-millimeter drop cable.
