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Hallway
Hallway lighting is a crucial element of interior lighting design that is often overlooked. Having well-placed hallway lamp fixtures helps illuminate this transitional space and make it easier to navigate.
At Ultra Beam Lighting, we offer a wide range of hallway light fixtures to suit any design style in the home. From wall lights to ceiling fixtures, you’re sure to find what you need.
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Leon 8 Watt 250mm Wide Brushed Silver Interior LED Wall Light
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Beam Triple 6 Watt Brushed Aluminium LED Wall Light
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Why Does a Hallway Need Good Lighting?
Hallways are transitional spaces between two points, making them well-traveled. Since they are not rooms people tend to linger and sit in, they often get overlooked as not being as high-priority as others.
The truth is that a well-lit hallway can make all of the difference. It helps to enhance the space and make it more cohesively fit with the rest of the home instead of just having dark patches and light patches.
Perhaps most importantly, it makes the area easier to navigate. By having plenty of light fixtures for the hallway, you can improve visibility and reduce the risk of tripping or stumbling over items.
Different Types of Lighting You Can Use in the Hallway
Hallways can seem like a difficult thing to try and light due to their narrow shape. Fortunately, there are a variety of different light fixtures that you can choose from to light the space if you do it smartly.
Ceiling Lights
Ceiling lights generally provide the main illumination in the hallway. Of course, with the limited space in a hallway, pendant light fixtures and other larger items might take up too much vertical space.
If you have low ceilings in the hallway, flush mount lighting or recessed lighting is better. Hallways that open up with larger ceilings can get away with hanging lights for hall spaces.
Wall Lighting
In terms of space-saving, hallway wall lights are the way to go. They save space on the ceiling and eliminate the need for floor lamps. These lights can create a natural guide that leads you down the hall to the next area.
Picture Lighting
One of the best choices of wall lights in hallway lighting schemes is the picture light. You can use this to create a sort of gallery-like feel in the space, adding some decorative style to the hallway all while ensuring it is well-lit.
Low Level Lights
Having hallway light fittings that sit close to the ground can provide similar guides while also making for great nightlights on midnight trips. Plinth lighting around the base boards adds personality to the room and a nice, soft glow.
Advice on How to Choose the Right LED Colour Temperature
Colour temperature, otherwise known as CCT, is a metric that defines how cool or warm a light is perceived to be. It exists on a spectrum between 1,000 and 10,000 Kelvin. The higher the number, the cooler the light.
Different light colour temperatures have their place in various spaces. When it comes to hallways, warm white lighting is best. This is true for everything from your wall lamps to your flush ceiling lights for the hallway.
Aim for a colour temperature between 2,700K and 3,300K. This will give you plenty of visibility while still being gentle on the eyes. Cool lights may be a bit too bright and glaring for this sort of space.
Hallway Lighting Design Advice
Modern hallway lighting design begins with understanding the layout of the space. This includes the proportions and overall flow. Each hallway is unique and therefore will have unique needs. Consider things like:
- how high or low the ceiling is to know if you need flush mount or recessed hallway ceiling lamps
- the width and length of the hallway to determine how low-profile of a light you will need to reduce clutter
- natural light, and how much of it you have to work with
- lighting in the adjacent rooms so you can be sure it flows well
Taking note of the existing style in the home to match the hallway to it is recommended. Aim for lights that have the same style and finish as the surrounding fixtures. This will ensure a more cohesive flow.
You should also layer the lighting to provide the most balanced look. This means having hallway ceiling lights for the overall illumination, and hallway wall lamps for the accent and mood lighting layers.
Why Are LEDs the Best Choice for Hallway Lighting?
LED lighting is growing increasingly popular in all rooms of the house. In hallways, this is especially true. Hallways are high-traffic zones that need comfortable and efficient lighting to be at its best. LED lights provide this and more.
- ENERGY EFFICIENCY. LED lights use 80 percent less energy than halogen and incandescent bulbs. They are able to generate light immediately instead of first generating heat.
- LONGER LIFESPAN. The lower energy usage allows the lights to run for even longer than traditional bulbs. Where halogen lights tend to only work for around 1,000 hours, LEDs can go for tens of thousands of hours before burning out.
- COST SAVINGS. LEDs provide a nice balance of lower energy consumption, lessening your electricity bill and a long life eliminating the need for constant replacements. Both of these things translate to fewer costs, both upfront and overtime.
- With so many colour temperatures and lumen counts available, you can really customize the way your lights look in your hallway.
Advice and Tips on Lighting a Narrow Hallway Space
Incorporating modern ceiling lights for hallway spaces that aren’t very wide can feel like a challenge; you want to ensure the hallway is well-lit, but want to avoid having lights jutting out or hanging down and getting in your way while walking.
For those with narrow walls and low ceilings, flush or semi-flush lighting is ideal. If there are windows in or around the hallway, you can lean on those during the day to provide most of the light. Then, you can supplement it for nighttime with fixtures that won’t disrupt the traffic.
A common placement of light in a hallway is a lamp resting on a table. This takes up precious floor space and can actually be difficult to walk through. Trade these out for low-profile wall lamps and strip lighting to save on space and eliminate obstacles.
You can also use certain lighting tricks to visually expand the space. Choosing uplighters will draw the eye up the vertical space and make it seem taller by result. Also, you can choose fixtures with metallic finishes or add in a few strategically placed mirrors to bounce light around naturally.
Common Mistakes When Lighting a Hallway
Before lighting your hallway, there are a few common mistakes you should know about so you don’t end up in the same situations.
Wrong Ceiling Light
You need to choose the best ceiling lights for hallway layouts like your own. For example, hanging pendant lights in hallways with low ceilings can make it look cluttered. Choose appropriately sized and shaped fixtures depending on the appearance of your unique space.
Forgetting Traffic
Since the main purpose of the hallway is to provide a transitional space between two rooms, you must keep the foot traffic in mind. Avoid wall lamp hallway fixtures that stick out too far from the wall, or ceiling lamp hallway lights that hang down to close to the head height.
Clashing Colour Temperatures
Be sure that the colour temperature you choose for your LED hallway lights is within the same range as the colour temperatures in surrounding rooms. This will provide a more seamless transition between rooms without glaring differences.
Hallway Lighting Design Trends
Much like lighting in any other room of the house, hallway design trends shift and change. Below are some of the current trends currently taking off so you can be sure your hallway is future-proofed in style.
LAYERED LIGHTING. Hallways with ambient, task and accent lighting are becoming more important. Have a thoughtful mix of hallway wall lamp fixtures and ceiling lights to give a nice, balanced effect.
STATEMENT LIGHTING. In hallways with enough space, hanging statement pendant lights at either end is a popular trend right now. Oversized pendants or sculptural fixtures are ideal.
NATURAL MATERIALS. Natural materials like bamboo and earthy tones are popular in hallways–especially those that have lots of natural lighting.
SPACE ENHANCEMENT. Choosing wall lights that wash the walls with gentle illumination over a wider spread can move illumination down the hall without the need for several fixtures lining it.
SMART LIGHTING. It is popular right now to have motion sensor lighting that will turn on and off according to the traffic in the area at any given time.
How Bright Does a Hallway Need to Be?
Hallways need to be bright enough to easily navigate, but there is such a thing as over-lighting the space. Getting the lighting right can dictate how seamless the lights are in relation to the rooms on either side of it. It can also ensure safer navigation without bright lights in your eyes.
For hallways, the general rule of thumb is to aim for around 100 to 150 lumens per square metre.