Living Room

The living room of a home is a popular gathering spot. Whether you are entertaining guests or hosting a family movie night, living room lighting can make or break the atmosphere.

Living room light fixtures are available in many unique shapes, styles and finishes, making it possible to incorporate lounge lighting for any decor scheme.

Living room lighting ranges from wall lights to ceiling lights to living room lamps on the floor, giving you many ways to layer the lighting and make the most of this space in the home.

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How to Start Planning a Living Room Lighting Scheme

As you begin exploring different modern lighting trends to incorporate into your home, you will also need to plan the way in which you will be incorporating them. Planning is an important step of the process to ensure that your living room light fittings are placed precisely where they need to be to serve their intended purpose well.

The first thing you will need to do is consider the layout of the living room itself. It is recommended that you take measurements of the room, since this will come into play when choosing the size of the modern light fixtures you will choose for the room.

Determine the placement of the furniture and how the light will affect the seating areas. You should also determine whether the room will need task or accent lighting and where. 

Once you have designed a general layout, you can start thinking about the lights themselves. There are a variety of wall and ceiling lights for living room spaces that you can include in the room to suit your needs. 

From floor lamps to hanging ceiling lights to LED picture lighting, you can mix and match the various types to layer your lights and create a balanced effect. It may be beneficial to create a rough sketch of your living room including the dimensions, and mark down where you want to install the lights. This will give you a visual idea of the end result so that you can tweak the options before making any commitments.

Important Things to Consider with Living Room Lighting

Living room lighting is about much more than just providing illumination. The right lighting scheme can create beautiful mood lighting for relaxation. It can also serve to make the space more welcoming and comfortable for guests. 

This means that ceiling light fixtures aren’t the only ones you should be considering when shopping for living room lights. Wall lights for living room spaces are just as important, especially if you intend to layer the lights. Take note of things like material, shape and finish, and choose the light fixtures that fit with your existing colour scheme and decor style for the best results.

You should also consider the different lighting zones that your room may need to have. This includes seating areas, desks and workspaces. Plan the lighting around these areas according to the tasks you intend to complete there.

The specific elements of the lights are also crucial and cannot be overlooked. This refers to the bulbs themselves. LED bulbs come in many brightness levels and colour temperatures, letting you get specific with the type of light you use in the room. 

The amount of light is also an important factor to take into account. You may need different brightnesses for different tasks, such as reading or watching a movie. You may also want to consider adding dimmer switches so you can control the brightness of the room as the day wears on. This will give the space a more dynamic appearance throughout the day and night. 

Speaking of the daylight cycle, you should also take note of how natural light moves throughout the room during the day. You may not need to add any additional lights for daytime and may instead wish to focus only on mood lighting at night. 

Perhaps the most important element of living room lighting design comes when you combine lounge ceiling lights, task lighting or accent lighting in the form of wall lamps for living room spaces. Multiple sources of light create a layered lighting scheme, which can make the room more visually appealing. 

Why You Need to Layer Lighting in a Living Room

As mentioned, layering the lighting creates a balanced look and feel. Instead of illumination coming from only one light source, it shines from many. The result is a smooth transition between beams of light and little to no shadows. 

A layered lighting scheme consists of three main elements: ambient, accent and task lighting: 

 

AMBIENT LIGHTING – Ambient light refers to the general, overall illumination provided in a room. Most often, this comes in the form of living room overhead lighting, such as surface mounted lights or living room pendant lights. 

 

ACCENT LIGHTING – Accent light is responsible for setting the mood in a room. They are also used to draw attention to certain elements that you want to stand out. Accent lighting can be accomplished easily through different types of wall lights and floor lamps. 

 

TASK LIGHTING – As the name suggests, task lighting provides focused illumination by which you can perform various tasks, including reading a book, working on your laptop, knitting or doing homework. You will usually see these in the form of wall lights and table lamps in a living room.

 

When you only have one or the other, you are not getting the full wash of light that the space deserves. This can cause unsightly shadows or make it hard to see what you’re doing while relaxing at home. 

Each element of layered lighting can also be set to different controls so that you can turn them on individually. This is a good idea for those who might want dim, indirect accent lighting in the evening instead of direct overhead light, for example.

What is The Best LED Colour Temperature For a Lounge Room?

Colour temperature, also referred to as colour correlated temperature (CCT), is a way to discuss a light and how warm or cool it is. Colour temperature is measured in units Kelvin and exists on a spectrum. 

The colour temperature spectrum ranges from 1,000k to 10,000k. Toward the lower end of the spectrum, you’ll find warmer lights. As you near the top of the spectrum, you’ll encounter cooler lights. 

Cool and warm lights both have their places in different locations. When it comes to domestic interiors, warm lights tend to be preferred. Warmer illumination is more inviting and welcoming and creates a more hospitable and relaxing atmosphere. 

It is recommended that you choose warm white lights between 3,000k and 3,300k for the best results. This ensures enough brightness to make it easy to see and warmth to still be easy on the eyes.

How To Use Picture Lighting in a Living Room

Picture lighting can be used to draw attention to artwork to properly display it. If you don’t have enough natural light to show the details of the pieces, picture lights can make up for that. 

When choosing a picture light, be sure to choose one with a good colour rendering index or CRI. High CRI ratings provide more accurate looks at the art without distorting its colours. It is recommended that you choose LED bulbs with a CRI of 80 or higher for the best results. 

Depending on their style, picture lights can be hung above or beside an art piece, close to or far away from the work. In order to prevent glare or shadows, you will need to be sure the light is positioned at the correct location for each piece of art. Most commonly, light over the top of the art piece will provide you with the results you are seeking.

Finally, as a general rule, landscape-oriented art should have picture lights that are one-half to one-third of the size of the art itself, leaving out the frame. For portrait orientation, choose picture lights that are around half of the size of the image without the frame.

Modern lamps for living room spaces are as varied and unique as lighting for any other room in the house. There is a wide variety of light styles that you can choose from when designing your living room lighting scheme depending on your preferences: 

  • CHANDELIERS – If you want to go for elegance and opulence, chandeliers are an excellent choice. Glass and crystal create a sophisticated look and an interesting focal point in a room.
  • OTHER HANGING LIGHTS – Pendant lights are among the most popular types of ceiling lights. Like chandeliers, they can make a statement in the middle of the room. They are especially beneficial in rooms with tall ceilings, as they can take up some of that vertical space.
  • RECESSED LIGHTS – Recessed lights sit inside of the ceiling and are therefore flush with it. They shine light downwards, creating great ambient lighting. Due to their minimalistic look, they are preferred by those who like modern aesthetics.
  • SURFACE MOUNTED LIGHTS – Lights that sit directly on the ceiling itself and shine light straight down are known as surface mounted lights. They’re a particularly good choice for those who enjoy recessed lights but do not have the appropriate ceilings for them. 

LED lights for living room spaces are surging in popularity. With their many benefits, it is easy to see exactly why that is. 

  • LONG LIFESPAN – Where halogen bulbs tend to last only 1,000 hours, LED bulbs are rated to last tens of thousands of hours. This will limit the frequency with which you will need to replace the lights.
  • ENERGY EFFICIENCY – LED lights use 80 percent less energy than halogen bulbs. Since they require less energy to run, they use less electricity overall.
  • ECO-FRIENDLY – Due to the limited use of energy in an LED light, you are putting less of a strain on Earth’s resources. Using them could result in a lowered carbon footprint on your part. LED bulbs also contain no hazardous materials such as mercury, making many such bulbs recyclable.
  • COST-SAVING – A combination of replacing bulbs less frequently and using less electricity means LED bulbs can save you quite a bit of money over the years.
  • VERSATILITY – With their various lumen counts and colour temperatures, you can take control over the way your living room illumination appears, down to the smallest detail.

Here, you’ll find some general guidance on lighting your lounge space. 

DON’T: 

  • hang the lights at an improper height. Avoid this by measuring your ceiling height and choosing lights that appropriately fill that vertical space.
  • forget to layer. By not having the three types of light, including ambient, accent and task, in your living room, you will be doing yourself and your living room a disservice. Not taking full advantage of the room’s potential, you will be cheating yourself out of comfortable, beautiful lighting that also will make the room totally functional no matter what the room is used for.
  • overdo it. Be sure you aren’t flooding the room with bright lights. Calculate an appropriate light level you will need, and choose bulbs with lumen counts that will help you reach that goal.

DO: 

  • remember to plan. If you don’t plan out where you want the lights to go beforehand, you may find yourself struggling when it comes time to install them. You may also end up not liking the placement of them once everything is in and have to start all over.
  • make a statement. Living rooms provide the perfect opportunity for statement lighting. Be bold and choose ambient light fixtures that bring out the personality of the room and draw attention to it.
  • consider dimmer switches. If you want to be in total control over the light level and appearance of the room, dimmer switches can help. They will allow you to create a certain mood and atmosphere day and night by toying with the light levels.

In a similar vein, you should also consider adding multiple controls. This will ensure you only have on the lights you need at any given time to ensure you are at your most comfortable.

Natural light should not be overlooked as a source of illumination while planning your lighting design. Natural light plays an important role in the mood of not just the room but the people in it. Studies have shown that people have steadier moods and better sleep when exposed to more natural light than artificial light. 

It can also make smaller rooms feel larger. Colours and details in the room may stand out more and show their true appearances without being influenced by very warm or very cool lights. This is especially important if you have art on the walls. 

Access to natural light is also better for the environment and your energy bill. You won’t be over-consuming energy or generating anything bad for the environment when natural light illuminates your space.

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