words Alana Webb
When it comes to making a home look the part, lighting plays a crucial role. It’s helpful to think of interior lighting as coming in three different categories, according to the purpose it serves. There’s task lighting, which might be shone on a particular area to make it easier to do some task or other. There’s accent lighting, which is used to add a visual flourish or a focal point. Then there’s ambient lighting, which is there to fill the space and allow the room to be seen at night-time.
Through the right ambient lighting, you can make your living area as warm and inviting as possible. But what does the right ambient lighting really look like? Let’s take a look.
Understanding Ambient Lighting
To begin with, it’s worth thinking about what ambient lighting does. It’s there to fill the space, which in practice means favouring softer lights over harsher ones. By looking for many different sources of dim light, you can fill up the space evenly, avoid ugly shadows in the corners, and, where necessary, bring things up with the help of task and accent lighting.
Layering with Task and Accent Lighting
By working your way up in layers, you can add a sense of depth to the space. If one of your lighting sources is excessively bright, then you might find this difficult, especially during the evening when you might want to wind down and relax.
Think about where you’ll be installing the task and accent lights, and then arrange your ambient lighting to fill the space. Don’t be afraid to experiment, and give yourself the freedom to make changes later. Once you’ve settled on a layout, you can make a light fixture permanent by hard-wiring it in and fixing it to the wall.
Incorporating Natural Materials and Sustainable Designs
Increasingly, homeowners are choosing to incorporate natural materials into their interior designs. This helps to make the home more sustainable, in many cases – but the more obvious advantages are aesthetic. Exposed timber and natural stone can both look the part, especially if they’re tastefully installed into a home that’s well-suited to them.
As well as thinking about the surrounding room, you might also think about installing lights directly into your furniture. In addition to pendant lights and lampshades, illuminated cabinets offer a seamless way to blend practicality with aesthetic appeal, enhancing both storage solutions and ambient lighting.
Embracing Smart Lighting Technology
Of course, the major advantages of the modern smart bulb is that you can tailor your lighting schedule to fit your needs. If you’d like the lighting in your lounge to be warmer, and dimmer, in the evenings, then making it happen is often a matter of setting up a schedule – and then forgetting it. On the other hand, you can crank up the brightness when you need to be able to see what you’re doing – which is great for early-morning yoga sessions.
