How can light help you transform your room?
Light is important. And not only for photosynthesis.
Let’s start with an observation exercise: look at your room. Look at every shade, that line of dust you forgot about while cleaning, your plants or books. Now try and take another look in the evening, right when the sun is about to set. And then in the morning, at the crack of dawn.
You’ll most probably notice that the mood of the room is changed. Isn’t it funny how everything seems more romantic in the evening and rawer and colder in the morning?
That has a simple explanation: light changes everything.
More often than not, light is not seriously taken into consideration when it comes to interior design. And that's a pity.
In the next paragraphs, we’ll discover different types of lighting and how light can change the mood of an entire home.
Let’s find the light at the end of the tunnel! (pun intended)
There are 3 main different types of lighting:
- Ambient lighting - is the general light and should light all areas of the interior evenly.
- Task lighting - illuminates a specific area to help with a certain task.
- Accent lighting - accentuates an aesthetically pleasing feature.
Now that we know the basic types of lighting (of course there are more), let’s look at what light can do to your room:
1. Give style
We all have different styles and love different aesthetics. And that is amazing.
What’s even more amazing is that light can help you give style to your room no matter what. If you want a cottage-core vibe, light can bring everything together. If you want bright, white light for your minimalistic home, it will just make everything seem perfect. This is the essence of interior design: everything must be perfectly harmonized.
2. Increase a room’s dimensions
With light comes the power of creating illusions. Just like mirrors, creative lights can enlarge a room. If you place corner spotlights pointed upward, it will create a wash of light over the ceiling that expands the corners and makes the ceiling look larger. This is as close you can get to a Harry Potter ceiling.
3. Change the atmosphere
Imagine the white lights from a hospital. Then, the accent lighting from a museum. The golden-hour light on your plants. The white, focused light from your office. These are all places that require distinct types of atmosphere. And that atmosphere is given by light.
4. Highlight statement pieces
As we mentioned, light has the power to highlight statement pieces. Think of art galleries and how they use light to accentuate a certain painting that may be the highlight of the exposition. Just like that, you can use lighting to accent your favorite artwork, object - like an electric fireplace, or a spot in the house. You name it.
5. Change your mood
Both artificial and natural light have an impact on how people perceive spaces. If our office would only have warm and dim lights, chances are you’d fall asleep on your keyboard every day. And no matter how good it sounds; we don’t want that to happen.
Therefore, from the 90s disco ball to the hundreds of different types of lights that we have today, it is safe to say that light is a great asset. Done correctly, lighting can at once change the vibe of a room and can make a space look cozy and warm in a minute.
Now you have the green light to start considering lighting and how it may help you in decorating your perfect space! (pun intended again)