Room-by-Room Guide to Home Lighting Ideas and Tips

If you get your lighting right your lighting design, and your whole room, will really sparkle.

So definitely check out these lighting ideas and tips, and you can't go wrong. For general lighting tips and home lighting ideas, if you haven't already done so, check out the other lighting pages - go to the main home interior lighting page, and follow the links through.

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Room-by-Room Guide to Lighting Tips

• Living Room Lighting Tips



• You spend so much time in here, and it's where you will invite your visitors in to - so it is doubly important to get the lighting design right.


• Think about all the different tasks that might happen in your living room. Plan your home lighting ideas and design so that all can have their own lighting.


• Think of task lighting - lamps are very useful here - particularly as they can easily be unplugged and moved from place to place.


• Do you want to highlight a feature in your room? or a special picture? - think about directional, or accent, lighting.


• Make sure you can dim the lights. Or plan some other mood lighting, such as lamps, or fairy lights. You don't want to miss out on enjoying relaxed and cosy evenings in.
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• Dining Room Lighting Tips



• The main activity to consider, when planning your home lighting ideas in your dining room, is eating and entertaining - the table will be the focus of attention.


• Consider a rise-and-fall pendant light over the dining room table. Bring it down to a minimum of 55-60cm (22-24") above the table - to make sure people can still see each other across the table. (Top of my wishlist for my own home lighting ideas - for my own kitchen table).


• If you have a particularly long dining room table - perhaps 2 or 3 separate lights would illuminate the space better?


• Consider using candles, lamps, or other mood lighting, on the table, or in the background, for use as the evening progresses, and the mood gets mellow
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• Study Lighting Tips



• In a study, you should make sure you have a good light for working.


• Make sure the source of light is in front of you - you may cast a shadow over your own work, if you position it behind you.


• An adjustable desk lamp is a very good home lighting idea for your study or work area - angle it so that it illuminates your work space, and doesn't glare in your eyes.


• Make sure that natural light from a window, or light from a ceiling light fixture, does not cause glare, or reflections, on your computer screen.


• I find it essential to have the lighting level behind the computer screen very similar to the screen itself - or it really makes my eyes and my head hurt - ouch - not nice!
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• Kitchen Lighting Tips



• Good kitchen lighting design is vital. There are so many different activities going on in the kitchen, and you need bright light in so many different places.


• Your kitchen lighting design can be quite tricky - so it is definitely worth spending a while thinking about, and planning, your home lighting ideas for the kitchen.


• I really think a good bright light in the kitchen is essential - you really want to see what you are doing, when there are sharp knives around.


• Concealed halogen strip lights, under kitchen wall units, let you see what you are doing on work surfaces. You won't cast your own shadow onto your task - as can happen if you rely solely on ceiling lights.


• Also consider using directionable spotlights - either singly, or on tracks - or recessed ceiling spotlights. You can then direct each spotlight onto a task area - eg washing up, chopping vegetables, cooking area.


• Also consider using a rise-and-fall pendant light, as in a dining room, in your kitchen lighting design, as an added home lighting idea, if you also use your kitchen to eat.
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• Bathroom Lighting Tips



• Number one rule for modern bathroom lighting design - always consider safety first - water and electricity don't mix!


• But don't worry - these days, bathroom lighting fixtures are very user friendly, with modern and practical home lighting ideas and lighting design.


• Make sure you buy bathroom lighting fixtures designed for the purpose. They may cost slightly more - but it is not worth skimping when the safety of you and your family may be at risk.


• Bathroom lighting fixtures should always be safely enclosed, if they might get wet.


• There are different zones in your bathroom which need different standards of light safety.


• Those nearest wet areas, such as a shower, bath, or basin, must have the highest level of protection against water. Bathroom lighting fixtures which are fitted further from sources of water, have slightly lower levels of water protection.


• Modern bathroom lighting fixtures usually show clearly which areas of the bathroom they are suitable for.


• The switch for your bathroom lighting fixtures should always be outside the bathroom - or on a pull cord, for safety.


• If you are in any doubt at all over the safety issues of bathroom lighting, ask a member of the store-staff, or a professional electrician, to confirm your bathroom lighting design and chosen lighting fixtures are safe.


• Consider using recessed ceiling spotlights in your bathroom lighting design - for unobtrusive lighting, which can illuminate the whole room.


• Some spotlights are directionable - to point over a basin where you might want to shave, or apply make-up.


• Or use a simple, enclosed, pull light above a mirror, for practical and effective bathroom vanity lighting.


• Mirrors and glossy surfaces, like baths, basins and tiles, reflect the light well around bathrooms - keeping it nice and bright. So if you want to make sure your bathroom looks bright and spacious, a good home lighting idea is to keep to light colors for these fixtures.


• Candles, including floating candles, can be used to create relaxed mood lighting, for having a long and leisurely bath.


• Or fit a dimmer switch to your bathroom lighting design - outside the bathroom, of course
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• Bedroom Lighting Tips



• You will most likely spend the most time in your bedroom during the hours of darkness.


• Think about what you will be doing in your bedroom - no, not that! ....


• Your bedroom lighting design should ensure your lighting fixtures are bright enough to see well when getting dressed on dark winter mornings.


• Your bedroom lighting should also be able to be subtle and romantic, when it needs to be.


• You will almost certainly want (or need) a bedside lamp - or one either side of the bed in the case of a double or king size bed. Will this be enough to read by?


• Consider lighting on the wall, in your bedroom lighting design - or concealed in a headboard above the bed.


• If you have a double or king size bed, get 2 lights, that can be controlled independently. Then, one of you can be awake, while the other sleeps. Dimmer switches may also be a good idea for this reason.


• Although you will need a light that's bright enough to do stuff like getting dressed - try to make sure your bedroom lighting design includes low level lighting.


• It is very important that you are not exposed to bright lights just before sleeping, or if you get up in the night. A low level of lighting gets your brain in sleep mode, and keeps it in sleep mode - while a bright light puts your brain in waking up mode. (It's all to do with the chemical melatonin in your brain.)


• If you have a tendency to suffer with insomnia - like myself - you should really think about this as an important part of your bedroom lighting design. It really does work - I promise you.


• Also, along the same lines - if light from a street lamp outside disturbs your sleep, or stops you getting to sleep, or if the sun wakes you too early on summer mornings - make sure you get blackout blinds, or curtains. I find the blackout blinds in my bedroom a seriously worthwhile purchase, and a great home lighting idea.
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• Nursery Lighting Tips



• For home lighting ideas for a nursery, or young child's room, follow the lighting tips for bedroom lighting design above - particularly the ideas for low level lighting and blackout blinds. It is very important that babies and children get the right amount of sleep - and good quality sleep.


• In addition to these lighting tips, you may want to consider a constant, low level night light in your nursery lighting design. Lots of children are scared of the dark - so a night light will be very comforting for them. I remember, when I was a child, (quite a while ago actually - but, hey, not that long ago!) I had a lovely night light, in ceramic, in the shape of a toadstool with pixies underneath - a lovely comforting orange light shone out through holes in the roof. I could recommend something like that to any parent, or child. (In fact, I am beginning to wish I actually still had it!)


• You needn't go as fancy as that with a night light if you don't want to - or if you are worried about children fiddling with electrical items while alone in their room. There are lots of simple modern night lights, which just plug into a socket. They are easy to use and unobtrusive in design. They can easily be moved from room to room, or taken away with your child on holiday, or visiting the relatives.


• For nursery lighting design for babies and young children, also consider the lighting you will require in the middle of the night - if you go into the room when your child is crying, or needs feeding.


• The light will need to be easily accessible for you - especially if you are half asleep and groping around in the dark.


• The light should be bright enough to see by, but not too bright so that you and your child are completely woken up, and can't get back to sleep. (That's why it is not a good idea to just rely on the main ceiling light for this.)
• A simple table lamp, or even a standard lamp, is a good idea. Make sure it is positioned so it can be operated easily by you - but not pulled over or fiddled with by your child. Maybe it can be placed so that it can also be used by you and your child for reading bedtime stories - and gently being soothed to sleep.

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