You have probably worked long and hard on designing your living room. The colour of the couch perfectly positioned vases and an ornamented fireplace are just some of the detail that took you hours to arrange. However, there is one element of the living room’s décor that can cast a shadow over the entire space, quite literally.
The lighting levels need to be adjustable in order to accommodate different activities that take place inside the living room. After all, this is the social hotspot of the entire house/apartment so it is essential that several lighting levels are at your disposal, like ambient light.
Softening the edges
If your living room faces the north side of the house, then creating a glow around the edges of the room should be a top interior design priority. The glow should meet two general guidelines: it should be warm and it should be even in intensity, running the entire length of the wall. That’s why lights should be mounted onto the wall, rather than on the ceiling.
From here, they will be able to send the light back into the room, basically “cooperating” with the fading natural light or moonlight coming from the outside. As the end result, the room will not only appear to be brighter (and bigger, which is ideal for small apartments) but you’ll get a level of depth that overhead lights could never provide.
A touch of the Orient
If you’ve dreamed of living in a Bedouin tent fit for a chieftain, you can turn this dream a reality just by playing with the lights. The first thing you’ll need to get are lanterns that differ both in size and the patterns printed on them.
Once you place an ottoman next to the coffee table and spread out a couple of silk cushions on the floor, you’ll get the atmosphere of the Orient you have been aspiring to. Modern lanterns come with LED lights inside that are elongated and made to look like candles. Of course, you can always go with the real wax or paraffin candles but be aware that they pose a fire risk.
Controlling the lighting levels during the day
All the lighting forms we have been discussing so far relate to the period after dark. However, it is equally important to regulate lighting levels during days with plenty of sunlight, as too much sunlight can prove to be a nuisance.
What you need are plantation shutters like the ones Suncoast Shade Sails make. The slates of the shutters can regulate the amount of light that enters the living room. In this aspect, plantation shutters are far more efficient than blinds and curtain that let light in near the frame of the window.
Facilitating a home office
If you have ever noticed a difference in the quality of light at your office and back home, that’s because there does exist a disparity. While you are arranging your note or just doing the taxes, you need a stronger source of light in the form of a desktop lamp.
Such functional lighting is an integral part of any home office so you should place a lamp inside the part of your house reserved for the office. The best solution is a wall-mounted lamp that you can extend using just one hand. Once you are done reading or writing, just return the lamp to the initial position to save on space.
A well-lit gallery wall
We have been mentioning lamps so much that one might forget that they are art pieces of their own, not just a source of lighting. In fact, lamps can be couple with the art hanging from the walls to form the ultimate luminescent gallery wall. You can line the frames of pictures with inexpensive LED strips or turn the lights themselves into art pieces by covering them with multicoloured glass. Modern LED light bulbs that change colours are nothing compared to these wacky, one-of-a-kind gallery wall pieces.
In the end, any of the 5 ideas listed here can be used to illuminate the amount and the type of lighting inside your living room. Remember that light is not merely a switch and light bulb but an integral part of interior décor of the most important room in the house/apartment. By toying with lighting just a little bit, you can create wonders in terms of interior décor solutions.
Photo by Vecislavas Popa from Pexels
About the Author
Patrick Adams is a freelance writer and rock-blues fan. When he is not writing about home improvement, he loves to play chess, watch basketball, and play his guitar. More than anything, he loves to spend his time in his garage, repairing appliances and creating stuff from wood.
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