Lighting is more than just something that helps you find your way around the house on those cold, dark nights in Burlington and Hamilton. At least it should be. Lighting is one of the major reasons one interior decoration scheme succeeds beautifully while another one never seems to get off the ground. Before you finalize any decoration plans you need to be sure your lighting elements are fully integrated and that you’re taking maximum advantage of the lighting possibilities presented by the decor you’ve chosen.
Great Home Interior Design Never Leaves Lighting to Chance
Lighting should be included in the home interior design plans right from the start of the process because lighting will either set the tone for the room or, if done poorly, destroy the tone you’re trying to establish. Basic forms of lighting include downlights, spotlights, chandeliers, accent lights, table lamps, floor lamps, track lighting and more. Here are some useful tips about how to put lighting to work in your home interior design.
- Use backlighting and uplighting: Placing a light at the base of an accent wall can create a striking focal point. Placing a light behind a decorative panel creates a beautiful halo effect. And placing one behind a wall-mounted plasma TV creates a theatre-like atmosphere.
- Make dimmers part of your lighting scheme: The humble dimmer can add immense flexibility to your lighting scheme. Whether used with track lights, floor lamps, accent lights, spots or chandeliers dimmers allow you to adjust the mood on the fly.
- Use light to direct attention: Lighting is nothing if not a powerful way to direct people’s attention and control their experience of space. Put that power to work for you. Isolate your prized Warhol silkscreen with an overhead spot and make it the focal point of the room.
- Use track lighting: Track lighting is one of those things that seemed like a trend when it first gained widespread acceptance way back in the 70s. Funny thing though, after 40+ years that trend is still going strong. Track lighting gives you the ability to redirect light wherever and whenever you want with minimal fuss.
- Make use of LEDs: Light emitting diodes or LEDs represent a true revolution in lighting technology. Not only do LED bulbs produce a beautiful clean light but they generate no heat, use only a tiny fraction of the energy of incandescent bulbs and can last for 20 years or more. They’re also dimmable and available in whatever colour light you need.
- Remember less is often more: Light is a tool the interior decorator uses to control space, create interest, highlight treasures and set the mood. Simply flooding every room with light is no way to complement a home interior design. You’ll want to be surgical with your lighting choices bringing just the right type of light to bear on various components of the decoration scheme.
- Don’t forget the table lamps: Table lamps are a timeless addition to any living area. Whether book ending the sofa or bed or providing an accent light on the desk, in the bathroom or on the kitchen counter, table lamps are an indispensable component of any successful home interior design.
Like colour light serves multiple functions. Also like colour, it can be put to dazzling use in the hands of an expert interior decorator like Isabelle Tremblay of Decor Isabelle. Isabelle has more than 20 years’ experience helping home owners in Burlington, Hamilton and throughout the GTA bring their interiors to life. Let her show you the many ways light can transform an ordinary room into an evocative, brilliant living space.
