Ask any sample group of homeowners and chances are the vast majority will tell you that their favourite room of the home is the living room. Which of course stands to reason as this is the room of the home where most of the family’s relaxation, entertainment and general enjoyment occurs. As such, it’s hardly surprising that the living room also tends to be the room of the home that gets the most time, thought and attention when it comes to redecorating efforts. But while it’s not uncommon for homeowners to go to relatively extreme lengths when it comes to things like painting, wallpapering, buying new furniture and so on, something that quite often goes overlooked is the importance of lighting.
The way in which designer interior lights can improve the dynamic of any room is quite extraordinary, but you don’t have to necessarily invest in the most expensive and exclusive lighting products on the market to create genuinely wonderful effects. Indeed, breathing new life into your living room and making it the inviting living space of your dreams might be easier than you thought – check out the following tips for a few ideas:
1 – Consider the Room’s Use
First and foremost, you’ll of course need to give thought to what exactly it is you use the living room for mostly. If it’s a case of wall to wall family fun and chaos, you’ll probably have different needs than those who host sophisticated social gatherings on a daily basis. It’s a case of thinking about where people sit, where the action takes place, which areas of the room you’d like to highlight, how brightly you’d like the room to be lit and so on – all of which will help enormously in determining the types of lighting to install in your living room.
2 – Remember the Dimmers
An absolute must for any living room and even more important in rooms with central general lighting, dimmer switches have the potential to well and truly transform pretty much any room of the home. Armed with even the simplest of lights and most effective of bulbs, dimmer switches allow you to immediately transform a bright and active party-focused living room into a cosy, romantic and inviting relaxation haven. Dimmer switches cost next to nothing and are a breeze to install – absolutely essential for any living room.
3 – Think in Zones
Chances are you use your living room for more than one thing and the room itself serves more than one purpose. As such, it’s never a bad idea to think about lighting by way of zones – as in splitting the room into separate areas and thinking of each area’s lighting needs individually. If for example you use a desk in the corner from time to time, task lighting will serve a brilliantly practical purpose while at the same time adding a decorative touch. And the same also goes for a corner-positioned dining table which will benefit no end of its own dedicated lighting source.
4 – Accent Lighting
Never overlook the power of strategic lighting when it comes to highlighting anything and everything in the room of particular importance or interest to you. It could be that prized painting on the wall, perhaps the decorative accessory on the side or something much larger like a primary piece of furniture – any and all of these things could be lit up in a manner that draws attention to them and creates a primary point of focus for the room.
5 – Perfect Proportions
Be careful when it comes to the actual size of the lighting fixtures and accessories you choose for your living room as it’s important to maintain a sense of proportion. Or in other words, just as it’s not necessarily the best idea to install a gigantic chandelier in the tiniest of living rooms, chances are you won’t be won over by the effect of a microscopic pendant light used to illuminate an enormous living space.
6 – Continuity
Last but not least, it’s not exactly a tip confined only to the living room but it’s nonetheless incredible just how big of a difference it can make to the home’s décor in general to use similar lighting fixtures in a variety of rooms. It’s a case of building a sense of continuity by continuing the theme of the living room into the adjoining rooms and beyond. If this is something you intend to do, you’ll need to factor it into your decision-making process early on as there are, for fairly obvious reasons, certain types of lighting you might get away with in the living room but not elsewhere.