Hello! And welcome to my blog about lighting design. This blog is designed to empower homeowners to confidently make the best lighting selections for their homes. We’ll start with some lighting basics, address the various questions I’ve been asked over my years in the lighting industry, provide information about current technologies, and answer your individual questions. Let’s get started with an overview to getting you thinking!
When I say good lighting is essential in a home, I’m not talking about having a fancy chandelier or the latest LED system, although those can indeed add to the appeal. I’m talking about the undeniable impact lighting has on our lives. It affects everything from our mood to our ability to perform tasks efficiently. Good lighting goes beyond aesthetics; it also improves quality of life. You’ll find that proper illumination can make an enormous difference in comfort, functionality, and overall home enjoyment.
For instance, have you ever noticed how differently you feel in a warmly lit room compared to one with cooler, brighter lighting? That’s because light powerfully influences our psychological and physiological states. Cooler, brighter light can elevate your spirits, enhance productivity, and even affect your health, while warmer, muted light can soothe and relax. This isn’t just about your vision, it’s also about how light makes you feel.
From brightening dark corners to accentuating your home’s architectural features, lighting serves as a silent enhancer of beauty and form. While we’re meticulously picking out fabrics and furniture, it’s important to remember that different light sources can enhance or detract from how those fabrics and furniture pieces appear to the human eye.
The strategic use of light not only showcases your home at its best but can also promote energy efficiency and sustainability. With the increasing emphasis on green living, choosing the right lighting fixtures and bulbs could substantially reduce your carbon footprint. Technology brings us numerous options that align with our eco-conscious goals. But, not all energy-efficient lighting is made the same, and it’s not always the right choice for every application. In a later article we’ll explore efficient lighting, it’s value and it’s limits, and how to make the right choices for your home.
As we look at the functional aspects of lighting, we’ll discuss how our daily routines shape our lighting needs. Different light sources are critical for varying activities, whether it’s cooking in the kitchen, reading in the living room, or completing a workout in your home gym. The understanding of lighting’s multifunctional role lays the groundwork for good lighting decisions, whether it’s updating your kitchen lights or a replacing bulb in a favorite lamp. And that brings us to the next stop on our enlightening journey, where we’ll dive into the versatile functions of light in our homes.
Exploring the Functions of Light
Think of light as the conductor of your home’s ambiance. It’s not just about illumination but also about the role it plays in the functionality and aesthetic of your space. Let’s take a closer look at the three primary types of lighting: ambient, task, and accent.
Ambient lighting, often known as general lighting, bathes a room in a glow that ensures safe and easy mobility. It’s generally the fixture that comes on when the switch at the entrance to the room is flipped, creating an even wash of light. It can be a ceiling fixture, wall sconce , indirect lighting that bounces off of a wall or ceiling, or even lamps that are plugged into a switched plug.
Task lighting, on the other hand, focuses on specific areas to support activities like reading or cooking. They tend to be a directional light pointing at the area where work will happen. Undercabinet lights in the kitchen, desk lights pointing where you’ll be writing, or a table lamp directed at your reading material, are all great examples of task lights.
Accent lighting is all about style, adding drama and highlighting treasured artwork or architectural elements through directed light. Once you’ve bathed your room in light for mobility within the space, and added task lighting for the specific functions you want to perform, the accent lighting really gives your space the character that is uniquely yours.
Not to be overlooked, the interplay between natural and artificial light also deserves attention. The natural light and how it changes as it moves through the day is an important consideration for how much and what type of artificial light you’ll need to add. The direction your windows face at different times of the day will affect everything from how your color selections appear, to the brightness and color of the artificial light appropriate to the uses of the room. While natural light enhances moods and energy efficiency, not all spaces can maximize its benefits. That’s where ingenious artificial lighting design steps in, mimicking the dynamics of daylight to maintain the balance.
Utilizing all three types, with consideration for daylight, is called layering. By layering the lighting from various sources not only provides flexibility in your space for all of the ways you may want or need to use it, it also adds a depth to the design of your space as the different sources create brighter spots and shadows, making the room far more interesting and dynamic. After all, you’ve gone to the effort of selecting all of the other pieces that went into the room to create a feel that represents you, taking the same amount of time and care with your lighting selections ensures the realization of a successfully executed design.
Other Ways Lighting Creates Mood and Atmosphere
Determining the causes for how and why your lighting is negatively affecting how you feel is a critical step in finding the right solutions. Feelings of eye strain, sadness, lack of motivation, frustration or fear, often can be improved or even solved through the right lighting.
Color temperature is an aspect of light that significantly influences mood. This refers to how ‘warm’ or ‘cool’ the light appears, and it can make all the difference in transforming the ambiance of a room. Warm lights tend to create a cozy, intimate setting, while cooler lights can invoke a more alert and refreshing atmosphere. These subtle cues play into our subconscious and set the stage for our experiences within a space.
Lighting also impacts mental health. Research indicates that areas with adequate illumination instill a sense of well-being and can significantly reduce anxiety and fear, especially in the evening hours. Choose something that resonates with you, whether it’s the warmth of a soft glow lamp for your reading nook or the vibrant luminance in a play area that keeps the spirits high. In the northern states of North America, where I live, Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) is a real condition that severely affects peoples moods in the dark, grey and gloomy days of winter. Fortunately for us, they make a lamp for that! That light imitates the mid-day blue sky light, waking us up and making us more alert. Exactly opposite that, if you have that same light color on in the middle of the night, your circadian rhythm is disrupted affecting your body’s ability to rest.
Setting a mood is more than just choosing the right bulbs. Dimming systems and lighting controls enable adaptable ambiance. They give you the flexibility to adjust the lighting to suit different scenarios – whether that’s a bright, energizing light for your morning routine or a soft, dimmed glow for a relaxing evening. Have you ever noticed a restaurant dim their lights around dinnertime? They’re setting a cozy, intimate atmosphere for a relaxing dining experience.
In my opinion, the right lighting scheme can transform not just rooms, but moods, behaviors, and even well-being. And while setting the scene is all about your needs for your space, don’t forget that light also plays a fundamental role in ensuring safety, which is what we’re going to talk about next.
Lighting’s Role in Security and Safety
It may seem obvious that lighting plays a critical role in ensuring both safety and comfort in your home. Like with anything, there’s are right ways and wrong ways to approach it. Appropriate lighting casts away the shadows that could hide potential hazards. Think about how many times you’ve stubbed a toe because you couldn’t see a chair or table in the dark? Stairwells need good lighting so you don’t miss a step and fall. Strategic lighting placement illuminates walkways, stairs, and uneven surfaces to keep everyone moving safely.
Security is also about light. The right exterior lighting serves as a deterrent to intruders by eliminating dark corners where they might lurk. But this isn’t oppressive floodlighting that creates a fortress vibe; it’s smart lighting that balances security and curb appeal. Additionally, too bright of light with a harsh “cut off’ can create even deeper shadows where the light doesn’t reach due to how the human eye perceives the contrasts between light and dark.
Also with exterior lighting, it’s important to consider the environment, the creatures in the natural world and how artificial light affects them. Dark Sky lighting casts the light downward where we really need it, and keeps the light from shining upwards and interfering with viewing the night sky.
Recent research has shown the cool/bluish hued lights, which are most similar to the middle of the day natural light and makes us feel bright and alert, used at nighttime upsets all creature’s circadian rhythms, not just human’s. Those natural rhythms will be another future topic we dive into.
Smart lighting systems allow for programming lights that adjust according to time, motion, or even the natural light available, adding an extra layer of security and energy efficiency. Imagine never having to walk into a dark home again, with lights that greet you upon arrival. That’s one strategy I like to leverage for peace of mind and ambient comfort.
I hope this article has shed some light (pun intended!) on the importance of good lighting in your home. We’ve briefly touched on a handful of considerations for creating a good lighting plan, and while it may seem overwhelming, my future articles will dive deep into each of these considerations to provide actionable solutions, hopefully a great deal of inspiration, and the confidence to embark on a pro-level lighting plan for your home. Stick with me to take a (dare I say) magical journey into the world of lighting!