10
Steps to Help Plan your Lighting Scheme
I’m
currently in the process of lighting my living room. I dream of some day having
my very own house with my very own lounge that I can repaint, remodel and
revamp exactly as I want but until that time I’m happy enough shopping for
floor and table lights; not having to worry about wiring in spot lights or sky
lights. If I were however to go the whole hog, this is how I’d go about it;
1
Research.
This,
to me at least, is the fun part. As much as I like to think I’m creative I’m
not a patch on these talented individuals you find online and featured in
interiors magazine. And although I have (what I think are) some great ideas, in
reality I can’t always work out how to get to the finished result. This gives
me a great excuse to spend hours on end scouring Pinterest and delving through
tons home magazines. If you haven't researched lighting before, give it a try, it's fascinating. If you have the time you could even create a
mood board just for lighting arrangements alone.
Although it doesn’t
relate to the home you can see the benefit of collating great ideas.
2 Draw
it out.
Even
in my case, where I don’t have to worry about electrical wiring and where to
place sockets, I’ve found it enormously beneficial to draw out initial sketches followed by a “final” plan showing the intended light sources. I
flirted with the idea of posting them here but honestly I’d be embarrassed to reveal
just how badly I draw. So let that encourage you – this not need be a
time-consuming exercise or even a detailed one, just a very brief diagram using
shapes and annotations if it helps. No
matter how crude a sketch it might be, I’ve found that it’s really helped me to
consider my research and organise my thoughts. Plus, it’s a starting point that
I can talk through with C and that we can then develop together. If you’re
lucky enough not to be renting or to have the permission of your landlord to
completely renovate the room then I’d bear in mind that your plan isn’t set in
stone. You don’t necessarily have to stick to it rigidly. It’s likely that things
will change, particularly if you haven’t yet completed the décor.
3 Look
at the Purpose of the Room.
This
might sound obvious but spend a little time thinking about the room, its
purpose and its characteristics. The whole reason we’re currently redesigning
our lighting scheme is because we’ve opted for a dark colour scheme. Our
furniture is dark and all accessories are either chocolate brown or forest
green. We chose these colours because, to us, they feel rich and homely but a
small room coupled with only one window means that we have to think carefully
about our lighting in order to pull off the whole effect. Not enough light and
the room will look dark and feel flat. Too much light and we risk the greens
looking overtly bright and out of place (or at least that’s how it appeared to
us when we flooded it with too much light whilst experimenting). In addition, I need to bear in mind that I
like to lie on the couch to read so I need to ensure that’s there enough light
suitably located for me to see clearly in the evenings which leads me to my
next point…
4
Consider the Location of your Task Lighting.
As
I’ve just explained, I like to read on the sofa. Not only this but I always
read in the same place (does everyone have their “side of the sofa” or is it
just me being a little OCD?) It would be sensible then to either have a lamp or
a floor light next to my seat provided it’s not too bright or distracting.
Planning your task lighting is very subjective – people do different tasks in
different rooms but there are some general consistencies in most homes, for
instance, having a good light source above the areas you prepare food in the
kitchen or illuminating a favorite picture or painting hanging in the hall.
Notice the spotlights above the sink and
main table prep areas.
5 Plan
the Mood you want to Create.
Here’s
where we combine the technical with the touchy feely. First, consider what mood
you want the room to reflect (the likelihood is you’ve already established this
in steps 1 and 2). I’m sure you’re familiar with the term “mood lighting,” well, this is where you/I/we learn how to achieve it. If you don’t know your tungsten
from your florescent (I certainly don’t!) then I suggest you take a quick peek
at either this or this for a lesson in colour temperature.
6 Think
about Light Patterns, Shadows and Shapes.
This
may sound a little pedantic but if you pre-consider the shapes that your
lighting is going to give, you’ll avoid unsightly effects like this:
This is all C's fault. Let me explain:-
We
were given this handy little floor light not so long ago and he has spent
pretty much every night since twiddling the head around trying to dim it down.
It’s a wonder the head hasn’t fallen right off. He’s troubled by brightness,
which is another reason we’ve had to redesign the lighting.
When it comes to
channeling the light, there’s a lot to think about – even (and especially) down
to the lampshades (more on this later). These can act to soften and spread or
channel and direct the light. If you’re feeling really clever (and a little
frivolous with the old electricity bills) you can get fancy and create some
really funky effects particularly by crisscrossing spot lights like so…
7 Consult
an Electrician.
Here’s
another obvious point, but one that ought to be mentioned, particularly if
you’re re-doing the room completely. Unless you already happen to be an expert,
bring in an electrician to look over your plans before you get too ambitious.
This, of course, is especially applicable to the bathroom. You’d probably
rather know sooner than later that those seven hanging lamps that you wanted to
place over the bath are going to be a considerable fire hazard. Ok, so you probably
wouldn’t do anything that ridiculous (although that is exactly the kind of
totally impractical idea that I’m well known for) but you can see my point. He/she
can also help you pinpoint the best place to fix the sockets and even advise
you on the possibility of hiding them in a panel. Play your cards right and
you’ll have built up a good relationship with an excellent electrician that you
can pester time and time again because, as I’ve learnt in the past, the
importance of befriending a really knowledgeable electrician and (in fact
plumber) is invaluable.
8 Evaluate the Room in Relation to the Others.
Whilst
not something that you need spend an exorbitant amount of time thinking about
do remember to respect the lighting relationships between one room and the
next. I read somewhere recently that going from one reasonably lit room into a
much darker one can be really quite bad for your eyes and equally walking into
a much brighter room from a very low lit one ‘aint no treat for the eyes
either. If your first room is lit only by lamps and your adjoining room has one
main “big light” consider how you can blend them together better.
9
Investigate LEDs.
A
relatively new (to me at least) trend is the use of LEDs. I’m familiar with
them being used for what I would call “novelty” lighting or sometimes to
decorate the garden at night but until a friend introduced them to me I’d
not really heard of LED bulbs in the home. He tells me that they’re far more
cost effective and give out a very good, strong source of light that can come
in a variety of colours. To me they seem very, very bright but I suppose you
can get different strengths. I’ll be honest, I’m not convinced they give a
great ambience but I guess it depends what sort of effect you’re after.
10 Shop
Around for Lighting Accessories.
Finally,
once you’ve chosen and positioned your lights it’s time to reward yourself with
some retail therapy (hooray!). I suspect many of the lights and lamps you’ve
bought will already have come with cute lampshades and funky stands – it’s
probably part of the reason you bought them – but who doesn’t love a good
excuse to go shopping? There’s a whole world of gorgeous lighting accessories
out there and you needn’t spend a fortune buying new stuff when a brand new lampshade
can do wonders to jazz up an old lamp you’ve had for years. And don’t forget
there’s always the opportunity to work your magic refinishing rather than
buying brand new as demonstrated wonderfully here by Centsational Girl.
What
are your top lighting tips?
Amy x
