A room’s lighting directly affects the mood it creates, its overall look and the way it functions. The good thing is that adjusting a room’s lighting doesn’t always have to be very expensive. Besides, it’s certainly less expensive than transforming an entire space.
So, if there’s a room in your home that doesn’t feel as well put together as you would like, consider trying to improve the lighting before planning a complete redesign.
Lighten Up the Color of the Walls
That’s right. An adjustment that will make a significant improvement in a room’s lighting has nothing to do with the lighting at all. The effects of color on how everything in a room functions cannot be overlooked. Dark, rich colors can make average-sized rooms feel smaller and more confined. We use “average” here because a 35′ x 35′ room is going to feel large regardless of what you do to it.
Light colors reflect light while dark colors absorb it. This is why the darker color walls really dampen the lighting. To compensate, a room would need more light sources or light sources with brighter wattage bulbs.
Lightening up the wall’s color doesn’t automatically mean a complete redesign. You’d be surprised how colors in the same family that are just a shade or two lighter can still be cohesive with the design elements currently in the room.
For more on color, visit Decorating with Color – Color Theory.
Consider the Surfaces
Another way to improve the current lighting in a room is to incorporate smoother, more reflective surfaces into the space. Repainting the room the same color, but with a slightly glossier finish can provide this effect.
This is useful to keep in mind when your current living situation prohibits you from actually changing the lighting fixtures or when it would be too costly to hard wire a new permanent fixture into the space.
Create Zones
If contracting an electrician to rewire a certain area of your home to install new permanent light fixtures isn’t practical, save some money by creating zones.
Chances are, if you’ve been in your home for more than a week, there are certain ways you use each room and different areas of that room serve different purposes.
Place lamps with lower wattage bulbs and lampshades that soften the light for reading areas or in central areas of the home that will keep you from coming home to a pitch black house. Place lamps or overhead lighting with higher wattage, clear white bulbs for task lighting.
Creating these zones throughout your rooms will ensure your home’s lighting is tailored for your specific lifestyle.
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Follow these tips to improve the lighting throughout the rooms in your home or to change the look and feel of it as the mood strikes you. A lot of the time, major changes aren’t necessary as adjustments to the lighting can completely transform a space.