Let There Be Light!

​Lighting is arguably the most important element in interior design. It is an essential ingredient and not an afterthought as many consider it to be. If you’re tempted to spend more time picking out furnishings or puzzling over layouts, remember that lighting can completely transform a space – not just by brightening dark corners, but by affecting your emotions. (1)

​Lighting creates mood and sets tone. It can affect the perceived size of a room, add dimension, draw attention and create depth and balance.

In order to achieve the true power of lighting, designers consider lighting placement, amongst a myriad of other things. Standard lighting layouts with symmetrical cans, chandeliers and pendants (peppered with table, floor and task lamps) are a great starting point. After all, you need more than one source of light in a room (think layered illumination). (1) But, when you get creative on where and how to place lighting, “wow-factors” can be born.

​Here are a few creative lighting placement ideas that take lighting to the next level.

​Forgotten Corners: Light ‘em up

​The goal is to create contrast between the light at the center of a room, the light around the perimeter, and the darker spaces in between: Without the darker, quieter moments, everything is flat and boring. It’s the subtle interplay between light and dark that creates the appeal. (1)

​One way to incorporate this idea of lighting contrast is to hang a chandelier or pendant in the corner of your room. It’s a statement piece, hung an unexpected place, that brightens a portion of the perimeter and not just the center of the room. It’s a new take on a “reading lamp.” I love this idea.

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