Light your bedroom for every mood

PROPERTY NEWS - Good lighting in a home in a bedroom is important, and the right bedroom lighting can help you rise and shine in the morning, relax in the afternoon and drop into a deep slumber in the evening.

Top bedroom lighting tips:

Layer the lighting
Find the perfect balance between ambient, task and accent lighting so that you can create various moods to suit the different times of the day.

• Ambient lighting provides the room's general lighting. Pendants, chandeliers, flush- and semi-flush mounted ceiling lights, as well as multiple downlighters installed in a grid format on the ceiling, are ideal.

• Task lighting provides targeted illumination for specific tasks, such as reading or doing your make-up. Table, desk and floor lamps, as well as wall lights are great options.

• Accent lighting draws your attention to a particular feature, be it artwork, an architectural element or an antique piece. For example, picture lights, wall lights, spotlights and tilt downlighters can be used to provide great accent lighting.

Dim it
Dimmers are an important tool for layered lighting design, but they are arguably one of the most under-appreciated as well. Dimmers play a valuable role in a layered bedroom lighting design.

They allow you to add an extra dimension to the room's environment, and they have the ability to make your existing lights multifunctional, moving from low lighting to full brightness, and accommodating multiple lighting needs in the process.

Plan it
The trick to getting a lighting design just right is all in the planning. Measure the room and then plan where the lights will work best. If you want to highlight a specific artwork, we suggest installing ceiling spots about 0,5m from the wall for a ceiling height of 2,5m, or farther in if the ceiling is taller.

If you want to include a pendant or chandelier, it is usually best either centred in the middle of the room or above the bed. Unless your bedroom has an unusually high ceiling, pendants or chandeliers should be hung about 30cm from the ceiling.

Photo: www.decoratorist.com

Create a balance
It is advisable to include multiple types of fixtures in your lighting design. You can place a floor lamp next to an occasional chair in the corner of the room, include a statement pendant light in the centre, bedside lamps on either side of the bed, a feature table lamp on the dresser, and perhaps one or two wall lights, or two to three downlights in other unlit areas of the bedroom.

The goal behind this practice is to direct the eye right around the bedroom, instead of it just focusing on the bed. Bringing light to the different corners of the room makes it seem larger than it actually is.

To create more visual interest, you can include shades to give the room a warm glow, as well as indirect light, such as wall lights that throw light back onto the wall.

Source: www.all4women.co.za

Photo: www.theinterioreditor.com