Last month during Las Vegas Market at World Market Center Las Vegas, celebrity design expert Christopher Lowell revealed several techniques to stage lighting throughout your home.
Lighting has the simple ability to transform any space into one that is sexy, dramatic, inviting and warm. According to Lowell, lighting is often the most overlooked and underrated element of interior design. It’s the finishing touch that can make or break a room.
Lowell says good lighting happens in layers:
Fill light: Often created by recessed ceiling fixtures.
Make sure they, like all lights in your room, are on dimmers. Even overall fill light simply takes the volume of light up just enough to dimly see the entire space, so no one’s bumping around in the dark. Frankly the only time they should be on “full blast” is when you’re giving the room a good cleaning.
Ambient light pool light: Often created with pin spots.
Every good room needs drama. Drama is created as much by shadow as by the light itself. Shadow is what brings intimacy to rooms. Pin spots can showcase rich wall color with focused arcs of soft light. They can showcase key focal point objects or by back lighting, simply show their form in silhouette. Pin spots can define seating areas and traffic flow with pools of light over coffee tables or key pathways.
Task light: Usually created by floor and table lamps.
Lamps are the new room ‘accessory.’ They bring focused light to the mid range of a space and are the most visible light source in a space. Lamps can often denote the very style and mood of a room. From base to shades to finials, well-designed lamps can be room focal points. For this reason, it’s best to stick to a single theme verses mixing and matching styles-especially with lampshades. They should remain as uniform as possible and placed strategically near seating furniture. Dimmers and three-way bulbs allow you to control mood. When not using them for reading, I recommend that the bulb wattage be no greater then 35. With multiple lamps the wattage adds up quick.
Up lights: usually positioned on the floor.
Up lights add the final theatrical drama to any room. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes form a straight cylinder to focusable heads. We link these with interior trees (also part of this layer). An up light on the floor shooting through a palm tree will cast shadow on ceilings to add an overhead texture of pattern. This brings intimacy to any space.
Candle light: Animation for the room.
Candlelight should not be ignored. It offers the same dynamic as a fireplace. The flicker of flame adds great mood and animation to a space and can be placed anywhere. Without out cord-management issues to worry about, candles can be grouped into clusters in a tray or offer a touch of low romantic theater to coffee and side tables with votives.
So the next time you’re in a quandary about how to implement lighting in your home, think ‘chic restaurant,’ or ‘boutique hotel.’ When you’re in one of these public spaces, look around and learn from the pros.
Some Chicago area retailers of lighting fixtures include: Lightology at 215 W. Chicago Avenue in Chicago and Evergreen Oak Crest Lighting with locations in Crestwood, New Lenox, Orland Park, Lisle, Naperville and Chicago.
For more ideas from Lowell, visit his Web site at ChristopherLowell.com.
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