02 May 2017

Why the right lighting scheme is vital for your wellbeing

Sanjit Bahra, Founder of DesignPlusLight, is an award-winning lighting specialist with over 19 years’ experience in architectural lighting design. With a passion for lighting, Sanjit offers his view on why lighting your home is so important.

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Lighting can often be an afterthought when it comes to the design of your home, particularly a self-build. With more time spent considering furnishings and accessories, it can frequently be viewed as purely functional.

However, the right lighting can completely transform the look and feel of a room, or even an entire home. It is more than purely operative and can influence emotions, alter the appearance of room sizes and colours of the wall. The importance of paying attention to lighting in a home is highly underestimated.

Lighting plays a large part in impacting your mood and can help you feel happier and more upbeat. This is effective through the use of good lighting. This works by creating layers of different lighting effects.

You should bear in mind that intensities of light and ambience need to be considered with lighting in different rooms of the home. Soft lighting creates a restful feeling, perfect for bedrooms and bathrooms, but this lighting needs to be balanced to ensure it does not make the room too gloomy. Whereas, hard lighting is great for areas that need to be highlighted – such as areas where work and food preparation take place.

Setting the tone

The hallway is the gateway to a home; it makes an impression when people first enter and expresses the personality of the home. A creative, well-lit and inviting hallway will set the tone to any home. Decorative lighting instantly creates an overall feeling of serenity and playfulness. Ornate lighting can also offer a textured aesthetic, and chandeliers can create beautiful focal points in a home.

Lighting is such a beneficial key element of a home. The right lighting can magically make a small space appear larger; a room can seem to become wider when light fittings are placed higher up the wall so the eye moves vertically rather than horizontally. Whereas, recessed ceiling lighting can make a room seem brighter and more open without taking up any additional space. Lighting a door, shelving or any recessed spaces can also engage spaces to make them appear larger.

Create focal points

Using accent lighting can create special focal points to a room. Lighting objects within a room can bring them to life, create dramatic effect or layer textures within a home. Precious objects, such as a paintings, sculptures or architectural features, can be highlighted to stand out. Halogen lighting is the best lighting to be considered for this due to its intensity and brilliance – even a cheap vase can look glamorous if properly backlit.

Spotlighting a piece of furniture, joinery or painting can enhance the overall aesthetic of a room and accent lighting is especially useful in lounge areas and hallways. Lighting a bookshelf, for example, is a lovely way to highlight a lounge area with accent lighting.

Mood lighting can set different tones and colours of light in a room. Softer, warmer lighting induces a feeling of calm, whereas brighter lighting provides a lively and invigorating space.

The ultimate relaxation

Lighting in a bathroom ideally needs to be dimmable to create different moods for ultimate relaxation. Several lighting settings can be created, from bright and functional during the day, to dimmed lighting for long and relaxing soaks in bathtub.

Moving into the garden, accent lighting can highlight a tree, special plant or light up a pathway magically. This will create another room to the house and add value to your home.

Lighting at home matters and DesignPlusLight is passionate about lighting; the right lighting can change a space with the touch of a button.

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