You’ve heard the saying, “It takes three to five years for a newly built home to have its intended effect.” What’s meant by this is that it takes time for all of the furniture and decor within your newly-built home to work well together. This typically means everything from rugs, wall colors, paint hues, flooring, ceiling fan colors the list goes on. As you can imagine, lighting is no exception to this rule.
When it comes to the art of interior design, lighting is one of the most important components to be considered for achieving the perfect balance in your home’s environment. As important as lighting is, most people do not give attention to how they light up their homes. Here are some of the most common ones that people make.
Using Just One Type Of Lighting In Your Home
Another common mistake when lighting homes is the misguided attempt to use just one type of lighting throughout your home. While this can work well in some cases, most rooms in a home need a broader use of lighting to ensure proper balance. You can check out ALTI Lighting to get different options of lighting that will suit all the rooms in your home. Rooms such as bedrooms, bathrooms, dens, family rooms, and other living spaces require different types of lighting options to create the desired atmosphere you are looking for in each room.
For example, rooms that require a sophisticated feel will most likely require indirect lighting fixtures such as sconces or chandeliers, while a family room might require more task or ambient lighting options. In both cases, you can use different types of lights to achieve the desired effect in each room.
Under Lighting Small Spaces
A lot of new homeowners choose to go with energy-saving lights, and while they may save on electricity, low light levels can add an air of gloominess to your home. All rooms need at least three points of lighting: one on the ceiling, one near eye level on a wall, and one that illuminates the floor for safety.
Lighting must provide enough illumination to allow you to move about without bumping into furniture. It should provide an even light across all surfaces to avoid awkward shadows that can make a room feel too dark. However, this will only result in a dark, stale feeling that could make your rooms feel even smaller. Today’s professionals strongly recommend using more lights in smaller spaces. This can be in the form of lamps and table lighting or track lights and spotlights.
Overuse Of Downlights
Downlights are great for brightening up space but the bad thing is to overuse them. Many homeowners will try and light their entire room with downlights, but this can be overwhelming because it creates shadows across the floor which makes the room feel cramped. Use downlights sparingly if you want your home to feel cozy and not clinical. Make sure that downlights are not the only lighting source in a room.
Line up all your downlights in one perfectly straight line and you’ll create dark shadows on the wall that will only highlight the fact that they’re not evenly spaced. To avoid this, use an asymmetrical layout, it ensures even lighting throughout the room without any shadows.
Also, try to avoid this common mistake, avoid placing your downlights right next to each other because the spacing between them seems too close together. To solve this, get a recessed downlight with an adjustable beam angle and install it with a wide beam so there will be no shadows on the opposite wall when it’s turned on.
Not Using Dimmer Switches Effectively
Another common mistake when it comes to interior design and lighting is not using dimmer switches properly. Adding these small appliances into your home’s design can go a long way in creating the perfect mood and atmosphere for your home. However, it is important to note that dimmer switches are not designed to be used with every type of lighting fixture. Using them with halogen or some types of fluorescent lights can cause flicker issues and other problems, so make sure you know which type of light your fixtures use before switching them to a dimmer setting.
Choosing The Wrong Lighting Fixtures For Your Ceiling
One very common mistake when it comes to lighting is selecting the wrong types of light fixtures for your home’s ceilings. In most cases, homeowners will choose recessed or pendant lights to decorate their ceiling areas. However, this mistake occurs because people often don’t pay attention to whether or not the light fixture they choose will overwhelm the ceiling.
In this case, it is crucial to choose a ceiling light that not only provides the amount of lighting you need for the space but also complements your room’s architecture and design features. This will ensure that your ceilings seem taller and more prominent than they are, creating a more open vibe for your interior space.
Using Too Much Ambient Lighting
Another common mistake when lighting homes is the use of too much ambient lighting. While this type of lighting is great for certain areas, such as living rooms and family spaces, it can make a bedroom seem smaller and cozier than you originally intended. In many cases, people often want to achieve ajax casual restaurant lighting or dining room-like feel in their bedrooms, which causes them to overdo the ambient lighting. This is a mistake because your bedroom should have more of a calming and tranquil feel to it, so using too much ambient light can have the opposite effect on your space.
If you are trying to achieve this type of atmosphere in your bedroom, use dim lamps or light fixtures to get the right amount of lighting without making your room feel too bright.
To avoid these mistakes and achieve the perfect lighting for your home, remember that different rooms in a house require a lighting plan that is specific to its purpose and design features. Also, be conscious of choosing the right types of lights for each room’s ceiling, task, or ambient lighting needs.