Lighting
An effective interior design scheme is only as impactful as the sum of its parts, and one part that sadly goes often overlooked when considering the differing approaches for a given remodelling is a proper consideration of all of the available avenues on offer in terms of lighting. When it comes to creating that perfect welcoming atmosphere, effective furniture placement and accessory choice can only go so far – more often than not, at least some degree of thought must be given to making the appropriate lighting choices if one desires to truly round off a room.
Unlike furniture and accessories, lighting has the unique quality of being able to significantly impact on the atmosphere of a given room. Whether this is creating one where none existed before or simply modifying an existing setup to make it more hospitable varies from situation to situation, but the one constant that remains throughout is that without paying lighting any mind there is a real risk of the overall effect of the room being lost amongst a sea of vanilla lights and lamps.
A large proportion of the lighting selection process is determined by the overall function of the room you plan to illuminate. Studies and home offices, for example, will require special attention to be paid to task lighting – focused, smaller-scale lamps designed to maximise the ease of reading or studying – whilst dining rooms require equal levels of care and attention in order to ensure that the correct balance between atmosphere and visibility is attained, more often than not through the use of dimmer switches on overhead lighting.
Lighting can also be used effectively to manipulate visitors to your space into focusing on a specific item or area – be this a painting or an interesting piece of furniture, to name two examples – and as such holds significant weight when it comes to determining how your room is going to be interpreted. To briefly surmise, then, lighting can be an incredibly difficult aspect to get right, but when it looks good, it really looks good.