Sometimes, changing the way an entire room looks can be as easy as changing your light bulb. The right lighting can dramatically modify the dimensions of a room, making it appear more spacious, more cheery, more romantic, taller or cozier!
So before you resort to more drastic measures, think about whether you’re lighting your room up in a way that flatters its angles, width and dimensions! Here are 3 easy changes to make:
Enlarge it!
- Paint your ceiling a light color, then install wall washers. These are lighting fixtures which give off an even stream of light, and can be directly mounted on walls or installed into the ceiling.
- Try to create a soft look by bouncing light off the ceiling and walls, and work best with light colored ceilings. Place them behind large pieces of furniture, as they are usually slender with clean lines. Another option would be to put a pair in corners, and at eye level or higher. Clip-on spotlights inclined upwards will also create the same effect!
- At the end of the room, create panels of light to pull your eye along it, elongating the space
- Light up all corners of the room
Get height
- Put in vertical light beams
- Suspend pendant lights from the ceiling, making sure they hang down low to create the illusion of them descending from a great height
Cozy up
- Aim to create several tiny pools of light, by clustering several dainty table lamps together
- Don’t reflect light onto the ceiling
- Soft, incandescent lights are so much more inviting than fluorescent or halogen ones, which may appear harsh
- Direct light to attract attention to pleasant looking focal points in the room, such as family pictures or portraits on walls