Today, lighting schemes are used to enhance decor and your lifestyle. A thoughtful lighting design combines day and electric lighting planning as well as strategising to optimise the distribution of light inside the room.
Plan lighting in a way that the home shouldn’t require any electric lighting during daytime. Sitting arrangements, furniture orientation and size, curtains, colour – all decide the lighting scheme. You also need to plan the electrical points. While planning your lighting layout, consider what the room is meant for, the ambience you want and what you wish to highlight.
Lamp it up
In lamps, anything handmade is big. Handwoven “basket” style lamp shades that highlight textures, or fabric encased shades with linen or mesh cage-style shades are getting popular. Even hand-forged metal light fixtures are trending. Forget floor lamps – this is the era of feature lamps that make a design statement and are sculptural. Side table lamps are in vogue.
Hang in there
Rustic chandeliers are back to add modernity to a room design. Chandeliers not only play a practical role but are also a key decorative element. The thumb rule is: the bigger, the better. Designers suggest abandoning the idea that there should be only one chandelier in a room. Go for two to add a bright accent and also to zone the space.
Layer your lights
Lighting has three elements: ambient, accent and task. Ambient is all about creating ambience, namely a night-time look for a room or space. Accent is the special statement pieces or visual elements you deploy to personalise the look. Task lighting, as the name suggests, refers to specific task-oriented lighting like reading, cooking, etc. Laud suggests while considering lighting planning of your home, work on points of your interest. “Good lighting is a play of shadow and light. By creating lighting contrasts, you can draw the attention to interesting features in a room – be it a sculpture, wall artwork, a bold textured wall, sitting arrangement or even an interesting light fixture itself,” she adds.
Lighting finish
Gold finishes in lighting are on-trend right now. Although brass is popular, there’s a rise in matte black, satin nickel, and polished finishes. Trends seem to be pushing more towards neutral tones to blend with a space’s design in a finish that shows the fixture’s quality.
look out for
Soundproof lighting solutions Research is on to design lighting that can suck in noise pollution – a game changer in home well-being. Lighting is going wireless or with fewer cables. —TOI