Thursday, May 13, 2010

4 Important Lighting Tips for a Functional and Cozy Bedroom

To achieve a functional and cozy bedroom, proper use of lighting is essential. Simply follow these tips: combine general lighting and task lighting; emphasize the attractive spots in your room; get to know the different lighting types; and, ensure a correct placement of tasks lighting.

Your bedroom should have ample light source coupled with the right choice of lighting. Your choice of bedroom lighting depends greatly on your needs and regular activities. Proper lighting provides a great place for relaxation and rest. Here are some tips on lighting to give you a comfortable bedroom:

Combine general lighting and task lighting

Your bedroom lighting should be able to provide enough light source for general activities and other specific tasks such as reading and doing some crafts such as sewing. Lights with dimmer controls are highly useful since they provide some variety in the amount of light they provide. Here are some ways of combining the use of lighting in your bedroom:


  • a bedside fixture such as a swing-arm lamp can be used to brighten your bedtime tasks. If you wish to illuminate your room with too bright lights, you can add some soft light sources like candles or a fireplace maybe.

  • if you want your bed to be the focus of your room, you can use a recessed lighting near or over the head portion of the bed to create some dramatic effect.

  • if you are an active individual and would want your room to be flooded with bright yet warm lights, you can use a combination of overhead and uplight fixtures.


Emphasize the attractive spots in your room

To emphasize the beautiful decors and attractive art works on your walls, you can use some lights to specifically highlight them. Moreover, make sure that your dresser should not have distracting shadows around it. You can do this by using some side lights or a head light.

Get to know the different lighting types

Basically, there are four types of lighting. They are as follows:

  • ambient lighting - this light is the most practical type of lighting that imitates a natural light. This lighting envelopes the whole room space uniformly. Its light comes from an overhead and central fixture.

  • task lighting - this is intended to brighten a particular task or area. Generally, it should have the capacity to provide sufficient lighting that focuses on one spot only.

  • accent lighting - is also called point-source lighting. Its purpose is to provide strong light to a particular focal point. This lighting is utilized in illuminating a vase or a wall art in your room.

  • kinetic lighting - this is a type of light that is designed to be in motion such as flickering and dancing. This is intended to create some dramatic effects. You can have mirror balls, candlelights, and lava lamps.


Ensure a correct placement of tasks lighting

Proper placement of your tasks lighting should be carefully considered. You should be mindful that every specific task light has its equivalent placement measurement which you should follow.

  • your dressing table should have two lights that are 36 inches away from each other. And, the height of the lights from the base of the table should be about 15 inches.

  • if your dressing table reaches your waist, make sure that your lighting's height is about 22 inches from the top of the dresser.

  • if you go for some lamps for bedside reading, just see to it that the bottom part of your light is about 20 inches above the level of the bed.

  • a desk lamp should be 15 inches from the desk surface regardless of whether it is mounted on a wall or not.


The right choice of lighting will definitely create a snug ambiance. Choosing to have custom lighting fixtures in your bedroom would spell a lot of difference. These will surely make your room look even more fantastic.