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Lighting Guide
Light is the source of life. This applies to natural daylight as well as the light from the lamps we choose for our homes. Proper lighting is crucial for our well-being and quality of life, and it significantly affects how we live. That’s why making the right lighting choices when decorating and "furnishing" with light is essential. However, many of us are unsure about what’s "right." While we may fall in love with a design, the design itself is not the most important factor. The light itself is the priority. Before you go out and buy your next lamp(s), consider these essential points. This guide will help you create the optimal light environment in your home!
"We have so many lamps, but no light!"
Sound familiar? This is a classic issue. That’s why our 10 tips will ensure you not only have plenty of lamps but also the proper lighting to meet all your needs.
Light serves many purposes. It sets the mood and creates a cozy, secure, and welcoming atmosphere—especially important in a country where we spend half the year in darkness. Light can also bring dynamism, create "rooms within rooms," and set the stage in your home. Most importantly, lamps serve a practical purpose: to provide light for various areas and tasks, indoors and outdoors. By combining function, design, and placement, you can create a beautiful and functional home where lamps play a central and active role. With LIGHT-POINT’s lighting guide, you’ll find inspiration to create a home with excellent lighting—both functional and aesthetic.
If possible, consider lighting early in the construction process. This allows for a home with no visible cables. Of course, it’s also possible to integrate great lighting solutions into an existing home.
The Ideal Lighting Setup Involves Multiple Layers
- General Lighting: This is the main illumination, often provided by ceiling lights and pendants that light up the entire room. Choose lamps with a good, soft spread of light and avoid overly bright lights that may feel clinical. General lighting reduces sharp contrasts, helps with navigation, and defines the room.
- Task Lighting: These lamps are for specific activities such as reading, cooking, repairing, or knitting, where focused light is essential. Examples include reading lamps by the sofa, work lamps over the kitchen counter, or pendants above the dining or work desk.
- Ambient/Decorative Lighting: This includes table lamps, floor lamps, wall lamps, or low-hanging pendants that provide soft, indirect light. These lamps can highlight decorative elements or create a warm, intimate atmosphere.
Lighting Guide – 10 Tips
What constitutes good lighting? Begin by dividing light into layers. This is an easy, effective, and straightforward way to find inspiration for lighting solutions. This guide explains how to combine different light sources to achieve a balanced result. Learn how to experiment with color temperatures, placement, and lamp types so that the lighting naturally fits your rooms and supports the atmosphere you want to create. In short: there's no need to keep searching for "lighting inspiration" because everything you need is right here! This is your guide to choosing lamps that merge function and aesthetics.
1. Start by defining the purpose of each room and the function of the lamps. Do they need to provide general lighting, task lighting, or serve a decorative purpose? Sometimes, combining different types of lighting works best.
2. Consider the size of the room, ceiling height, and architecture. Smaller rooms require lamps that don't take up too much space and provide a more focused effect. In larger rooms, there's room for bolder lighting solutions and experimenting with various lamp types and placements. Keep in mind that the colors and materials of floors, walls, and ceilings affect light distribution. Dark colors "absorb" light, while light colors reflect it.
3. Determine how much light you need for different tasks and functions. A kitchen island, for example, might require multiple lamps (or a long pendant light) to avoid dark spots and ensure even lighting, while a small reading nook may only need a single spotlight or pendant. Consider all surfaces that need illumination when selecting lamps and deciding how many to use.
4. Use multiple types of lamps—table lamps, wall lamps, ceiling lamps, and pendants—to create light at different levels and layers. By combining various light sources, you can add depth and dynamism to a room, achieving a flexible lighting experience. Using general lighting with one color temperature and supplementing it with task lighting and ambient lighting in varying color temperatures creates variety and allows the lighting to adapt to different activities and moods. Placing lights at various heights and directions creates contrasts that make the room more engaging and lively.
5. Extend the light to the edges of the room. Install wall lamps, ceiling spotlights, and downlights along the walls instead of relying solely on a centrally placed pendant. This way, you use the wall as a reflector, making the room appear larger. You can also place indirect lighting behind a cornice or add LED strips under a baseboard or wall cabinets—this is a discreet and effective solution. Additionally, place small table lamps on dressers, shelves, or side tables to draw light into the corners and distribute/balance it in the room. Strategically placed floor lamps can also soften shadows and make the room more inviting.
6. The color temperature of the light affects the atmosphere of the room. Warm light (low color temperature) creates a cozy ambiance, while cool light (high color temperature) is more energizing and focused. A color temperature of up to 3000K provides a golden, soft glow with natural color rendering, making it ideal for a relaxing atmosphere in living spaces. Higher temperatures (3000K–4000K) are suitable for tasks requiring concentration, such as workspaces and kitchens. There are no strict rules, so experiment with different color temperatures. Studies have shown that variations in light color, intensity, and direction significantly impact well-being, motivation, and productivity.
7. Color rendering refers to a light source's ability to reproduce colors accurately and naturally compared to daylight. This aspect is crucial because it influences our perception and understanding of colors in a space. Poor color rendering can distort colors, making some hues appear entirely different from their true nature. The Color Rendering Index (CRI) is a metric used to assess a light source's ability to render colors. The scale ranges from 0 to 100, with a CRI of 100 indicating the most accurate and natural color reproduction, similar to daylight. The higher the CRI, the better the color rendering.
8. Think energy efficiency. Modern LED bulbs offer excellent color rendering, long lifespan, and low energy consumption. They are also small and compact, allowing for greater design flexibility. All our lamps use LED light sources.
9. Dim the lights! It’s important to have control over your lighting. Today, many wireless solutions with timer functions allow you to adjust lighting via an app, remote control, or voice command. Choose lamps and bulbs with adjustable brightness and color temperature so you can tailor the lighting to your needs. Switch between warm, dim lighting for a cozy atmosphere and cool, bright lighting for tasks—or turn all the lights on or off at once.
Advanced smart lighting systems now allow for seamless wireless networking, enabling your intelligent lighting to communicate with other devices without the need for cables or complex installations. Lamps should be individually controllable for flexible lighting scenarios. Make sure to check the compatibility between different light sources, lamps, and control systems!
10. Consider the lamp’s material, shape, and design, as the surface and color of the lamp affect the light. Our lamps are made of aluminum, with neutral colors and finishes that create a calm and harmonious atmosphere. Aluminum is also a sleek and durable material.
For focused lighting, choose a closed lamp design (such as a spotlight), whereas an open design with opal or white shades will diffuse light more evenly.
The lamp’s design should complement your personal style and interior decor. Combine lamps that blend into the space with statement pieces that stand out as sculptural design elements to create an exclusive and personalized look.
Remember
Good lighting is achieved by combining function, aesthetics, and flexibility. By making the right choices regarding color temperature, CRI, and placement, you can create a warm, comfortable, and inviting atmosphere indoors and outdoors. At LIGHT-POINT, you'll find lighting inspiration for all rooms and purposes. We offer a wide selection of designer lamps that contribute to a unique lighting universe, supporting the room, functionality, and your personal style.