A Few Words on Ambient Lighting

The right lighting in your home can go a long way to make a great impression and create that “stylised” ambience. Ambient lighting adds a great look and feel to your home.

It can be difficult choosing the appropriate contemporary lighting for your home, and if you don’t have any experience it can be a matter of trial and error which could end up costing you in mistakes.

When it comes to lighting and decorating your home, the goal is to create build an atmosphere. An atmosphere of comfort, warmth, casualness and organisation will make you always feel at home and also make guests feel welcome. Using technology that is available today, contemporary lighting can be easily used to create the atmosphere you are looking for.

Examples of ambient lighting that can be used include;  giving your living room a dramatic look, highlight decorations, and even hide imperfections or low points of the room. Great design in lighting can also emphasise colour schemes and create moods which all add up to create a certain atmosphere for the room. This can be done with the many many options in design, sizes, shapes, styles, etc. available today in contemporary lighting.

Since humans learnt how to control fire around 125,000 BC, lighting technology has come a long way. Around 4500 BC, oil lamps were in use and by around 3000 BC candles were invited – we’ve been playing around with various forms of lighting for a very long time.

Our choice of light fittings, styles shapes and sizes are virtually limitless these days. Just google indoor lighting and you will be overwhelmed with the amount of information that is available, not to mention options of where to purchase, how to purchase, etc. etc. Nowadays, not only do you have thousands of options when it comes to ceiling lighting, but you now have a lot of options with wall lighting and floor lighting – all in an effort to achieve that perfect ambience.

Another goal of ambient lighting is to achieve a light situation which is even throughout the room. You can help to achieve this by installing dimmers with your lighting which can allow you to adjust the level of lighting to suit the time of day or the amount of natural light entering the room.

A significant or important room in your house needs a touch of visual drama to emphasise looks and feel which can be achieved by using contrast. Contrast is a major factor in lighting design and can be done by using halogen (recessed) lights that highlight specific items of interest in the room. Other types of lighting such as wall scones will add accent.

Whilst lighting design for a significant room in your home isn’t the only factor which makes up the rooms decoration, it is an important one and well designed lighting will contribute to the success of that room.