Shedding light on... well, light. Part one.

Lighting in the Spa at the Gleneagles Hotel. https://bit.ly/2sj5laC

Lighting as part of your interior scheme can sometimes seem an overwhelming decision, and as a result it is often overlooked.  The result can be frustrating when an otherwise great room layout or scheme is poorly lit, rendering some areas unusable at certain times of day, or missing an opportunity to highlight beautiful features.  
I am one of those people who find it overwhelming – I know lighting is just as important as the window dressing or the furniture layout, but the abundance of choices seem to complicate my decisions. 

I’ve therefore written this post to provide some simple introductory guidance to one of the most important – and exciting – aspects of successful interior design.  In the second part I’ll provide a room by room exploration of lighting considerations, and look at the different types of lighting fixtures.

Planning – when to start thinking about lighting in a room or property development

Let’s start with your property or room.  Is this in a fully decorated state and the lighting is the only aspect to address? Or are you about to embark on a full decoration or redevelopment of a room or property? In terms of lighting, the latter is preferable, as now you can determine the exact location and position of your light fittings and their circuits (the cabling in walls and ceilings which provide their power), sockets, switches/control plates etc.  
You should engage a qualified electrician as early as possible, to include their expertise as you design the layout of the space.  The electrician will do a ‘first fix’ at the start of the redevelopment – this involves laying or ‘chasing’ the cables in the walls and ceiling, cutting holes in each for the fixtures, and leaving the cables exposed. Once the decoration is finished, they will return for the ‘second fix’ and fit the selected lighting fixtures and switches etc.

A designer bulb illuminates this music manuscript.
https://bit.ly/2kyLxM7

But regardless of the initial state of the room, the first thing to do is understand exactly what day to day activities will take place in it, and how the room will function.  A dining room may double up as a space for homework. Your living room may sometimes become a music room for budding musicians. Your kitchen may see a lot of intricate cake decorating as well as scoffing.  When you have defined how the room is used, you can start thinking about the type of light it requires.

There are recommended levels of light for specific areas of a residence, measured in lumens/m2.  These range from a minimum of c.50 lumens for a dining room or hallway, to 750 for a work area or utility room (to sort out those black socks!)

The location of switches/control plates should be based on how you use the space – if you use the back-door more than the front door, place more of the controls there.

Using only the wall lamp throws kitchen mess into
darkness whilst you feast. https://bit.ly/2cgbMpf

And if you are able to cut holes in ceilings and walls, think about how many circuits will be needed for the room.  If the room has two different functions, it would benefit from at least two circuits. For example, your kitchen/diner may need brighter task lighting in the kitchen prep areas but a far softer ambient light in the dining area. And if the kitchen lighting could be lowered whilst you’re all eating in the dining area it would accentuate these different zones, so dimmer switches would be helpful on both circuits.  

If you spend a bit of time thinking about these things, you’re setting yourself up for a great lighting scheme.

Four types of light

Once you know how the room is to be used, the next step is to think about the features of the space itself.  Lighting is not only needed to live and work safely in a space, it can also highlight aspects of it and be a design feature in itself.

There are four types of lighting to consider in your scheme:

General/ambient – usually the main source of lighting for a room that allows you to use the room safely.  This type of lighting is essential and the fixture(s) used should fill the volume of the room with a level of light that is safe and pleasing.  However, general lighting on its own is a bit featureless and flat.

To achieve a good level of general lighting, the light should be directed both horizontally and vertically. This may be with downward recessed lights in the ceiling and a globe glass pendant light flooding the area almost 360 degrees.

Kitchen task lights may be hidden under
shelves/cabinets or flaunted. https://bit.ly/2siMPPQ

Task – to support a particular activity such as cooking, reading, work/craft/study. The optimal position of a task light is between your head and the object or surface being illuminated – therefore under-cupboard spotlights in a kitchen.

Factors affecting the level of task light needed include:

• the difficulty of the task requiring the light
• the colour contrasts between the materials in the task
• the eyesight of the person completing the task

These accent lights on artwork can move
if the gallery grows or changes. https://bit.ly/2L8X0x5

Accent  – to add interest or drama to a room, or to use the light itself as a feature (coloured for example). The focus should be the illuminated object or surface rather than the source of light itself.

Note that wall surfaces should be perfect if you plan to illuminate them or a painting on them with accent lighting – the light will exaggerate any flaws. This obviously isn’t the case if the wall is the feature itself, such as stone or brick or half-timbered etc.

Decorative lighting – where the fixture itself is beautiful and interesting, such as a chandelier or a light sculpture. This is where we use light as an accessory, such as a table lamp with a fabulous patterned shade which incorporates colours from the wall or curtain etc. Decorative lighting might be part of a general lighting scheme. However, decorative lighting, whilst drawing the eye to it, might not be a key source of light in the overall scheme.

It’s likely that in one room you’ll need at least two of the above types of light, and it’s perfectly feasible that you’ll have all four.  This could be through your gorgeous decorative table lamp also serving as a task light for someone reading next to it.  

You should also think about how light can be used to your advantage in altering perceptions of space. Here are some useful lighting ‘tricks’ to consider:

Uplighters raise the ceiling in this loft room. https://bit.ly/2IVMKvD

• Raise a low ceiling by bouncing indirect light onto it from uplighters. Bear in mind this will highlight any rough finishes on the ceiling.
• Lower a high ceiling by using down lighters and not shining anything onto the ceiling. 
• Washing walls with an even layer of light in a small room seems to push back the walls and create space.
• In a large room a few soft pools of light focused on important areas or objects creates intimacy and defined spaces – the effect is to focus the eyes on the parts rather than the sum.
• In a narrow room put lights along the shorter walls to draw eyes away from the longer ones.

As you can see, it’s worth doing this preliminary planning for lighting before you start pouring over pages of fancy lighting fixtures or mooching around various lighting departments or shops. This will help you avoid potentially costly purchasing or lay-out errors, and bring your rooms to life.

In part two I will take these concepts and look at the various rooms of a property. I’ll also look at the different types of light fixtures available, which will hopefully help you whittle down that ridiculously long list!