Rooms With A View To Stylish Lighting

Yorkshire Post - 26th September 2007 - Life & Style Section: Homes

Interiors

Lighting a room is not as simple as it might seem at first. Interior designer Jamie Hempsall offers his ideas.

Lighting is often overlooked until a room design is almost finished and is considered more of an ‘add-on’ than an integral part of the whole scheme. This week, I am concentrating on lighting for your lounge and the background work needed to get it right first time.

Specifics are not too important in the early stages, but the positioning of the various types of light are. It’s annoying to realise too late in the day that extra sockets for lamps are needed when the room has already been decorated and the carpets laid. Unsightly extension cables will spoil the look and trip you up. Having to reach over furniture to switch the lamps on will be frustrating and may defeat the less agile of us. Consider having a 5 amp lamp socket circuit fitted before any decoration is undertaken. This allows all the lamps to be turned on and off or dimmed from a central point a must where overhead lighting is rarely used or wanted. Sockets can also be sunk into the floor to avoid cables stretching from table to wall – very useful where a table lamp is used behind a sofa in the middle of a room.

Next, consider the way in which your choice of lighting will affect your colour scheme and vice versa. The mood and atmosphere you intended to create with your colour palette and design can be dramatically of light. Too much strong white light with a neutral, cream and beige scheme will appear stark or grey. Likewise, too little light with a more vibrant and rich scheme will muddy the colour tones and can be oppressive.

Only then should you look at the types of lighting available to you.

Existing overhead lighting may not be in the ideal place, particularly in some period properties, so consider having it move to a position that suits your design. Two or more overhead lights cunningly positioned can also help delineate different areas of a larger or multi-purpose lounge.

The ceiling height of more modern houses and flats can be too low for many of the more interesting overhead fittings available. However, careful positioning of lamps, floor lamps and wall lights may give a better spread of light and in a more subtle way than an overhead source. Removing overhead lighting can also make the ceiling appear higher as there is nothing to interrupt the sightlines.

Wall lights require careful consideration as they are the most difficult to move if you get it wrong. Generally, they should be equally spaced horizontally between two points and vertically two thirds up the wall. Take into consideration the effect of other items in the lounge such as curtains, pictures and furniture. Mock up the layout of these things before you finalise the lighting positions.

Lighting needs to be practical too consider cleaning, finding the remote control and doing the crossword, which may call for some strong, bright lighting. This need not be harsh and direct and there are many ways to spread the light in a gentler and more flattering way such as Uplighters, Downlighters and Wall Washers which reflect light on another surface. Table lamps also help create pools of light which can be positioned for both practical and decorative purposes.

Lighting has come on in leaps and bounds over the past decade and in a fortnight I will review the best that is currently on offer by both the High Street and specialist suppliers.

Jamie Hempsall is one of the region’s leading interior designers and an Associate of the British Interior Design Association (BIDA). For more information visit his website www.jamiehempsall.com or call 01777 248463