Lighting your home is more than just about running to the hardware store, choosing anything at random, having them installed, and then voila—you’ve got a perfectly lit home! However, in reality, there’s a lot more thought process that goes into it, both covering the aesthetic elements and functionality as well. Lighting matters a lot in making your home look and feel so much better, so don’t rush this process of selecting the right lighting for your home.
It’s common to find a list of DOs when it comes to choosing your home’s lighting. But, it’s also essential to dive into a list of what not to do when choosing lights for your home. Such mistakes should be an eye-opener, so you won’t make the same errors in your own home. Here are some of those:
1. Uncomfortable Lighting
Yes, lighting can get too uncomfortable, especially to the eyes. The common culprit to this is when you have too much light in a single space. Always remember the general rule: the light should always be proportionate to the size you’re trying to light up. To avoid having uncomfortable lighting in your home, you may opt for dimmers and smart lighting as these give you more control over the lights, rather than those types that you have to manually switch on and off.
2. Four Corners And A Fan
A very common lighting layout found in many homes is what’s referred to as four corners and a fan. This is described by having four pin lights or long lights on each corner of a room, and then a ceiling fan in the middle. Aesthetically, there’s nothing wrong with this kind of lighting arrangement. The problem with this, however, is that it’s actually giving off light in the wrong places. The lighting is focused on the sides, where it isn’t needed. The center, however, where most lighting should’ve been placed, is absent. This still makes the room dark. If you want to have this kind of layout, you still can, actually. But, a much better way of doing it is choosing a ceiling fan that emits a bright light. That way, the center is now well-lit, making the room brighter.
3. Last Minute Light Planning
Many homeowners who are building their homes from scratch or who are renovating still commit the error of thinking about the lighting right at the last minute. They still seem to think it’s okay to erect the walls and then think about lighting later on. If you want your home to be more well-planned, the lighting shouldn’t be planned last. If you think of your lighting arrangements at the last minute, you’ll have no choice but to break down walls and repaint just to have the proper electrical wiring installed. This is a bigger and a more expensive route to take. To avoid this big renovation job, you may then be constrained to choosing only ceiling lights, limiting the design options you can go for.
4. Installing Only One Light Source In Each Space
Statement lighting is a failproof way to add some glamor into your home. But, it shouldn’t be the only source of lighting for each space. You need to have back-ups or other surrounding lights for two reasons:
- First, if the statement light gets broken and needs a new bulb, you’ll still have other surrounding lights to keep the space well-lit, in the meantime.
- Second, the statement light may make your space too bright. If you want to adjust the brightness or add more drama to your home, the smaller, surrounding lights can help make this more doable.
When you plan out the lighting in each space at home, make sure you have multiple light sources, each with its own switch. This can give you the opportunity to have more control in adjusting your home’s lighting, depending on how dark or bright you want it to be at any given time.
Takeaway
As you can see, there are so many mistakes homeowners can make when it comes to lighting. Trying to get the right lighting can lead you to wrong choices—too bright in some areas, and too dark in others. Addressing the common culprits above can help ensure you aren’t left in the dark. The wrong lighting can affect your ambience negatively, and that’s surely not what you’d want for the place where you’re supposed to feel the most relaxed. An awareness of the mistakes above may just be what you need to be more selective about the lighting options you’ll have in your home.
