Designing with Light: Tips for Integrating Modern Lighting into Your Home
Lighting serves an essential role in home design. Modern lighting capitalizes on energy efficiency, technology like smart lights and dimmers, as well as lighting layers that make the most out of your space.
Modern lighting emphasizes function with clean aesthetics. Compared to traditional lighting, modern designs don’t have a lot of ornamentation and instead focus on geometric, smooth materials and structures that don’t draw the eye. This serves modern homes well because it ensures that the lamps or lighting sources are not the center of attention but rather whatever that light is directed upon.
In addition to the aesthetic changes and the differences in the cleaner lines and finishes, modern lighting is also more energy efficient because the focus is on functionality and usefulness in lighting a space.
Modern lighting has many different functional aspects with contemporary aesthetics that can create different ambience depending on how you use it in your home design.
Tips for incorporating modern lighting into your home
There are many ways that you can incorporate modern lighting into your home.
Tip #1: Assess natural light
Start by assessing the natural light in your room. If, for example, your dining room has two big windows but not on opposite walls, a lot of natural light will come through one half of the room, but the other half will need additional task lighting or ambient lighting to compensate.
Tip #2: Plan your lighting layers
Plan your lighting layers. In a kitchen for example you might have your ambient lighting that runs along the center of the room coming from a chandelier. But then you’ll also need task lighting over the sink and over the oven where you perform the majority of your tasks.
By comparison, in a living room, you might have ambient lighting that comes from a chandelier along with accent lighting in one corner next to a piece of art and track lighting in the ceiling over the fireplace, and then a few smaller task lights in the form of lamps on either end table.
Tip #3: Choose a focal point
Choose a focal point in your room and from there, design your lighting layers around that focal point. for example, if you have a large fireplace in the middle of your living room, that will very likely serve as your focal point, around which furniture, seating, and lighting will flank. If, instead, you are working in your kitchen, the focal point might very well be the island you have in the middle of the room.
Tip #4: Incorporate dimmer switches
A great way to incorporate modern lighting into your home is to use dimmer switches. Dimmer switches are profoundly simple advancements that can change the lighting in your space all from a single unit. This is comparably easier than having to turn on several individual lamps and turn
off large lamps from the entrance of the room.
Moreover it’s an easy way to switch the lighting immediately if you are, for example, entertaining versus watching a movie versus reading before bed.
Tip #5: Experiment with bulb color temperature
With modern wall lights or modern ceiling lights, you can experiment with the bulb color temperature. The color of your bulbs can range from warm and relaxing to cool and energetic.
Depending on how you plan to use the space, some of the best modern lighting ideas incorporate different layers of lighting, each with different colors.
For example, it’s not uncommon for modern lighting ideas to incorporate warm, bright light around 4,000k for the ambient lighting in the room, with track lighting or wall-mounted lighting around certain areas of the space like the fireplace, or flanking either side of an entertainment unit using ambient lighting that’s much warmer, like 2,800K.
On end tables or at a desk, there might be much brighter task lighting in the form of small lamps so that work can be done during the day, entertaining and socialization can happen throughout the afternoon, and relaxation in a warmer, more inviting atmosphere can take place in the evening.
Tip #6: Use smart lighting solutions
Modern lighting is best when combined with smart lighting solutions. Smart lighting solutions like these connect to an internal system such as your smartphone or tablet and allow you complete control over the lighting no matter where you are.
This type of remote access can be linked to security systems as well, such that you get notifications if lights are turned on both inside and outside. This can let you know whether someone is trying to break into your home while you are at work or whether your spouse simply forgot their key.
Smart lighting solutions also help you control where lights are left on throughout the house so that you can remotely turn them off or down, changing ambient lighting in the room without having to access a physical dimmer switch.
Tip #7: Mix and match styles
Don’t be afraid to mix and match styles. Just because you have a minimalist home, for example, does not mean that you have to stick with track lighting or single sources of ambient lighting. You can also use minimalist designs for floor standing lamps along with a simple chandelier.
Tip #8: Pay attention to scale
Pay attention to scale especially if you are mixing and matching styles or having lighting layers. If you have floor standing lamps, for example, on either side of your couch, they can serve as an accent but you don’t want them to be the same height as the couch nor should they be so tall that they nearly reach the ceiling.
Tip #9: Highlight architectural features
Use modern lights to highlight architectural features in your home. For example, if you live in a rustic farmhouse with solid wooden beams running throughout the interior, track lighting along the ceiling can be pivoted at an angle such that it draws attention to the unique timber framing that you have on the inside.
Tip #10: Consider the bulb’s lumens
The lumens of each bulb you use measure how bright they are. If you are investing in new bulbs for your modern ceiling lights or modern wall lights, check the lumens to see how bright they are. The higher the number, the brighter the light will be. Not only that, but the brightness will correspond to the wattage required, which can directly impact how much money you spend each month on lights.
Summing Up
Modern lighting ideas veer away from ornate, traditional lamps and light structures like chandeliers or wall sconces. Instead, modern lighting ideas can help you focus on clean lines and simple geometric patterns that don’t demand attention and instead offer a simple, functional, contemporary look.
There are several ways that you can incorporate modern lighting including modern ceiling lights and modern wall lights into your home design. These lights offer flexibility in terms of ambiance, aesthetics, and energy efficiency. If you are trying to integrate modern lighting into your home design, consider different options like dimmer switches, lighting layers, and bulb color temperatures to enhance your living space.