Love at First Light: 5 Ways to Create Ambience in Your Room

Whether you're watching a film, reading a novel, or hosting a dinner party, lighting plays a vital role in establishing the setting. For instance, dark shades evoke mystery, suspense, and even intimacy; whereas bright lights and colours elicit life, optimism, and energy. So when it comes to designing your space, lighting is something that shouldn't be overlooked—as it can drastically affect the the overall feel of a room.

Below are five tips on how to use lighting to create ambience in your room.

1. Enhance focal points with accent lighting

Impress guests with an alluring space by accentuating your focal points. These focal points can be a piece of artwork on the wall, a fireplace, or any other unique architectural feature. With accent lighting, you can draw attention to these visually interesting pieces. This lighting is usually installed on walls or hang above the focal area.

2. Boost functionality with task lighting

These cool white light bulbs have been gaining popularity for its clear, clean and direct lighting. Task lighting allows a room to feel more open and are ideal for spaces that require more lighting, such as the kitchen and bathroom.
When it comes to the kitchen, you want to focus your lighting on areas where you cook and prepare food, such as over counters and under cabinets. Bright recessed lights on the ceiling, smaller light fixtures placed underneath cabinets and cove lighting that direct light up towards, are appealing options for the kitchen. Task lighting is also effective in the bathroom, especially when you have mirrors to reflect the lights. However, keep in mind that unlike the kitchen, the bathroom requires various lighting throughout the day with dimmer lighting at night.

3. Build intimacy with a dimly lit room

You can establish a cozy and relaxing space with a lighting technique called layering. This involves scattering your light sources rather than having a central source. That way, you can adjust the mood of your room by turning off or on different light fixtures.

Dimming the lights is not only great for creating intimacy, it can also boost creativity. Consider adding low-level lighting such as table lamps by your desk and bedroom nightstand for those late night reading or writing in your journal. For dim lighting, you can also invest in recessed lighting in the ceiling with a dimmer switch and LED strip lighting, where you can integrate softer colour lights, and mildly warm chandeliers.

And don't forget, you can never go wrong with candles—especially for a romantic dinner night at home.

4. Elicit positive energy with natural lighting

Natural lighting can boost your mood by helping your brain release the feel-good chemicals called endorphins. Bright lights, especially white light, can also trigger a similar emotional response and improve your outlook by resembling daylight giving off the perception of heat.

Some tips to make use of natural lights include having larger windows, allowing more exposure to sunlight. You can use large mirrors to reflect more light from outside. As well, consider painting your room with light colours to give the illusion of a naturally bright space.

5.Add style with various lighting fixtures

You can also create a stylish space with lighting fixtures by choosing fixtures that reflect any trend or style. For instance, to accomplish a rustic look, try staggering a row of oversized bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. You could also purchase rustic light fixtures that often features a bare light bulb enclosed in a cage-like steel frame.

If you want to design a bohemian room, go all out and let your creativity flow with colourful lamp shades and chandeliers such as the Bella Vetro Aqua chandelier.

For a more classic look, you can never go wrong with crystal chandeliers. Add a modern flare to this traditional piece by installing chandeliers with non-traditional shapes and design such as this Flurry-Seven light chandelier.

Light up your room

Something as simple as lighting can drastically affect the mood of a room. By taking lighting into consideration when designing your room, you can better create your ideal space. For more inspiration on lighting, view our online lighting catalogue here.