When a person add furnitures to the living room, such as a sofa, a coffee table, and a chair, the living room can start to feel smaller. The living room may start to feel dim, cramped, and flatly. However, if a person chooses the right lighting for a living room, the living room can seem to define specific areas of the living room and make the ceilings seem higher.
Good lighting choices can make a small living room feel like a place that a person want to be. However, when a living room has a small amount of square footage, it is important to choose the correct light fixture for the living room. A person can use a variety of lighting choices in a living room to maximize its impact.
Lighting can adjust the mood of the living room from morning until late at night. There are eight ways to light a living room that will have a most maximum impact on the living room without taking up much floor space or money. Each of these lighting choices will solve a problem that can exist in small living rooms while adding a degree of personality to the space in which a person relaxes.
Eight Great Lighting Ideas For Small Living Rooms
1. Layering Light: Ambient, Task, and Accent
The most important lighting choice that a person can make in a living room is the concept of layering light. When a person layer the light in a living room, a person should choose three different types of light: ambient, task, and accent. A flush-mount LED fixture can provide an ambient light.
Task lighting can come in the form of a slim floor lamp or a swing-arm sconce. A person can use accent lighting to highlight specific item in the living room, such as a picture light fixture or a light strip behind a shelf. These three types of lights will allow a person to change the mood of the living room without having to leave the couch.
2. Uplighting
Many people make the mistake of selecting one fixture for there living room. Another choice for lighting a living room is uplighting. Uplighting will make the ceilings in a living room disappear.
One way to do this is to place a compact torchiere light in a corner of the living room or placing a can light behind a plant in the living room. The light will reflect off the ceiling and shine down on the living room area. This is a good lighting choice for living rooms with eight-foot ceilings.
The uplighting light should have a low profile. A tall and skinny uplight will be less noticeable during the day but will shine bright at night.
3. Wall Sconces
Wall sconces are beneficial in small living rooms.
There are two main benefit of using wall sconces in a living room. First, the sconces will free up space on tables that is on the sides of the living room. Second, the sconces will shine its light sideways on the walls in the living room, making the living room appear visually larger.
The sconces should have both upward and downward shades. These will provide the living room with ambient light and task lighting for reading. The sconces should be installed at eye level for those who is seated in the living room, approximately sixty inches from the floor.
If this living room is to be used as an office area, the sconces may have USB port to keep cords from taking up space in the living room.
4. Mirrors and Light Reflection
Mirrors and lights work well in living rooms. One way that the two elements can work well together is by hanging a large mirror opposite a window in the living room and placing a narrow table lamp in front of the mirror.
The light from the lamp will reflect off the mirror and increase the amount of light in the living room. During the evenings, a person can replace the table lamp with an LED strip light that is hidden behind the mirror frame. The reflected light from the mirror will make the single lamp appear to be multiple lights in the living room.
Large mirror behind living room furniture work well. However, inexpensive mirrored furniture will create a visual noise in the living room. A mirror with a simple frame will create a better visual appearance than a variety of furniture items.
5. String Lights
String lights are often associate with dorm rooms at night and small celebrations. However, string lights can work well in a living room. The warm-white fairy lights can be draped over picture rails in the living room.
Alternatively, a variety of string lights can be placed in the branches of a plant that is present in the living room. The benefits of using string lights include that they will add some depth to the living room without taking up any floor space. The string lights that are used in a living room should have invisible wires and small bulbs so that they will not look too staged.
If the lights are dimmed, the living room will be lit with a soft, starlight effect. A color temperature of around 2700 Kelvin will allow the string lights in the living room to have the glow of candlelight.
6. Pendant Lights
Pendant lights can be used in a living room.
While restaurants may use pendant lights to highlight food, they do not have to be used for dining tables in a living room. Three pendant lights of different heights can be used to highlight a specific area of the living room for reading. The shade of the pendant lights should be no wider than six inches in width.
The shades can be made of matte ceramic, perforated metal, or hand-blown glass in colors that will provide a calm atmosphere for the living room. Sixty inches from the floor is a good height for the pendant lights. This will allow for a chair and ottoman under the lights.
Additionally, the lights will give the living room the appearance of having grand architectural details throughout the space.
7. Recessed Lights
If a person has the budget for lighting a living room and the ceiling is high enough, recessed lights can be used. Shallow LED recessed lights only require two inch of clearance from the ceiling.
These may be the best choice for those who live in older apartments. One strategy in using these lights is to place them around the perimeter of the living room rather than in a grid pattern. Using eyeball trims on these lights allows the person to aim the light at pictures on the wall or books on shelves.
Additionally, if the person changes the decor in the living room, the person can adjust the recessed lights to focus the light on these new items. The color temperature of the light must match the other light in the living room. Using both warm white and cool white lights will create a strange effect in the living room.
8. Furniture with Built-in Lighting
Finally, another option for a living room is the use of furniture with built-in lighting. Modern furniture manufacturers produce products that incorporate LED strips under the sofa or within the bookcases. The built-in lights will make the furniture appear as though it is floating off the floor.
This feature is of most benefit to those who live in studio apartments. Every inch of floor space counts. The LED strips in the furniture should be warm-white in color and have a color rendering index of 90 or above so that the colors in the living room will appear accurate.
This is a moddern feature that solve the problem of darkness in corners in the living room. Each of the lighting ideas can be used in a living room. First, ensure that the room is lighted according to the layering method for lights.
Then, add wall sconces or uplights to the living room. Additionally, place mirrors so that the reflected light will increase the amount of light in the living room. After the living room is lighted as described, add string lights, pendant lights, and furniture with built in lighting to provide some additional feature to the living space.
A small living room does not have to feel small and cramped if the person who lives in the apartment selects the right type of lighting for the area. The change in the living room that results from the addition of lighting will be felt quickly by the individuals in the living room. The living room will appear to have more space in it.
Achieving this lighting plan for the living room is worth the time it will take to plan the living room and to use a drill to install the lighting fixture in the living room.
