HOW TO enhance your interior with luxury interior lighting
Designing a living space can be an overwhelming experience, a constant barrage of decisions that all require careful consideration, so it’s not surprising that lighting often ends up being an afterthought.
But the lighting choices you make at the design stage can be the difference between a room you love to spend time in, or not.
Lighting has the power to make or break an interior. - where the lighting fits with different moods, the purpose of the space and times of day, and a room that feels harsh, overpowering or too hard to ‘set the right scene’ in, falling short of the function and warmth for which it was originally intended.
If you are designing an open-plan living space, or any large room with multiple zones, we suggest that the lighting is considered at the design stage - not tagged onto the end, and here’s why.
Multiple Uses
Let’s take an open plan kitchen diner with a living room area as an example. The space is likely to have large bifold doors bringing natural light into the room, as well as an area that requires brighter lights for food preparation. There may also be an area where softer lighting is required for dining or relaxation. Throw in the added element of preference from different family members, and you’ve got a room that requires an expert eye to design lighting that will make your space not only functional, but feel and look luxurious too.
Won’t the electrician working on the project be able to put in the lights we need?
In short, no. If you watch the video below you will see the difference between what could be seen as a ‘standard lighting design’ for an open-plan living space, and luxury lighting design.
The first set up has lots of downlights which light the room fully, but feel one dimensional and won’t be easily adjustable or sensitive to the different zones in the room. Then when we see the luxury lighting system activated, you will notice layers of lighting are added, and design features enhanced.
This lighting scheme is designed to enhance the zones within the room; feature walls, drinks cabinets, or even outdoor spaces come into focus, resulting in a room that is appealing to be in and is lit in such a way to complement the function that the room is being used for at any given time.
How do you control all these zones, doesn’t it get complicated?
This is something we are asked A LOT, and the answer is - with the right control system it doesn’t have to be.
Understandably, no one wants a control system that requires an engineering degree to operate. Luxurious lighting has often been misused over the years, leaving the client with overly complicated controls which they don’t understand how to use. The result is that all the benefits of a well-designed lighting scheme are lost.
The good news is, the way we integrate luxury lighting comes with a simple to use control panel that our clients love. One even said to us lately;
‘I can’t imagine living without it’ - people really seem to love their preset lighting controls!
How do we make this happen?
We do away with a panel of dimmer switches, and replace it with one simple panel that has pre programmed settings, meaning at the touch of a button your lights will be at the right levels for that exact moment, it really is that simple.
We spend time understanding how the client may want their room to feel and look, from there we provide a lighting scheme that does just that - with the most simple controls possible.
As the video below demonstrates, we streamline the control to easily identifiable buttons, for example ‘bright’ or ‘soft’.
Lighting doesn’t have to be complex, but it does have to be designed sensitively, and by someone who knows how to use light to create a luxurious living space that can be enjoyed at the touch of a button.
If you would like to discuss your project with us, we would love to hear from you, you can contact us via this form.