Lighting with an interior decorator

Some lights are more appropriate than others

Lighting is a very important part of interior design. It can affect your mood, your productivity, and your sleep. If you light your room in a way that you like, then it can change how you feel about your room.

Drishti Aghi, an associate at an interior design company helped us out to figure out how to light your room, depending on your space and preferences.

We started out talking about how someone would light their room, given that there are so many options nowadays in terms of watts and colours and other new products in the market.

Light different spaces differently

It sounds pretty simple, but also raises a lot of questions like, how do you know where to put which light? And which part of the room should be lit brighter?

Dristhi says, “As interior designers, we know intuitively and if we have doubts, we just do the math. But if there is a rule of thumb, then it’s that if your space is large then use brighter lights and if it’s small then use less bright lights. But as well you can do what you like with it, it’s your preference as to how much light you want in your room.”

It may sound a little confusing at this point but stay with me, we can figure this out together. From what she says, it may sound like just doing the math to know that an x amount of space needs a y amount of light, but in fact, there is a lot of room to maneuver. “There is no perfect amount of light.” She says, “It’s all about your preferences. If you like a certain part of a room to be bright then put a bright light there, if not then you can put something dimmer. Of course, now we have coloured LED lights too and that is all about colour theory and all that.”

Talking about lighting a smaller room, Dristhi says how you live is also a factor in getting the balance right in terms of frequency of light. “It does also depend on which area you will be needing more light. So, if you have a desk then you’ll need a light there.”

Another tip is to have layers of light. You can use a brighter light for the entire room and fewer bright lights in different spaces. Like using a desk lamp or a night lamp, use smaller lights to add something more to your space. Adding layers can change how you look at a room and how you move about it.

Layer your lighting so that no part of the room is in the dark

Have you ever entered a room for the hundredth time and felt that it’s a different space just because the lighting is different? If you have, then you know how important lighting can be. So, be conscious of how you light your place and experiment until you feel it’s right.