living room lighting, residential lighting solutions Santa Cruz CA

15 Living Room Lighting Ideas for Comfort and Hosting

Your living room lighting should illuminate the room and be incredibly versatile. The best kind of lighting involves layering three different styles on top of each other. While task lighting creates bright light for specific tasks and spaces, ambient lighting gives the room its general illumination. Finally, accent lighting helps you accentuate your art and other decorative features.

To get the best residential lighting solutions Santa Cruz CA has to offer, you should start by adjusting your overhead lighting. Then, you can invest in some lamps for during the evening. For more lighting ideas, read on.

15 Living Room Lighting Ideas for Comfort and Hosting

When designing your living room lighting, you have to think about the space you are in. Most lighting options are designed to accentuate existing features in your living room. Because of this, you may want to spend some time playing around with your wall art, decorative items and furniture.

1. Living Room Floor Lamps

It is hard to go wrong with living room floor lamps. These floor lamps can help you get task and ambient lighting in your living room. Plus, they are excellent at illuminating your favorite workspace or reading nook.

You can use floor lamps in any location. They can be designed from metal, wood or other materials, so they can easily blend into your home decor. Normally, floor lamps look the best in spaces where you have a limited amount of table space.

2. Steel Pendant Lamps

If you want an industrial look, go for steel pendant lamps. This living room lighting feature is quite popular right now, and it is a great way to improve your ambient lighting. These lamps tend to produce harsh light, so you may want to add some soft spotlights as well. Then, you can switch between different lighting fixtures based on the ambiance you are trying to achieve.

3. Living Room Ceiling Lights

Ceiling lights are one of the most traditional lighting options. They come in an impressive variety of sizes and styles. While pendant lights are one of the most popular options, you can find ceiling lights in almost any kind of style you can imagine.

Most rooms use at least one ceiling light because these lights can easily brighten the entire space. If you want to create a better ambiance, you can add a dimmer and adjust the light’s brightness level. With this option, you can pick a light that is as ornate or humble as you want.

4. Low Lamps for Coffee Tables

This is such a fun home decor option. Basically, you pick a coffee table or dining room table and place it in a good location. Then, you can install a light that hangs above the table.

To really make this design stand out, you want the light to hang fairly low. When you carry out this style properly, it really helps to draw attention to the light fixture. As a result, you can enjoy a fun spot for socializing with your friends.

5. Wall Lights

Another one of the residential lighting solutions Santa Cruz CA residents need is wall lights. Wall sconces and other types of wall lights are good for adding light in specific locations around the room. You normally have to hardwire these lights into the wall, but there are a few options that can be quickly plugged into a wall socket instead.

If you have a large living room, wall lights are an excellent choice. You can use wall lights to naturally create different zones and atmospheres. Plus, you can change the bulb or add a dimmer to create a different ambiance.

6. Chandeliers

Chandeliers are an easy way to make a statement in your room. If you want a more modern look, try cluster lights or flush lights. Flush lights are generally placed near the ceiling, which makes them a good option if you have a low ceiling.

Before you buy any chandelier, you should measure your ceiling first. Chandeliers hang fairly low, so you do not want your chandelier to be low enough to bump into your head. Additionally, a chandelier can overpower a small space if you buy one that is too large.

7. Spotlights

If you absolutely love some of your design features, you can use living room lighting to show them off. All you need to do is invest in a few spotlights. Because many of these spotlights can be easily attached to the wall, you can add them to your living room without needing an electrician.

8. Living Room Table Lamps

Table lamps can be easily placed near your couches and chairs. As long as you have table space available, you can add a table lamp. Then, you can easily read or work on a project.

In general, you want to get a table lamp that has a light shade. This fabric shade can dispel some of the light for a warmer ambiance. While dark shades absorb light, light shades reflect light around the room.

9. Fairy Lights

Fairy lights can be a lot of fun. They are also extremely easy to install and remove. You can also select them in a variety of different sizes, which can change the overall aesthetic.

Often, you will see people use fairy lights above outdoor patios and decks. In a living room, you can string them around your favorite pieces of artwork. They also look great around windows and mantelpieces.

10. LED Lights

LED lights are incredibly popular for home decor. Other than being eco-friendly, they are also known for lasting years longer than traditional light bulbs. Plus, you can get them in a variety of colors.

You can use LED spotlights and fixtures to accent different parts of your living room. If you have a book collection or a bunch of shelves, you can easily incorporate LED lights. All you have to do is install them at the back of the shelves, so everything on the shelf can be lit up from behind.

11. Lanterns

For a Moroccan vibe, try adding some lanterns. These can be purchased in a variety of different colors and materials. You can also add some floor cushions for a true Moroccan design.

12. Gallery Walls

This design concept involves using lighting as your home decor. For instance, you can find decorative wall lights and add five or six of them to your wall. You want to find lights that are not particularly bright, so they just look like a collection of wall plates, sculptures or other accent pieces.

13. Arc Lights

Another one of the best residential lighting solutions Santa Cruz CA residents need is an arc light. They function like pendant lights by hanging over specific spaces. Instead of having to install them like chandeliers or pendant lights, you just attach them to an arc of metal or wood. Then, they can be easily moved around your living room space.

14. Adjustable Pendants

For a really functional light, you should install an adjustable pendant light in your home. Then, you can pull the light down when you need more light. When you want a better ambiance, you can move it higher up again.

15. Neon Lights

Neon lights are becoming more popular again. You can use small lights to accentuate different features or make a bold statement in your living room. Neon lights can also be incorporated into small signs or other design features. Small neon lights tend to blend in better, but there are a variety of ways you can use this lighting feature.

When designing your home decor, there are many different lighting options you can choose. At the Home Lighter in Pacific Grove, you can discover a range of living room lighting fixtures. To learn more about our lighting options, check out our store today.

Lighting your home is essential in improving your general living. Some common home lighting mistakes that people make can lead to a lack of light where needed or wasted energy. Here are six common home lighting mistakes everyone makes.

1. Using One Light Source

Using one source of light will leave dark spaces in your home. You will not have enough light to perform functions, especially in your kitchen. Adding layers to your lighting will increase your home comfort and add balance to ensure all areas in the room receive sufficient light.

Areas like the kitchen require ample light since it’s where you prepare your food. When you don’t have ample lighting, you may end up struggling to cook or hurt yourself when using utensils like a knife. You can improve lighting in your kitchen by installing simple fixes such as under-cabinet strip lighting or overhead track lighting with adjustable lamps.

You can add layers such as task, ambient, and accent lighting that will work together to achieve balanced lighting. You can use the ambient layer for overhead lighting and the accent layer for creative lighting on artistic elements. The task layer is for functional spaces for activities like the kitchen.

Accent lighting is rarely used since it requires a bit of creativity to pull it off, but it can bring your room to life with the right application. When using ambient lighting, ensure that you also incorporate other lighting layers to prevent your room from looking flat and dull.

2. Insufficient Lighting

When installing home lighting, most people usually forget about small spaces such as pantries and closets. Others install a single overhead light that does not sufficiently light up the whole room. It leaves shadows on the storage space and shelves, making the task of finding items very challenging. You can also install LED tape lights or under-cabinet lights in small spaces so that you can navigate easily. These lights also make your storage appear stylish and clean.

3. Lack of Lighting Controls

Incorporating lighting controls in your lighting plan is essential to aid in automation and to adjust your home lighting. Timers, dimmers, and motion sensors can help you save money on your electricity bill when appropriately used.

Dimmers are ideal in creating a more intimate ambiance with low-level lighting such as dining rooms, master bathrooms, living rooms, or bedrooms. They are also suitable for incandescent lamps to help reduce energy consumption and heat emission. Installing dimmers in your incandescent bulbs will help to increase their lifespan. Alternatively, you can use LED bulbs to change their color, dim, and perform other practical and fun things using your smartphone.

There are two types of motion sensors that is the vacancy and occupancy sensors. They turn the lights on or off when you forget. Timers are ideal for outdoor lights when used together with photocells.

4. Poor Positioning

Choosing the correct fixture is as important as placing it effectively in a room. Placing the fixture in the wrong place can ruin the room’s design and cast shadows. A room can have a cave-like feeling even when it has plenty of lights due to poor positioning.
When using recessed can layout to light your kitchen, ensure that you place the lights above the workspaces or countertops rather than over the entire room. This is because can lights fail to illuminate vertical surfaces with enough light where the eyes perceive the light.

Another example of lights that are often placed in the wrong position are wall sconces in the bathroom. To reduce shadows cast by overhead lights, ensure you put them at eye level about six inches from either side of the mirror.

Excess use of recessed lights around the ceiling is not appropriate as downlights do not light up walls. To sufficiently light up the room, your walls need to reflect the light. Superfluous use of recessed lights will leave your rooms poorly lit and increase your electricity bills. Install recessed lighting in ideal places and combine it with other types of lighting such as stylish pendants, beautiful chandeliers, wall and floor lamps, or track lighting systems.

5. Choosing the Wrong Light Bulb

Choosing the wrong light bulb for your room can make it feel dark and cold. One of the first mistakes people make when buying a light bulb is getting the wrong wattage. The amount of energy used in a light bulb is referred to as the watt. Using energy-efficient light bulbs can save your money on your electricity bill while giving the same amount of light using fewer watts.

It’s essential that you perform a little research to determine the wattage requirements of your home lighting fixture. Light bulbs have their wattage requirements, and the wattage limit is labelled or printed on them. If you are unsure of your existing light bulbs, you can uninstall them to confirm. To save energy in your home, you can use lower watts than the recommended but do not go higher as this could cause a fire.

Another common mistake with light bulbs is ignoring the lumen rating. This shows how bright the light bulb is. A light bulb with a higher lumen rating will appear brighter. When choosing a light bulb, remember that you need different levels of brightness in different rooms. Workspaces such as the kitchen require more light. Thus, you need to install light bulbs with a higher lumen rating. Other areas such as the living room or the bedroom can have light bulbs with lower lumen rating since they do not require a lot of brightness.

Your design and use of your rooms will determine the lumens you need. If you are looking for a design aesthetic that is dark and moody then, you will go for a lower lumen, while a bright design will require a higher lumen. You can adjust the lumen with seasonal changes or when you repaint your walls.

Buying the wrong light bulb color is a common mistake most people make. Light bulbs have different color hues and a wide range of light temperatures. The temperature of light bulbs is measured in Kelvins (K), and it affects how the room feels. Warm light bulbs range from 2000K to 3500K and give your space a cozy and soft intimate feel with a yellow or orange hue. It is common with vintage light bulbs such as incandescent light bulbs or Edison bulbs. You may also notice this type of hue during sunsets and sunrises. This color is ideal for rooms such as the bedroom, living room or dining room.

Natural or cool light bulbs range from 3500K to 5000K and give off a truer white color. It is identical to light present in the afternoon and morning outside. It gives a room a crisp, clean and inviting feel ideal for closets, bathrooms and offices.
Daylight light bulbs range from 500K to 6200K and give off a similar light to that of a sunny day at noon. It is a good choice for work spaces such as garages and kitchens since it is more crisp and clean than natural light.

Blue light bulbs are over 6200K, and they are not ideally used in homes. However, people with seasonal effective disorder or artists may use this type of light.

6. Leaving Out Exterior Lighting

Some people may forget to light the exterior spaces or install too much lighting. Lighting up your exterior spaces can improve the security of your home. However, a bright exterior light shining on your window will affect your comfort while you sleep. You can install solar landscaping lights to improve the beauty and safety of your yard at night. Motion-activated security lights are also vital in conserving energy and improving convenience as they light up after detecting movement.

If you are making any of the mistakes on the list, you may need to correct them to conserve energy and improve your comfort at home. If you have any issues with interior lighting fixtures santa cruz ca, you can visit the Lighter Inc. in Pacific Grove for more information.