Lighting and Home Decorating

Stylish lighting in a domestic setting is about more than just showy designs and eye-catching effects. A home is by definition a very personal space and where most of us spend a great deal of "down-time". This means that the lighting we select for our own homes has to both blend in with the prevailing style in terms of decor and perform its intended function.

By way of an example, consider the different requirements of a kitchen and a dining area. Both to do with food and both requiring a balance between being stylish and functional. There the similarities end. I have yet to see a kitchen that pulled of "stylish & functional" by using subdued lighting with the occasional retro floor lamp carefully positioned near strategic white goods to create a certain ambience.

Equally, I doubt there have been many dinner parties where the use of 35w halogen spotlights greatly enhanced the relaxed and jovial bonhomie around the elegantly dressed table. This is not rocket science. But there is a lot more to creating functional stylish lighting than just realizing that crisp, bright light is appropriate when preparing food and soft, mellow tones are better suited to the business of eating it. In many ways, it's not unlike the difference between plonking a TV in the corner and taking care to think about decorative TV Stands for a finishing touch. Both work, but which do you think is going to look way better?

Lighting forms a significant part of the overall designs we create for our private living spaces, but it is only a part of the whole. It has to work in harmony with existing colors and textures, sometimes to enhance or hilight a feature, sometimes to either contrast with or complement materials and fabrics. The possibilities are more or less endless and that in a sense is where you, the designer of your home steps in; to decide which among the infinite permutations fulfils your personal criteria of stylish and functional.

It's at this point that half the folk reading this run from the room shrieking “But I don't know anything about lighting and decor!” Well come back in and calm down. These are all just individual aspects of home decorating which anyone can learn. If you've even so much as bought a cushion for a sofa and been pleased with the result then that counts as an instance of successful home design.

The truth is no one else can actually decide whether that quirky palm tree lamp heightens the sense of tropical paradise you're trying to create in the lounge or looks, well, a bit kitsch. It's not their home; they don't share your tastes. Only you can make that call; and in a sense you can't get it wrong. If it works for you then it's right; if it doesn't then just try something else.