Lighting is an important element of interior design — it’s not just a way to improve visibility at night, it creates ambience, can make a space seem bigger and can add a personal touch to your home.
Mapping out the lighting in your new home requires care and attention. At Geelong Homes, our colour consultants can guide you through this process to help you create a more light-filled, welcoming space.
This discussion happens in our Style Studio during your colours appointment when you choose your internal and external colours, finishes and fixtures. In this appointment, our colours consultants also discuss how you can upgrade your lighting fixtures to give your home the ultimate polished finish.
We believe it pays to be familiar with what lighting can work in your home.
Here’s a list of lighting options that you should consider when planning the lighting in your home:
Pendant lighting
Pendant lighting is one of the most popular choices when it comes to lighting in your home. You’ll often see pendants used to provide light over kitchen benches, bathroom benches or in bedrooms over bedside tables. Pendant lighting creates an eye-catching focal point and is one of the simplest ways to add character to your home.
The great thing about pendant lighting is it comes in all shapes and sizes. Depending on the size of the space you can opt to cluster two or three together or choose a linear pendant or a large statement piece.
In a coastal home, a rattan or wicker pendant easily provides an earthy, beachside look to your home. Or for a more subtle coastal look, go nautical with a simple pendant of polished chrome and clear glass — which you can see in our Flinders 221 display home.
If you’re a fan of industrial interior design, you can have lots of fun with pendants. Take a look at the lighting in our Arcadia 206 display — black, sleek and simple — industrial pendants add an ultra-modern look to a space.
Downlights
Looking for a simple, clean look? Downlights are your best option. Downlights are practical and can provide excellent light to space. They are also great at highlighting areas, objects or artworks.
You may think that downlights are a little boring, especially when you compare them with the looks you can have fun creating with pendants. But in fact, there is a range of options when it comes to downlights. Downlights come in a range of finishes — from white to matte black to chrome to gold. As well as the traditional fixed downlights you can get surface mount downlights in a range of sizes and finishes that create a clean, high-end lighting look.
And if you use LED downlights opposed to halogen globes they are energy efficient.
Wall sconces
Wall sconces could be considered one of the most traditional forms of lighting — think 17th-century candle sconces! These days, modern wall sconces are used for both practical and decorative purposes. They are more commonly used to light your entrances and hallways or in bedrooms above bedside tables, fireplaces or any other areas that can be enhanced with lighting.
One of the clever things about wall lights is you can go bold, with a fitting that’s intricate and decorative, or you can go subtle, with small, modern spotlights. In our Arcadia 206 display home, wall sconces have been used in the master bedroom above the built-in bedhead to create a clean, contemporary look that’s practical and well-suited to the home’s industrial design theme.
Automated lighting
If you’ve mapped out your lighting and developed a layered system for your home you can go a step further and automate your lighting.
Using virtual assistant systems such as Amazon Echo, you can start controlling your lighting from your smartphone. This includes scheduling your lights to go on and off, dimming your lights, or turning your lights on and off remotely. You can also create a wake-up alarm system for you in the mornings so that the lights gradually turn on to full brightness instead of using a noisy alarm. And depending on your globes you can also control the colour of your lighting.
Automated lighting is not just a design statement but works really well as a security measure. You can be away on holidays and have lights coming on and off to give the appearance that you are still at home.
In summary
Lighting can create ambience, make a space seem bigger and can add character to your home, but to do so it requires some planning. At Geelong Homes, our colour consultants can help you map out the lighting in your new home and discuss how you can upgrade your lighting fixtures to give your home the ultimate polished finish.
There are four lighting options we believe you should consider if you are looking to upgrade:
- Pendant lights: An easy way to add character to an area. Depending on the size of the space you can opt to cluster two or three together or choose a linear pendant or a large statement piece.
- Downlights: For a clean contemporary look, downlights are practical and can provide excellent light to a space. They are also great at highlighting areas, objects or artworks.
- Wall sconces: Wall sconces are both practical and decorative. They are more commonly used to light your entrances and hallways or in bedrooms above bedside tables, fireplaces or any other areas that can be enhanced with lighting.
- Automated lighting: Using virtual assistant systems such as Amazon Echo, you can start controlling your lighting from your smartphone. This includes scheduling, dimming and controlling the colour of your lights from wherever you are!
