When it comes to choosing beautiful, functional lighting, the selections can appear endless and may be leaving you with no idea where to start.
If so, you’re not alone. Many homeowners mistakenly believe any fixture will do the same job, when in fact effective lighting design is something of an art.
The right lighting elements can make your home more relaxing or energizing, boost your sense of well-being and make daily tasks easier, all while reflecting your personal taste. According to Statista, the desire for such improvements motivated 63 percent of U.S. consumers to plan changes to their home lighting in 2020-21.
To assist such forward-thinking homeowners, Erin Hoover, director-design, Luxury Space for Kohler Co., offers the following suggestions on choosing ideal home lighting.
Factor in function
Ask yourself what you’d like your lighting to accomplish in the room you’re addressing. How is the room used? Do you need a main source of illumination for the space, or do you need to supplement that with decorative accents? Where do you need direct and indirect light?
Consider existing architecture
Even if you like an eclectic look (Pinterest and Instagram can be inspiration), you’ll want to at least partially align each fixture with the rest of your space in terms of form, line and/or color. In general, high ceilings work well with pendants, chandeliers and linearstyle lighting and lower ceilings work better with flush or semiflush fixtures and sconces. Your furniture layout may guide placement of chandeliers, linear style designs or pendants.