Choosing an appropriate lighting scheme for the bedroom can be a complicated task: you need to take into account the room’s dimensions and the fact it’s an area designed for rest and relaxation that doesn’t welcome intense lighting. Just like in other parts of your home, the backbone of a successful bedroom lighting design lies in arranging groups of illumination sources for each of the functional zones and picking up lighting fixtures that harmonize with the overall style and concept of the space.

Basic recommendations on bedroom lighting.

  1. Use the artificial lighting to maintain your natural rhythm of life.
  2. Think over different illumination scenarios if you use the bedroom not only for sleep but for other activities as well.
  3. The night-time illumination should not interfere with your sleep.
  4. Change the light intensity capriciously. A dimmer will enable you to smoothly and conveniently switch from bright to dim light.

Ambient bedroom illumination ideas.

The key principle of arranging ambient lighting in the bedroom is to avoid excessive brightness. This type of illumination can’t be created using a large chandelier with several powerful lamps, because the intense light such a fixture emits might cause eye discomfort, stringing you up instead of creating a relaxing atmosphere. The overhead bedroom lighting should be soft and diffused. USA and UK designers use several tricks in creating an ambient illumination scheme.

  1. The simplest of them is softening the lighting through shading their sources.
  2. An impressive way to form the overhead lighting is to employ halogen or fluorescent lamps hidden behind stained-glass panels.
  3. Placing the lighting sources above the translucent film fabric of the stretched ceiling will not only diffuse the light, but also raise the ceiling visually.
  4. Utilizing many small lamps to forms a starry sky pattern on the ceiling is quite an appealing idea of ambient bedroom illumination. Looking at stars – even if they are artificial – will contribute to relaxation and create a dreamy mood, helping you fall asleep faster. The professional solution involves hiding light-carrying fibers behind the stretched ceiling. Due to the optical light filters, they will constantly change their lighting intensity, gleaming and twinkling just like real stars.
  5. A scheme that involves hidden lighting sources opens up a vast space for experiments. You could place the strip daylight lamps under the ceiling, hiding them behind the wall protrusions or curtain rods. The lighting effect will create an impression that the ceiling is hovering above the room, as if separated from the vertical walls. If you prefer the feeling of weightlessness conceived by the visual separation of the walls from the floor, mount the strip lamps or several separate lighting sources into the floor to create a highlight.
  6. A most ordinary combined or scattered lighting source is suitable for organizing the ambient bedroom illumination. The ceiling fixture doesn’t have to take post precisely above the center of the room. For example, a fixture emitting upward light can occupy the spot above the bed.

Spot lights in your bedroom.

Spot and accent lights are present in every designer bedroom, and USA and UK designers impose quite a few functions on such interior elements. The most common option is to place local illumination sources on both sides of the headboard. The choice of suitable fixture is wide: night lamps on the bedside tables, wall lamps, floor lamps; small accent lights built into various decorative items, such as stained-glass panels or pictures.

  1. Floor lamps are considered the most convenient fixtures to create spot lighting in the bedroom, as designers believe such an illumination source should be located 50 inches above the floor level.
  2. Lamps mounted on movable brackets and featuring flexible stands are also a decent spot lighting option, especially if the bedroom is designed for more than one person – for example, for spouses or for children of different ages. You can bent or tilt such a lighting fixture, so that it illuminates only your side of the bed and does not interfere with your spouse’s sleep.
  3. Don’t disregard the traditional bedside lamps, which easily provide sufficient local illumination for reading and other bedtime activities.

The diversity of design options allows you to select a set of local lighting lamps to fit into any bedroom interior. Classic options retain their popularity in today’s design projects: for instance, think of a bedside lamp with an opulent lampshade and a fancy metal or ceramic foot. Contemporary homes benefit from lamps featuring chrome-plated elements and austerer lampshades.

Decorative bedroom lighting ideas.

Decorative lighting is used in bedroom interiors to create an atmosphere of utmost coziness and comfort. There are many methods of hidden or zonal illumination for highlighting virtually any element, including architectural niches and columns, interesting wall finishing ideas or focal points.

  • One of the US designers’ favorite tricks is to highlight the wardrobe’s semi-transparent glass doors. In addition to the aesthetic appeal, such a solution contributes to the wardrobe’s convenience.
  • Illuminating the mirror built into the wardrobe’s door is another solution that employs accent lighting advantageously. The suitable illumination fixtures are small spotlights, LED lights, or a single swivel lamp located near the mirror.
  • Highlighted pictures and paintings have an incredibly impressive appearance. If you’re a fan of more exotic decisions, have a look at glass panels painted with fluorescent paints.
  • For boosting the feeling of warmth and coziness in your bedroom, consider the idea of building a decorative niche at the headboard and highlighting it with LED lights that provide soft, ambient illumination.

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