Real Life Design Lessons: Creative Ways to Use Lighting
Light fixtures are great in the home for illuminating things, of course, but they can also be used successfully to inject drama and boldness in a room, too. Consider these novel ways to use lighting in your home to make a bold design statement.
Back light a design element
You can use lighting in your home to illuminate areas that you need to see better and to highlight interesting design elements. Nothing quite catches the eye in a space like something that’s lit up. In Scott and Jerre’s Chicago home, I spy a disco ball in a vignette made more eye-catching by back lighting it. The great thing about this idea is that it is very flexible and can be very affordable; you could use an inexpensive string of lights behind a design element (or even a battery-operated string light if there isn’t a nearby electrical outlet).
Hang a pendant light over your living room seating
Who says pendant lights have to hang over a kitchen island or dining room table? Sure, they look great in those locations, but used in unusual spots like over living room seating, a simple hanging pendant can become a bold design statement. In fact, so bold and unexpected is this design idea that you can use it to save money: Affordable and budget light fixtures used in unusual spaces can make just as big of a visual impact as an expensive pendant hanging over a dining room table.
Use wall-mounted lights like overhead lighting
I loved the way that Scott and Jerre used these swing-arm wall-mounted lights in the kitchen. Attached high on a wall so that they hang over the kitchen island, they’re an unusual way to use wall-mounted lights in a room and a great solution for folks with high ceilings or who don’t want to hang anything from the ceiling.
