How to choose best lighting fixtures for your dream home

NEW DELHI: Setting up the ambience of your home with all that exquisite furniture and classy flooring? What about the lighting? Did you overlook that aspect? While many tend to ignore this one facet of home decor, the importance of lighting is felt most when it is poor!

Gone are the days when lighting was just meant for illuminating the house. Modern day lighting plays an important role in interior designing as it not just enhances everything in a room – from the furniture, flooring, fittings to the finishes and textures, but also creates a warm, inviting and functional atmosphere in your living space.

Mikita Laad Gupta, Senior Designer, Bonito Designs and Abraham Santhosh, Head Designer, Elegancia give you tips to make your home or room a beautiful showcase for your great taste:

* Chandeliers: No, they are not just for lavish mansions or big houses. A chandelier can be of different shapes and sizes. This light fitting can act as a great home decor option not just as a visual treat but also for spreading the light evenly. You can hang a chandelier in the centre of your living room and it will instantly infuse a regal touch to your space.

* Floor Lamps: Floor lamps are great options, especially for the living room and the bedroom, as they can easily illuminate an entire room or adjust to light up a specific area. Available in different shapes and sizes, these lamps can transform the entire look and ambiance of the room. Place these next to a cozy reading nook or a chaise-longue and immediately the floor lamps will add a classy, understated vibe to the area.

* Recessed Lighting: Such lighting allows you to illuminate only the part of the room that may be necessary at a given point of time. These are generally used in larger rooms. This kind of lighting usually makes use of incandescent, fluorescent or halogen bulbs for the purpose of illumination. Dimmers can be used to make the lights brighter or dimmer accordingly.

* Fan Lights: They are a new concept where a set of lights come attached to the ceiling fans. The bulbs of these lights are especially designed to resist the vibrations of the fan. Apart from giving a bright illumination to the entire area, they are spell a unique charisma.

* Skylight: Skylight is a very innovative way to bring in some natural light into a room. One can beautify it by adding certain natural elements to it. Penthouses or kids’ room are the apt places wherein they can be used very strategically. They can convert a room into a brightly-lit space by the day and a calm environ at night with the twinkling of the stars for company.

* Hanging lights: These lighting fixtures are yet another great way to spruce up the ambiance. A well-chosen hanging light can take the look of your room to the next level, making it look edgy and modern. Available in many quirky designs and shapes, they generally come with adjustable cables so that one can adjust their height as per the height of the room.

* Bedside lamp: Add some class and glamour to your bedroom with a vintage or a cane lamp. Not only do they take the style quotient of your room decor a notch higher, they also make your room inviting enough for you to want to unwind there after a long day at work.

* Mirror lights: Mirrors reflect light and that makes any space look bigger and brighter. When you add a light on either side of the mirror, the mood of the space changes instantly. Such lighting fixtures can be perfect to make your bathroom or vanity room look uber stylish and spacious.

IANS