Bedroom Lighting needs to be carefully thought out and planned because usually the bedroom tends to function as multiple rooms and can require effective task lighting for its various roles. The bedroom can double up as a study, or a television room, or as a reading room and most usually as a dressing room and sometimes it has to function as all these rooms!
Also the bedroom is the first room you see in the morning upon waking and is the last room you see at night before going to sleep. Given that its main function is to be a room of rest, tranquility and comfort, this is one room where getting the lighting right is of paramount importance.
The color scheme of a bedroom has a large role to play in the mood and ambience of the bedroom. And the way in which lighting is used to great effect in a room, will depend on the color of the walls and the furnishings in that room. For instance, bright colors such as orange and yellow are very popular for young children's rooms, pink tend to be more popular with girls, blue is thought of as a cool and calming color. No matter what color the room, by using suitable lighting fixtures, it is possible to change the effect and ambiance of the room by day and by night by simply using different types of lights. An example would be having a blue room – during the day this would come across as being calm and tranquil though, by using color-tinted lamps and warm-colored lighting and having bedside lamps with colored light bulbs, the room can take on a more warm and welcoming appearance by night.
As noted earlier, effective task lighting is key to good bedroom lighting and can be provided through a variety of different ways. Fixed fittings are one option but whilst they remove dangling wires and the risk of overturning table lamps etc, they may confine the bed to a particular place in the room. Portable lighting is the other option and effective task lighting in bedrooms can be easily realized using adjustable reading lamps near to the bed to facilitate reading or desk lamps for the dressing table areas. It is also possible to use special clip-on reading lights (for the bedhead) or spotlights clipped to a wall shelf or even use a floor standing uplighter at each end of the bed.
If the room does not need to be bright lit up, then table lamps dotted around the bedroom are sufficient and can create a low-lit, cozy and comfortable bedroom. Usually two light fixtures at either side of the bed and a few table lamps placed on a desk or dressing table will suffice.
It is possible to use the more familiar lighting effects, commonly used in other rooms, to great effect in the bedroom. For example, effective use of picture lights to create specific focus on portraits or paintings hung on walls as well as using uplighters under a bay window to highlight curtains – these methods are just as effective in the bedroom as they would be in the living room or hallway areas.
For more dramatic bedroom lighting effects, consider placing a linear light underneath the bed itself – this results in a beautiful warm glow and gives the appearance that the bed is almost floating. The same sort of effect can be achieved by placing light fixtures under the bottom of shelves.