The lighting we choose for our home greatly affects the look and atmosphere we want to create: the most impressive look possible, a combination of aesthetics and practicality, and an atmosphere that suits the wishes of the household. With a few simple steps, you can renew and upgrade the design of your home and create the atmosphere that suits you. Using the following lighting solutions, you can make a huge change in any home and create an inviting, pleasant atmosphere that affects everyone around.
The starting point: lighting as art
Home lighting has a clear role: to illuminate different spaces in the home. But over the years, the perception has taken root that lighting is much more than that, a perception that has blurred the boundaries between lighting and art. It starts with the light fixtures themselves, which today open up an endless variety of options. While in the past light fixtures looked boring or even uniform, today there are many fixtures whose very design is a visual experience. Fixtures can be placed in many areas of the home, not only on the ceiling: wall or floor lighting, for example, is very common today. In fact, there are now items that come with built-in lights from the start, such as doors or shower heads.
The lighting field offers many developments and innovations, some of which have taken root over the years. Using spotlights, usually to illuminate one or several objects, makes it possible to create depth and interest in every room of the home and to highlight everything that needs highlighting. Spotlights can be hung on a track and moved in different directions according to the specific need. Note that spotlights are mainly suitable as complementary rather than central lighting.
Light fixtures that have become very popular in Israel are modular fixtures, which can be placed as a cluster on the ceiling or on the wall. A common way to do this is to choose similar fixtures that differ only in size and position. The relationships formed between the fixtures create interest and serve as a prominent design element. It is important not to overload the space with fixtures, since this may lead to an undesirable effect: visual clutter that strains the eye, or even significantly reduce each fixture’s ability to light the area we want it to light.
Minimalism in lighting too
One of the most interesting trends in interior design in recent years is the desire to create a smooth, clean and minimalist look. This also affects lighting, as many people look for solutions that offer this minimalism. An effective way to achieve it is to choose fixtures based on smooth lines and simple geometric shapes. In terms of the fixtures’ colors, a common choice today is to prefer calm, quiet colors, including various variations of white.
Another interesting trend is bareness – in this case, of the light fixtures. These are hollow fixtures, usually hanging from the ceiling, through which you can see the bulb in full detail. The purpose of choosing such a design is to create a light, uncluttered atmosphere in the room, something many families in Israel need.
How to create the desired atmosphere
One of lighting’s abilities, as mentioned, is to define an atmosphere, so when choosing specific solutions you should also think about the atmosphere you want to achieve – both in the home as a whole and in each of its areas or spaces. It is not hard to find examples: a “warm” atmosphere can be created using relatively light lighting solutions, both in the fixture itself and in the light it spreads. Another option for those who want a “wintry” atmosphere is to choose fixtures surrounded by velvet trims. The variety of patterns and designs in these categories is simply endless, with prints, drawings and decorations for the customer to choose from. Another option is to choose a personally designed light fixture from the start, which adds individuality and personal expression to the equation.
Those who want flexibility or a different atmosphere at different moments may prefer dimmers, which let you change the light intensity according to specific needs at any point in time. Dimmers can create lighting scenarios – a romantic atmosphere, for example.
Saving as a key word
When talking about lighting, you also need to consider the economic aspect of operating it: even the most visually impressive lighting solution may lose most of its advantages if operating it requires parting with large sums of money every month. The last word in the field is lighting based on LED bulbs, one of whose hallmarks is efficiency higher than any other type of bulb.
LED bulbs can be used for long periods while consuming minimal electricity – and so also causing minimal harm to the environment. The growing popularity of LED bulbs can be seen in today’s wide range of light fixtures designed from the outset for these bulbs.