Opulence and Ambience: What to Look For in Luxury Lighting

Lighting can transform any space, and has a myriad of uses in your home, both practical and aesthetic. You can use lighting to hide or highlight specific areas in your room, or to make a room look bigger or cosier. Lighting can also have a big impact on the ambience of a room, making you feel romantic or energised, comfortable or focused. As such it is important to make informed lighting decisions when decorating your space.

Read on for a comprehensive guide to lighting design, with advice on what to look for when choosing your luxury lighting.

Types of Lighting

It is necessary to consider the three main lighting purposes when adorning your room. Having just one kind of lighting can leave your room under or overlit, or could make the space impractical.

The three main types of lighting are:

• Ambient lighting - this is the main lighting source in your room that sets the mood for the entire space, usually a fixed wall or recess light.

• Task lighting - this is the lighting that illuminates a specific area of your room for activity, such as a desk lamp for office work.

• Accent lighting - this is an entirely decorative form of lighting, designed to highlight wall art or accentuate architectural features, often seen as spotlights or fairy lights.

Understanding Directional Lighting

It is also important to understand where in your room your lighting fixtures are sending their illuminations. There are three main types of directional lighting, which work in different ways in your space. These include:

• Downlighting - where light fixtures are designed to illuminate downwards against a wall or surface.

• Uplighting - where light fixtures direct light upwards, often situated on the floor or underneath cabinets.

• Spotlighting - A strong beam of light that can be directed anywhere in a room, typically seen in lamps or ceiling lights.

Purposeful Lighting For Every Room

When considering your luxury lighting needs, it is vital to consider the specific requirements of your room. Every area of your house uses lighting in a different way and for a unique purpose. Understanding these variations will help you to make the best lighting decisions for your home.

Peruse the list below for a detailed guide to how luxury lighting can work in each purpose built space:

Kitchen

Illuminate your culinary space to make chopping and preparing food an optimal experience - a luxurious breakfast bar or under the counter lighting are two easy ways to elevate your space.

Living Room

Express yourself in your lounge area with cosy lighting choices that maximise your leisure time - standing lamps and table lights are a great way to boost ambience as well as adding a sense of decorative flair to the room.

Bedroom

Soothe your senses by making your bedroom space a sanctuary from the outside world - add a little luxury with touch sensitive lighting, dimmer switches, or colour tinted mood lights to make the most of your space both at the start and end of your day.

Bathroom

Balance practicality and interior design creativity in your bathroom space - designated areas for well-lit mirrors and sinks can work alongside more ambient and relaxing lighting for your evening bubble bath.

Hallway

Guide your guests through your home with well chosen hallway lighting - a series of hanging pendant lights or a standing lamp at the end of a dimly lit corridor provide a welcoming entrance to your home.

Garden

Elevate your outdoor space by using garden lighting with flair - patio or barbecue areas can be lit up by delicate string lights to create a luxury summer dining space, whilst free standing LED lights can create a tasteful lawn focal point.

Dining Room

Cultivate an atmospheric dining experience that will motivate you to host dinner parties and candlelit feasts - hanging pendants or a classy chandelier can make the most of high ceilings and draw attention to your table centrepiece. See below for more detail on choosing the right dining room fixtures for your home.

Dining Room Light Fixtures

Illuminating your dining room is a priority for any homeowner who loves to entertain, or who appreciates the intimacy of a well-lit dinner for two.

Top tips for choosing your dining room lighting:

1. Choose warm, ambient lighting over harsh white light, as this can make your food look washed out and unappetising.
2. Choose a statement light fixture depending on the size of your dining table, rather than the size of your room - this should be around one third the width of your table.
3. Space out your downlights, with no more than one per square metre for the perfect lighting arrangement.

You can also coordinate your dining room lighting to your other dining accessories. For instance a luxurious gold dinner set would be excellently complemented by a statement crystal chandelier. Alternatively, quaint lampshades would provide a perfect match for an afternoon tea set.

Including Lighting In Your Interior Design Choices

When designing your home it is important to understand the architectural aspects of your space that you wish to emphasise. Lighting can help to show off features such as a window, a fireplace, or shelving unit. Some lights emphasise different aspects of your space, whilst others are the decoration, such as a string of floral fairy lights or a statement clear glass chandelier.

Levels of lighting are also important to consider, whether you’re fitting a large hanging ceiling light, or small cabinet spotlights. This allows you to illuminate dark or underused areas of the room, whilst also having a statement light feature to bring the room together. This involves deciding if your lighting is a decorative defining piece in your room that draws the eye, or if it’s to be more practical and discrete. A light up mirror for instance conceals its light fixtures to preserve a smooth surface, where the item can be lit up or not depending on your needs.

Chandeliers: A Timeless Status Symbol for Your Home

Chandeliers are the pinnacle of luxury lighting, where they add a sense of style and opulence to any room. The word chandelier is borrowed from the French chandelle, meaning ‘candle’, with the earliest examples originating from the Byzantine period. The style really gained in popularity during the 18th century, where Venetian glassmakers were mastering the luxury lighting craft.

New types of chandelier developed in the years that followed, including the Italian Murano style, also known as ciocca, which translates as ‘bouquet of flowers’. Defined by its intricate arabesque features, these lights consist of natural details such as foliage and flowers cut from coloured glass. By the mid-19th century, many traditional candle-based chandeliers were fitted with new gas lighting, more recently replaced with electric bulbs for the modern home.

As an enduring status symbol, chandeliers are often found in the homes of the wealthy or royalty, as well as culturally important or religious buildings. Famous examples include the chandeliers found in Buckingham Palace, the Bath Assembly Rooms, the Paris Opera House, or the Palace of Versailles.

Chandeliers create a unique centrepiece in any room, where the light shining through the glass or crystal produces an unbeatable atmosphere. There are multiple different types and designs of chandelier that can be chosen to achieve this effect, including:

• Crystal - traditional design, often with clear chandelier crystals
• Modern - minimalist shapes, geometric designs
• Shaded - brushed glass covers the individual light units
• Drum - shaped like a round drum, available in a variety of fabrics
• Mini - ideal for smaller spaces
• Sputnik - core surrounded by smaller orbiting bulbs
• Waterfall - tiered hanging pieces featuring glass or crystal beads

Luxware offers an opulent range of crystal chandeliers and light fixtures. Browse our lighting catalogues for chandelier inspiration in your space.

It is important to clean your chandelier properly to ensure it keeps its sparkle. The best approach to this is to polish each bead or crystal individually with a microfibre cloth, wearing gloves to avoid leaving behind any fingerprints. We will advise you on cleaning and maintenance when you purchase a lighting fixture from our range.

Luxware Ltd: Meeting Your Lighting and Homeware Needs

At Luxware Ltd, we offer a selection of the finest and most luxurious homeware on the market, supplying your interior with lighting fixtures, dining sets, and soft furnishings. We have products to add a little bit of luxury to every room, including bathroom towels, kitchen baking tins, and bedroom bedding.

We are dedicated to bringing luxury to your everyday experience, where we also sell practical utensils and accessories, such as pots, pans, spice mills and measuring equipment.

Check out our new arrivals now for an overview of all our latest products, or contact us for more information about our current range.