The right lighting can completely change the way a room looks, feels and functions. With table lamps, floor lamps, pendants, ceiling lights and wall lights all to choose from, knowing where to start isn't always easy.
The secret is to think about how you actually use each room. A kitchen needs practical light for preparing food, while a bedroom calls for something much softer. Your living room may need several different types of lighting depending on whether you're reading, entertaining or settling down for the evening.
Here's our simple guide to choosing the right lighting for every room in your home.
What Are the Different Types of Lighting?
Before choosing individual lights, it helps to think about layered lighting, which works across three layers:
Ambient lighting provides the general light within a room, often from ceiling lights or pendants. Task lighting gives you brighter, more focused light for activities such as reading, cooking or working. Accent lighting adds atmosphere or draws attention to particular areas, furniture or decorative features. The most comfortable rooms tend to combine more than one of these rather than relying entirely on a single ceiling light.
Colour temperature also affects how each layer feels. A warmer white, around 2700 to 3000 Kelvin, suits ambient and accent lighting, while a cool white from around 4000 Kelvin works better for task lighting for seeing clearly.
What Lighting Is Best for a Living Room?
Living rooms usually benefit most from layered lighting. Start with a ceiling light or pendant to provide general illumination, then introduce table lamps and floor lamps around the areas you use most.
A floor lamp beside an armchair can create a comfortable reading spot, while table lamps on side tables, consoles and sideboards provide a softer glow in the evening.
Wall lights can also be useful for bringing light to the edges of the room without taking up additional floor or surface space. The aim is to give yourself options. Brighter light when you need it, and softer pools of light when you want the room to feel relaxed and cosy in the evenings.
What Lighting Is Best for a Kitchen?
Kitchen lighting needs to be practical first, but that doesn't mean it cannot be beautiful.
Your main ceiling lighting should provide plenty of general illumination throughout the room. If you have a kitchen island or breakfast bar, pendant lights can help define the area while providing more focused light over the surface below. Pendant lights are typically hung 75 to 95cm above a worktop or island.
Think carefully about materials too. Glass and open designs can help maximise brightness, while decorative pendants are an easy way to introduce colour, texture or shape without taking up valuable worktop space. Under-cabinet lighting is another good option for extra task light along the counter.
What Lighting Is Best for a Bedroom?
Bedroom lighting should feel noticeably softer than lighting elsewhere in the home.
A ceiling light provides the practical everyday layer, while dimmable bedside table lamps create a calmer atmosphere in the evening. If bedside space is limited, wall lighting is particularly useful as it leaves your table free for the things you actually need beside you.
Rather than one very bright light source, aim for several softer layers that allow the room to transition from daytime to bedtime.
What Lighting Is Best for a Hallway?
Hallways are often overlooked when we're planning lighting, but they're the first impression of your home.
A pendant or ceiling light will usually provide the main illumination, while a table lamp on a console, ideally around two-thirds of its width for good proportion, can instantly make an entrance feel warmer and more welcoming.
For narrow hallways where surface space is limited or there is only room for spotlights rather than a statement pendant, wall lights are a practical alternative.
If you have a longer hallway, consider how evenly the space is lit. Using several light sources can help avoid dark corners and make the whole area feel more considered.
Don't Forget the Lampshade
The lampshade you choose for your base only lamps is just as important as the lamp itself.
Fabric lampshades generally create a softer, more diffused glow, making them particularly suited to living rooms and bedrooms. Colour makes a difference too. Lighter shades often allow more light into the room, while darker colours can create a warmer, more atmospheric effect.
If you already have found a lamp base you love, changing the lampshade is one of the easiest ways to adjust both its style and the quality of light it gives off.
Choosing Lighting for Your Home
To create a more elevated look within your home, choose different types of lighting. Use ceiling lights and pendants for your main illumination, table and floor lamps or wall lights to introduce softer pools of light, and wall lights wherever you want to add another layer without taking up floor space.
By thinking about how each room is used first, choosing the right lighting becomes much simpler and your home will feel more comfortable because of it. Explore our lighting collections and find table lamps, floor lamps, ceiling lights, pendants, wall lights and lampshades for every room in your home.
FAQs
How many lamps does a living room need?
Most living rooms work well with two to three lamps in addition to the main ceiling light because it gives a mix of ambient and task lighting for different uses and times of day.
What colour temperature is best for a bedroom?
A warm white of around 2700 to 3000 Kelvin suits bedrooms best, as it creates a calmer, more relaxing feel than colder light.