March 2009

Lighting is incredibly important. It sets the mood, the atmosphere and the scale of a room. Would you rather go to a starkly lit dinner party or one possessing a comfortable glow? I think the glow is optimal; the lighting of our favourite little restaurant is something we should aspire to in our own spaces.

Thanks to a past life as a cinematography student and current forays into photography, I’ve learned what makes people and eyes happy. Thus, I offer my view on how to perfectly light your bedroom, your boudoir.

So how do we create friendly environments with light? My philosophy is to layer lamps across a room. This is to create rooms that we enjoy being in as well as simply shells in which to rest our bodies and keep our stuff. Aside from making the most of natural light sources, I believe there is one golden rule to great lighting:

Nothing is to be lit directly from overhead!

Bedrooms are for relaxing, not washed out faces. You want to feel your best in your bedroom, not be squinting and squirming at the sight of your nose casting bizarre cubist shadows everywhere. To achieve a warmly lit bedroom scene, I use three tiers of lighting: atmospheric, task and decorative.

ATMOSPHERIC:

These are the main sources of light in the room. I love the liberal use of standing floor lamps, preferably at different levels. However most bedrooms are average sized and therefore don’t necessitate a forest of lamps. A more appropriate set up therefore would be a low floor lamp (such as a globe), a table height lamp and a large standing light source.

TASK:

This layer is about the lights above your mirror and your bedside lamps. The functional stuff shouldn’t be neglected – making sure your bases are covered will make everything that much more harmonious and liveable:

• It’s highly recommended that if you are sharing a bedroom, make sure there is two separately controlled beside light sources. Me? I like to have two lamps anyway, so it doesn’t matter which side I stretch out to sleep on, hee.

• A light source above your mirror will save time; whether doing your make up, plucking nose hairs or just general preening. Fumbling in the dark always hinders “going out” preparation.

• If you must have a desk or workspace in your room (if only we all had the space to make bedrooms only for sleeping and relaxing in), allow it its own light source, with a high wattage bulb. No need for utilitarian pieces here however… check out this piece of lamp porn by industrial design demigod Yves Béhar, the Leaf Light:

DECORATIVE:

This layer serves the purpose of adding magic to your rituals (like drinking tea before bed), for romance and for when Stella McCartney hires your bedroom for a lingerie shoot or your mates band needs a suitably captivating location for their latest video.

• Indulge in a variety of beautiful candles or use some sparkling fairy lights!

• Embrace different colours – blue light disco or red light district? I wish a light rope came in a lilac.

• Try digging around antique or curios stores to discover a crazy feature piece – I have always wanted a giant glowing matchstick as a centrepiece.  Go wild on this layer! Not just in quantity, but with your creativity.

INSPIRATION/OTHER THOUGHTS:

• Look to the books and magazines written by stylist and designer Isle Crawford. She is a genius at making homes 4 dimensional bubbles of happiness and aesthetic pleasure. In particular I like her book Home is Where the Heart is and Elle Decor back issues.

• Bare bulbs are naff. Your bedroom is not a post-modernist Berlin cafe. If you must use something like this, multiply it – have 20 or 100 bare bulbs instead.

• Browse the Apartment Therapy archives. They have a billion articles and photographic features on beautiful rooms. If you’re inclined to do-it-yourself, check out this tutorial on how to rewire a lamp – perhaps make your own version of this gorgeous tea party affair!

Photos sourced from we heart it.

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