How to design home lighting? Keep this ultimate guide handy

As an essential element in the home environment, lighting's role isn't just about illumination—it also has a huge impact on the overall feel, appearance, and sense of happiness in the home.

But the layout and design of lighting is one of the more complex parts of the whole house design. Creating a good home lighting environment is not that simple~

01

Distinguish the Three Main Light Sources

As the most common light sources in a room, ambient lights cover a wide area. Common examples include the ceiling lights in the living room, wall lights in the bedroom, and ceiling lights in the hallway. In addition to providing illumination, ambient lights can also set the overall mood of the entire house all at once.

Used to enhance the contours of objects, common contour lighting includes ceiling light troughs, strip lights, and so on. Contour lighting can make indoor spaces or objects feel more layered.

The focus light has a smaller lighting range, mainly to highlight a specific object or space. It's like a spotlight—it can serve as supplementary lighting and also add an artistic touch to a particular area.

02

Common mistakes and things easily overlooked in lighting layout

Indoor lighting design isn't just about making things bright or dark. We need to arrange it based on the lifestyle and functional needs of different spaces. If we're not careful, the following situations might happen, affecting the overall user experience~

01

Entrance lighting: can't see when looking down

Many families think that since the entryway is small, installing one or two energy-saving lights on the ceiling is enough for lighting. But this design only considers basic lighting and doesn't take convenience into account. This overhead light can't illuminate the inside of entryway cabinets or shoe cabinets, which might make you fumble around in the dark looking for shoes. Also, when someone stands in the entryway, they can block the light and cast shadows, affecting visibility.

Method: Use light strips in areas like the middle of the entryway cabinet, the bottom of the shoe cabinet, and in front of the door mirror to brighten up the space. If your home has cabinets with concealed doors, you can directly install sensor light strips so that when you open the shoe cabinet door, the light turns on automatically, making it more convenient to use.

Recommended power for entryway lighting: 5W

02 Living Room Lighting: The light source is concentrated but lacks character

In previous lighting designs, we used a high-power chandelier or ceiling light as the main light in the living room. While this basically met the fundamental lighting needs, it lacked character, and sometimes there would even be shadows or dark spots in the center.

Actually, the ambient light in the living room shouldn't be too harsh—it just needs to roughly illuminate the whole space. Then, depending on personal needs and the style of the space, you can add contour lighting and accent lights to enhance specific areas.

Approach: If you want a main light in the living room, the main light can be a bit lower in power. Then, you can use a lower-brightness LED strip around the ceiling of the living room to add a sense of depth and atmosphere. In the empty areas on both sides of the sofa, you can place floor lamps or reading lamps, which will make your eyes feel cozier when relaxing and reading.

On the sofa and TV feature wall, if there are paintings or areas that need to be highlighted, you can set up accent lighting. This not only creates a sense of sophistication but also provides indirect lighting.

Recommended living room lighting power: 2.5~3W per square meter

03 Kitchen lighting: Poor design affects usability

Sometimes when you turn your back to chop vegetables in the kitchen, your body blocks the light completely, so you have to chop sideways; when you open the cabinet, it's all dark inside, and you have to stare for a while to find something… If the kitchen only relies on the main light for illumination, these problems can happen.

Solution: Having one main light plus multiple auxiliary lights is a more reasonable kitchen lighting plan. Common combinations include ceiling lights or downlights, light strips, and cabinet lights. By adding several small auxiliary lights in addition to the main light, every corner of the kitchen gets enough light, making the space appear brighter and more convenient to use.

Recommended kitchen lighting power: 2.5~3W per square meter.

04 Bedroom lighting: Power is too high and glaring.

For bedrooms, overall lighting is essential, but remember not to rely solely on a high-power main light. You can imagine that when you're sleeping soundly, if someone suddenly turns on a bright light, the glare won't just startle you, it can instantly wipe out all your sleepiness...

Plan: Bedroom lighting can actually be divided into three parts: general lighting, bedside lighting, and wardrobe lighting. The main light for general lighting shouldn't be too strong, usually 9~12W is enough. If the bedroom is relatively large, you can properly add LED strips on the ceiling to enhance the overall lighting effect.

Bedside lighting is usually set up to make it convenient for activities in bed and getting up at night. The light doesn't need to be too strong; a small table lamp, floor lamp, or wall lamp will do. Also, if you have a beautiful carpet in your bedroom, don’t forget to put a light strip under the bed—it can really complete the atmosphere!

Wardrobe lighting is mainly to make it easier to see inside when you're opening it, so you can grab your clothes easily. The best setup is to install light strips on both sides of the mirror, with extra lighting inside the wardrobe and on the shelves. A little tip: make sure to choose LED products that don’t get too hot.

Recommended power for bedroom lighting: 1 watt per square meter, with a color temperature of 2700~3299K being ideal.

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