Lighting is part of your home because you need it. Spotlight, floorlamp or hanging lamp, you've chosen one or the other for their functionality first : bringing light where you want. But lamps can add so much more value than just light. Shape, color, standing or hanging, lamps have an important role in enhancing or completing the aesthetic of your interior. Forget functional lighting for a moment. Focus on the object and consider lights as part of your home design.

Think volume

Interior design is about making volumes interact between each other, creating a balance between different shapes, sizes and colors. And lamps are part of the game as they can have a real architectural purpose. Let me show you some examples of situations where lamps can save the all aesthetic of a room so you can use them on your own home.

Light to emphasize an Alcove

You have an alcove and want to use it but at the same time, want to keep it simple. It's already a small space, no need to fill it in to make it look smaller. A simple hanging lamp is the solution you are looking for. It will draw a clean vertical line which will highlight the vertical aspect of your niche. In this kind of situation, we usually choose a color which create a contrast with the background.

Imagine this as underlining an important word in a sentence with a green pen.

Lights to glorify a High ceiling room

A room with a high ceiling without anything hanging from it and you will always feel that space is wasted. Which is a shame. Such a space shouldn't create frustration but full admiration. That's when lights are useful to set up a fulfilling, aerial and poetic sculpture. Depending on everyone's tastes, we sometimes choose one big pendant or a stream of smaller lights.

In this situation, lights will emphasize the volume of the room and the powerful impact of the architecture on the visitor.

Light as a simple solution in a staircase

Staircases are a trap for decoration mistakes. Pictures, art pieces, wall lamps, ...  Nobody knows where to hang them, at which height and which style to choose. In the end, this passage is full of clutter (or totally empty if the person want to avoid the trap). The solution is to keep it simple and to use lights for a 2 in 1 solution. Only one design of lamp will multiply endlessly and without constraints. Hanging them at different heights will be no problem. And if this design exists in different sizes, it just means more fun.

As a result, using lights create a beautiful, consistent and effective decoration all the way to the top.

Light to form the pattern of a corridor

A corridor is a bête noire for interior designers. It's mostly considered as wasted room and it limits our creativity due to the lack of space. BUT, we have to deal with it anyway and make it as nice and efficient as we can. And lights will help us to change what could be a boring space in a study for visual effects. It can be done by using the light to create a pattern, which will broke the monotony of the space. An other option is to put identical lamps regularly along the passage. The length of the corridor will be emphasized and the architecture will become a kind of conceptual optical illusion.

Light to decorate an empty wall

Sometimes, due to a lack of inspiration or lack of space, walls remain empty of any kind of decoration. No painting, no frame, no furniture. Nothing is good enough to create the spark of excitement. What about light? Of course, in this case, by "light" I mean the lamp AND its wire. We voluntarily transform a simple wall into an original design creation.

There are infinite possibilities, from the simplest to the most complex. It will all depend of the creator's  patience.

Conclusion

You've probably realized that, in all these examples, the lights could have been replaced by something else, either vertical pictures or floating sculptures. For one simple reason. What's important in all theses situations is the volume and how it interacts with the architecture. Showing that lights should be considered for the volume they represent and not just the light they will bring to the space.

Lamps have this 2 in 1 role : light and form. As an interior architect, I consistently consider this fact when designing spaces and I can help you with the right choice of shape and colors matching the room.

Is there a space in your home that could be highlighted by some lamps? Did you get some ideas by reading this post? Tell me in the comments below, I'd like to know :)

Have a nice day

Emilie