Contents
The main types of household lamps, how to choose chandeliers, ceiling, table devices, sconces, floor lamps and table lamps, LED lamps.
The professional secret of an experienced interior designer, a kind of win-win chip, always becomes a game with light.
The correct arrangement of lamps, chandeliers, sconces, floor lamps, various lights and lamps is the last winning stroke in the artist’s work. This can only be compared to breathing life into people’s dwellings.
Interesting story
Lamps have never been perceived only as a functional item necessary for illuminating a home. Equally important was their aesthetic value.
Man has long understood that the frame of the light source itself should be beautiful:
Modern manufacturers of lighting equipment do not forget their roots, rely on traditions, study and continue the work of their ancestors.
The most recognized brands in our time are deservedly considered: Elektrostandard, Eurosvet, Lightstar, Odeon Light, Italux, Nowodvorski and others.
The main types of household lamps
It must be said that abundance often causes more problems than a lack of something.
When eyes run up from diversity, it is very difficult to choose a lamp for your own home.
What if you like almost everyone? It remains to pragmatically sort out the lighting products of the modern market.
Chandeliers and ceiling lights
It is impossible to imagine a living room or dining room, a fireplace room or a common room without this attribute.
Interior styles change, some elements of the chandelier decor change with them, but the classic appearance of the pendant lamp has remained unchanged for many centuries.
It is represented by several separate light sources, united by a common base.
According to the method of fastening, they distinguish:
- Suspended. The name itself says that they hang with a chain, cord, rigid leg and cling to the ceiling with a hook. Looks great on high ceilings. In standard apartments, you need to think several times whether they will interfere.
- Ceiling. Mounted directly on the plane of the ceiling, do not have a suspension. They save space and are suitable exclusively for all living quarters. Regardless of how many sconces, floor lamps, lamps will be in the room, only a ceiling lamp will give a uniform distribution of the light flux.
- On the bar. There are both vertical and horizontal chandelier holders. Installed directly on the ceiling, the wires are hidden by a decorative element.
- recessed. Recessed luminaires are mounted in the false ceiling of any living space. Take a closer look at samples with a convenient swivel function.
Of course, a two-tiered crystal chandelier in a small kitchen will look funny, and a delicate flower made of Murano glass will simply be lost in the open spaces of the living room.
Let’s try to find the best solution:
- Kitchen. Small shades, horizontal (vertical) arrangement of the structure, materials resistant to high humidity will be appropriate. Attractive chandeliers in the form of a ball or hemisphere.
- Living room, dining room. Traditional multi-track crystal or porcelain designs, tiffany chandeliers, modern cubic and spherical glass and metal designs will do.
- Hallway. Choose options for the horizontal arrangement of light bulbs so that you cannot hook them with your hands. The main condition for designers is that the entrance hall does not tolerate pretentiousness and complexity of design.
- Hall. In the interstairwell of a private house, a cascading chandelier will look perfect. It will serve as both a decoration and a source of illumination.
- Bathroom. Wood and rust-prone metal will have to be excluded due to the high humidity of the room. Plastic, porcelain, glass, crystal – the choice of the owner. Diffused light from a frosted ceiling is the best solution for bathroom ceiling lighting.
- Bedroom. A bizarre shape, an extraordinary color scheme will suit this room like nowhere else. The rest is a matter of preference and style.
- Children’s. Every well-known manufacturer is developing a children’s line. Don’t forget about it. Read on the topic – how to light a children’s room.
Sconces and wall lamps
General lighting is necessary, but sometimes you want to have a personal light source.
A cozy atmosphere is created by sconces scattered on the walls, as if by chance they were next to a coffee table or at arm’s length from the head of the bed.
Local lighting devices in the apartment are divided into:
- Sconce directional light. Usually these are wall lamps of a movable design with the ability to adjust the flow and brightness of the light beam. An excellent solution for the reading area, lighting near the cosmetic table, near the mirror in the bathroom, to illuminate paintings.
- Closed. Diffused light from a closed ceiling is a great opportunity to relax, give your eyes a rest. Most often, such sconces have a geometric shape, are made of frosted or transparent glass, crystal in calm colors. Place of installation – hallway, bedroom, bathroom.
- Decorative. The functionality of such lamps is negligible. Their role is to decorate the interior. Made from various materials, the purpose of the installation is to create a unique flavor in the interior.
- Nightlights. People who cannot stand the darkness install these lighting fixtures in the apartment. Most often they can be seen in the nursery. A barely perceptible stream of light comes from the nightlights, which does not interfere with rest, but allows you to distinguish all the objects in the room. Their decorative function in the interior is also important.
Read on the topic: What are track lights, their differences from the rest, pros and cons.
Wall lighting sources are most advantageous in the evening and at night. Therefore, it is important that, due to energy savings, you do not have to regretfully turn them off against your will.
There is a way out, which we wrote about in another article – to use energy-saving light bulbs. Use our helpful tips on how to choose an energy-saving lamp. Then you can enjoy local lighting for as long as you want.
Floor lamps and table lamps
Spot lighting devices for the apartment space also include lamps on a leg: floor lamps – on a long one, table lamps – on a short one.
Undeservedly forgotten, in recent years they have experienced a peak in popularity. And not by accident.
The functionality of portable lamps does not end only with the illumination of a certain area of the room:
- They are mobile. The floor lamp and table lamp can be easily moved to where lighting is currently needed.
- They are decorative. Interior designers have not yet fully used the potential of these lamps in creating the necessary style, accentuating space.
- They create comfort. Nostalgia is the reason for this or something else, but psychologically we are drawn to the corner where floor lamps or table lamps are located, especially when we return home completely exhausted at the end of the day.
The best use of portable lamps is to install them near the coffee table, in the library, in the fireplace room, in the office, in the coffee area in the kitchen, next to the lounge chair.
In any apartment, it is simply necessary to have, if not both items, then at least a table lamp.
Let it stand on the sideboard in the living room and play a decorative role until the moment when it can show you its lighting qualities.
LED lamps
In this category, a variety of lighting devices are produced, which we talked about above. They are united by progress, that is, the use of the latest technologies.
Volumes have been written about the positive aspects of the “ice”, as the people have already called them, chandeliers and sconces, but very sparingly about the minuses.
Let’s try to objectively evaluate the LED-lamps in the interior of our home:
- The service life is advertised up to 50 thousand hours of operation. This is about 6 years of continuous lighting. Nobody checked, there was no need in everyday life. But frequent switching on and off negatively affects the longevity of the LED light bulb. Therefore, when installing in apartments, you need to keep this in mind. It is better to use such lamps in rooms where it is not customary to constantly use the switch. It will also be useful to learn how to make LED lighting in the country.
- The spectrum of the light bulb is not always favorable for vision. Only well-known brands have achieved the natural warm yellow color of LED lighting. Cheap examples of unknown origin illuminate the space with a caustic bluish or blinding white light. If you stay in a room with such lighting for a short time, then there will be no health consequences. However, tired eyes from the day will notify you of the wrong lighting quickly. Read on the topic – what are the norms of illumination in the premises.
- Low electricity consumption. This is the real truth. You can use the lamp for as long as you like, it will have little effect on the bills. Let’s calculate the price for the light bulbs, the rest is a gain.
- High environmental friendliness. No objections. But other light bulbs have not been seen to damage the environment, unless a fluorescent lamp is broken, which, indeed, contains harmful substances. Why break it up?
Related information: Energy-saving fluorescent lamps, is it worth using them.
If the apartment is to be renovated, take a closer look at the overhead spotlights, of course, well-known brands that guarantee the quality and durability of their products.
Lamps with a remote control are also convenient to use.
At last
Only the owner of the house can decide how to choose a lamp. But the right decision comes to someone who can synthesize someone else’s experience:
- Do not fall for the hook of cheapness, do not buy a product from an unknown manufacturer. Proven online stores monitor the quality, conduct a serious auction policy. It is here that you can really get a solid and inexpensive thing.
- Buy lamps from one line in the room at once – a chandelier, a sconce, a lamp. This will create the desired interior style.
- For a ceiling chandelier, purchase a switch with two keys to connect a different group of light bulbs to each of them. This will enable economical use of electricity.
- When buying a lamp, make sure the parameters of the permissible power of the light bulb used and do not exceed it. Then the lamp will last a long time.
- The material from which the lighting device is made is important. Choose eco-friendly ones – glass, crystal, metal. Plastic needs special attention, make sure that the material does not contain phenol-formaldehyde resins, which release dangerous phenol when heated.
- A large chandelier is funny in a small room, a small one will be lost in a large one. Always keep a sense of taste and measure.
With the master’s consideration of all parameters, after consulting with specialists, feel free to please the family with a new acquisition.