Words by Dan Warden
A dream interior is nothing without light. It’s important to incorporate lighting that not only completes a room’s ensemble, but that also makes it sing.
Mark Mitchell, owner of Truro Lighting, is a mine of information when it comes to illuminating your home, and his first tip is to be flexible. Track systems, he tells us, are a useful way of achieving this, as they “allow you to place or remove extra lamps wherever you wish.”
Mark goes on to explain that you can create atmosphere by targeting artwork or sculpture with narrow beam spot lamps, “which will create a lovely atmosphere when the main lighting in the space is not on”. Using LED strip lighting can also help to create floor or ceiling light wash, for example, undercabinet or dropped ceiling lighting, but he says: “Be careful to use a dimmable system to maintain control of light levels. Also check that the stripping is mounted in such a way, or fitted with a diffuser, so that you don’t see the ‘hotspots’ of the individual LEDs, as this detracts from the effect.”
Ultimately, lighting should be functional. Whatever you’re hoping to achieve with your lighting, the beauty of interior design is that there are no hard or fast rules. Instead, there is a whole world of options at your fingertips. To narrow down your ideas, why not create a mood board? This way, you can quickly build a picture of what you do and don’t like, making light work of the myriad options available to you. Not only that, you’ll enjoy the process far more, and why shouldn’t you have fun whilst realising your dream home?