What Can Lighting Do For A Dining Room?
This month we are going to discuss how lighting can make an impact on the mood you are creating in your dining area.
When deciding on lighting for a room, we should to consider the following, which encompasses our 3 guidelines (function, mood, and harmony):
1. Light the task areas and have ambient light. Since we are discussing dining areas, what are the main task areas? The most important is the dining table, which is used for eating, playing games, doing puzzles and other family activities. You also need to make sure you have ambient or overall lighting so people don’t trip over the furniture. In addition, you also want to light the buffet, if you have one.
2. Add mood lighting. Light influences a room’s feeling. Bright light creates an upbeat mood. A darkly lit room creates a more intimate and romantic mood. The style of the light fixture also influences the mood. The style needs to be suitable to the rest of the room décor. You can add a dramatic touch by having accents of light throughout the room, i.e., a light shining up through the foliage of a plant or on a sculpture or painting. This is lighting you leave on whether someone is in the room or not.
3. 
The last element is variety (harmony). This encompasses lights that shine up, down and in several directions. Also, there should be different heights of fixtures and intensity. Examples of variety in a dining room include the chandelier-above the table, shining either up or down depending on style, small lamps, candlesticks, or sconces on each side of the buffet, and a floor light shining behind a plant. This is an area where you can be creative. Some other ideas are wall washers, picture lights, strip lighting, etc. You want to produce a unified look, but not a monotonous one. Three types of fixtures are usually sufficient for a dining room.
Be aware of the electrical outlets in the room when you are planning your lighting.
In the past, the type of bulb, fluorescent or incandescent, used would create a feeling of warmth or coolness. With the advent of new technology, this has changed. Just be aware of the type of light a bulb puts out. In a dining room, you will want something that emits a warm, natural tone. Fluorescents tend to be cooler in tone, and not as natural and flattering as incandescent. If you can, have dimmers on your light fixtures so you can change the mood in the room, as you desire.
One last thing, your objective isn’t to light the room, but to light objects in the room. Keep this in mind along with the three steps as you plan your lighting and you will create the look and feel you desire.
We have discussed many of the elements which help create the mood or feeling you want to express in the design of your dining area…or any room in your home:
- Style of Furniture
- Color Scheme
- Lighting
There is one last guideline we are going to cover: Harmony. This is where we will pull everything together to create a cohesive room.
Have fun with your lighting plan.
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Until next time - Happy Decorating!
The Dining In The Round Design Team
