8 of the best lighting options for your dream home

Experiment with lights to make your house look elegant and inviting. Here are some of the best types of lighting for your home.

Are you decorating your home? You need to focus not just on the furniture and flooring, but also on the lighting. While many tend to ignore this facet of home decor, the importance of lighting is felt most when it is poor. Gone are the days when lighting just meant illuminating the house.

Modern-day lighting plays an important role in interior design, as it not just enhances everything in a room — from the furniture, to the flooring and fittings, it also creates a warm, inviting and functional atmosphere in your living space.

Mikita Laad Gupta, senior designer, Bonito Designs, and Abraham Santhosh, Head-Designer, Elegancia give you tips:

* Chandeliers: They are not just for lavish mansions or big houses. A chandelier can be of different shapes and sizes. This light fitting can act as a great home decor option, not just as a visual treat but also for spreading the light evenly. You can hang a chandelier in the centre of your living room and it will instantly infuse a regal touch to your space.

* Floor lamps: Floor lamps are great options, especially for the living room and the bedroom, as they can easily illuminate an entire room or light up a specific area. Available in different shapes and sizes, these lamps can transform the entire look of the room. Place these next to a cozy reading nook or a chaise-longue and the floor lamps will add a classy, understated vibe to the area.

* Recessed lighting: Such lighting allows you to illuminate only the part of the room that may be necessary at a given point of time. These are generally used in larger rooms. This kind of lighting usually makes use of incandescent, fluorescent or halogen bulbs for the purpose of illumination. Dimmers can be used to make the lights brighter or dimmer.

* Fan lights: They are a new concept where a set of lights come attached to the ceiling fans. The bulbs of these lights are especially designed to resist the vibrations of the fan.

* Skylight: Skylight is an innovative way to bring some natural light into a room. Penthouses or kids’ rooms are the best places to use them strategically. They can convert a room into a brightly-lit space by day and a calm environ at night.

* Hanging lights: These lighting fixtures are a great way to spruce up the ambiance. A well-chosen hanging light can elevate the look of your room, and make it look edgy and modern. Available in quirky designs and shapes, they come with adjustable cables, so that you can adjust their height.

* Bedside lamp: Add some glamour to your bedroom with a vintage or cane lamp. Not only do they take the style quotient of your decor a notch higher, they also make your room inviting enough for you to want to unwind there after a long day at work.

* Mirror lights: Mirrors reflect light and that can make any space look bigger and brighter. When you add a light on either side of the mirror, the mood of the space changes instantly. Such lighting fixtures can be perfect to make your bathroom or vanity room look uber-stylish and spacious.