Bedroom lighting

Lighting General

When designing a lighting scheme for a bedroom, it is essential that each of the chosen effects is easily adjustable, according to the mood you wish to create or the brightness of light required. As this is the last room to be seen at night and the first room to be seen in the morning, you need lighting that will bring a calming atmosphere at night, with task lighting for reading and around a dressing table, as well as a refreshing wash of light when you awake.

For a general wash of light, particularly if your bedroom has a fairly low ceiling, downlights can be effective if they reflect their light to the walls and floor and are used in conjunction with table lamps. If bright light is unnecessary, table lamps strategically positioned around the bedroom can often be enough. This would normally consist of four fixtures, two either side of your bed and one or two on a chest of drawers or desk. In addition, you could place a standard lamp behind a chair. If your ceiling is high, however, you could consider uplights, using wall-mounted fixtures. Halogen floodlights can be located on top of cupboards to create an almost invisible source of bright uplight, reflecting off the ceiling.

Feature Lighting

With feature lights, unusual effects can be achieved within a bedroom. Some can be soft and subtle and some dramatic at night. You can achieve a beautifully soft glow by placing a linear light under the bed so that the bed itself, in the centre of the room, will seem almost to float. A similar effect can be achieved by lights under the bottom of shelves, particularly if the shelves are in a recess.

Other dramatic effects include a 'star-lit' ceiling made by small fibre-optic heads only slightly piercing the ceiling and giving the impression of sleeping out under the stars. When these are switched off the ceiling appears no different to any other but, at night-time, with the lights on, it gives the effect of numerous small stars. More familiar feature light effects also work well in bedrooms, and may be appropriate with the style of room and decoration. You could possibly light a picture, either over the bed or over a fireplace if you have one, use uplighting under a bay window to highlight your curtains, or choose favourite ornaments to become your focus.

An efficient reading light is essential in a bedroom. The ultimate in bedroom task lights, used in conjunction with bedside table lamps, is the fibre-optic flexi-light. This is fixed to the wall at shoulder height and provides a completely flexibly positioned bright reading light. The fibre-optic light box would be located under the bed. A more traditional source of reading light are table lamps on either side of the bed, but they must be placed in the correct position if eyestrain and awkward body positioning are to be avoided. If lamps are located on a bedside table, the light is often in the wrong place, almost forcing you to lean out of bed to read. You need to achieve the right balance between the size of the lamp and the height of the table. If the table is too high, the glare of the lamp will shine into your eyes and the spread of light will be too wide. The ideal height for the base of the shade is at shoulder level when you are sitting up in bed. An alternative to table lamps is an adjustable wall light on an extendible bracket with arm extensions. As this is wall-mounted, you can control the precise height and position of the lamp, but you will need to know the height and size of the bed before installation.

In most bedrooms you will need at least two switch-lines to control your different light sources: one for bedside lamps and one for other lamps. If you are using either uplights or downlights, these will need a third switch. With a double bed, it may be easier to control each bedside light individually, which will add another switchline. Two-way switching to the bedside works well, as all lights can be turned on and off from the bed. A dimmer, either by the door or at the side of the bed, will give easy control.