Living room lighting: Tips and tricks

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The living room is the heart and soul of our home. It's the room in which we entertain, relax, and have great conversations. It is critical that this room gets optimal lighting.

How is this done? Here are our top tips and tricks.

Lights and globes come in three colour temperatures: warm white, cool white and daylight white. Ensure that you always select warm white for that cosy mood.

The trick to getting a beautiful lighting effect is through layering, which will create subtle pools of shadows between focus points, for example, by having a pendant light in the centre and floor lamps around the walls.

An interior designer trick of the trade is to hang pendant lights in a row of three. You can play around with the sizes to get an interesting impression. The effect will be simply gorgeous.

The living room is the one place where using bold lighting should be the rule, not the exception. Exciting lights make exciting living rooms. Be cheeky and you will love the impact.

To get precise control over the illumination in your living room and thus set exactly the mood you want, nothing beats dimmers. They are an absolute must for good lighting.

A chandelier, particularly a grand one, instantly becomes the centrepiece of its room and a talking point in its own right. A well-chosen chandelier is the very essence of style!

Good living room illumination is critical, so don't forget about natural lighting. A well-constructed living room will have oversized windows which cast direct light into the room.

Vintage light bulbs in pendants, particular in a cluster, will give your living room a relaxed feel with an enchanting mood.

LED strip lights can be installed into shelves and cabinets to provide excellent internal lighting.

Downlights too close together will create glare and give the room a washed out feel. The correct way to install downlights is to ensure they are spread far apart, and make sure that each downlight has a wide beam angle.

Indoor wall lights, called sconces, are very in, and they are excellent to enhance the mood and provide illumination where pendant lights don't reach.

Floor lamps and table lamps are perfect when additional lighting is required but when the installation of cable points is difficult or impossible. They are cheap, flexible, portable, and charming all at the same time.

Pick focus points in your living room, such as a table, sofa or a painting, and use ceiling spotlights to focus on these.

Sometimes oversize is perfect size. For example, a very large arc floor lamp, chandelier or pendant. The effect can be spectacular so long as the light is designer quality.

Lighting that is particularly chic is industrial style with its colour contrasting with the furniture - for example black industrial pendant lights over white sofas.

Clear globes will create glare and intense reflection, so go for frosted globes for a softer mood.

For the largest range of living room lights in Australia, with thousands of products, see Lighting Style.

This is sponsored content for Lighting Style.