Why is Cosy Lighting Important?
Most people don’t realise the huge difference that lighting can make to a living space. With the right lighting choices, you have the power to turn a sterile, dull room into a warm and cosy sanctuary you’ll never want to leave.
Cosy, ambient lighting isn’t just about aesthetics. It sets the mood, enhances relaxation, and makes every corner of your home feel warm and inviting. But, if this is the case, then why doesn’t everyone use cosy lighting? It seems like an easy choice.
One of the main reasons behind this is that some people believe warm, cosy lighting leads to lower levels of focus and productivity. Although this may be true for ultra-warm, dim lighting, you can still use cool coloured lights and maintain a cosy, relaxing vibe in your room. It all just depends on the choice and placement of your lights.
Therefore, in this blog, we are going to teach you how to create a cosy, ambient space in 5 simple steps – even if you know nothing about interior design or lighting.
5 Steps to Creating a Relaxing and Cosy Space
Step 1: Choose a Focal Point Light
It all starts with a focal point light. This is the statement piece that serves as the core foundation to any lighting setup, drawing attention and providing soft, diffused light across the entire room. You can think of it as the “sun” of your lighting design, around which everything else “orbits”. Any lights that you add from this point will need to complement and work in tangent with your focal point light.
Floor lamps are the perfect focal point lights for a cosy lighting design. Consider an elegant choice like our Otto floor lamp to be the anchor of your lighting plan. With its trendy brushed brass metalwork and marble base, it’s a stylish and functional choice for your focal point light.
If the Otto isn’t for you, then we recommend any inlight arc floor lamp that can be placed in the corner of your room – preferably angled over a sofa or armchair – to provide a soft diffused light across the entire space.
Step 2: Add Ambient Lighting
When creating a cosy space, layering your lighting is essential. And the best way to do this is with ambient lighting. If you’re wondering what “ambient lighting” actually means, it essentially refers to any hidden lighting that provides a soft glow against your walls. For example, LED strip lights placed behind objects are well known for producing this effect.
You can place strips behind shelves, tables, wardrobes, or even TVs – just make sure to properly hide the strips. By adding this ambient lighting, it instantly creates depth and character within any space. Just take a look at the cosy vibe in the image below – this is an excellent example of how ambient lighting can be used to its full potential.
When looking for LED strip lights, it can be easy to get overwhelmed with choice. The Flexline RGB LED kit is an ideal option for creating ambient lighting in your room. It takes little effort to install and comes with a remote control for unlimited customisation.
Bonus Tip: If you’re finding that your LED strip lights look too harsh or bright, you can use extrusion covers over the strips to provide an even softer and subtle effect. This will also make them easier to hide and prevent any tape from being visible, which will automatically ruin the aesthetic.
Step 3: Eye-Catching Accent Lamps
Now, for the fun part!
Accent lighting is used to add touches of personality and charm to your room, serving as the “cherry-on-top” to your cosy lighting setup. Table lamps are perfect for this – disperse them across your room to act as “eye-candy” and create visual interest throughout the space.
If you’re wondering what to look for when choosing an accent lamp, focus on designs that not only complement your personal style but also emit a soft, warm glow to enhance the cosy ambience of your space.
Consider unique shapes, interesting textures, or bold finishes that reflect your personality while blending seamlessly with your room’s décor. Ultimately, if it catches your eye and makes you smile, it’s likely to be the perfect choice.
If you’re a fan of contemporary styling, pick something like National Lighting’s Rourke Table Lamp to complement your cosy lighting setup and add a hint of modern flair to your room.
Step 4: Make it Dimmable
Flexibility is key when creating a cosy atmosphere. Dimmable lights allow you to adjust the brightness to suit your mood and activity, giving you greater control over your space’s vibe. Whether you need bright lighting to stay energised during tasks, or a softer glow to wind down in the evening, dimmable lights will ensure your room is always working for you.
After all, no one wants to be tackling focused work in a warm, dimly lit room – you would get nothing done! On the flip side, trying to enjoy a relaxing movie night under harsh, overly bright lighting can be just as unappealing.
If you don’t have any dimmable lights, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with a bonus tip at the end of this article!
Step 5: Hide Ugly Cables
It goes without saying that ugly cables can seriously detract from an otherwise beautifully-lit room. If you truly want a cosy space, you’ll need to find a way to limit the visibility of the endless lighting cables in your room.
Now, this can be tricky, especially if you have taken our advice and dotted several accent lamps across the room. To conceal the cables in your space, you’ll most likely need to get creative with your room layout. Whether it’s with baskets, books, furniture, plants – you need to work with what you’ve got.
If you don’t have many decorative objects to work with, this is a great excuse to add some to your interior. After all, there’s only so much a cosy lighting design can do to enhance your interior. If your space is bare, cosy lighting won’t fix it.
Bonus Tip: Smart Lighting
Like we discussed at the start of this article, having a cosy lighting setup has so many amazing upsides. Unfortunately, there is one downside: the more lights you add to your room, the more time and effort it takes to switch them all on and off. This can be a pain. Especially if you’re getting back home from a long, hard day of work and need to switch on 10 separate light to achieve your desired cosy vibe.
Luckily for you cosy lighting lovers out there, there is one simple solution to the problem: Smart Lighting. With a smart lighting system, you can adjust the brightness and colour of all your lights via a smartphone app, giving you the ultimate level of customisation and convenience when controlling your lighting. In some instances, you can even sync your smart lighting system with your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, allowing you to control all your lights with a simple voice command. Crazy right?
In order to set up a smart lighting system, you will need to purchase LED smart bulbs and swap them for the traditional bulbs already present in your lamps. After you’ve fitted the bulbs, simply connect them to the recommended smartphone app and they’ll be ready to go. Now you have complete control over every light in the room with the touch of a button.
Although a smart bulb will not always be compatible with certain types of lamps, you can overcome this issue by using smart plugs. Simply plug your lamp into the smart plug, sync it to the appropriate smartphone app, and just like with smart bulbs, you’ll be able to control your lighting all from one device.
Using this smart lighting system, you’ll have complete freedom to adjust your lighting to suit your exact needs. Going to sleep? Schedule all of your lights to turn off at a specific time. Getting in the zone for a tough work project? Adjust your lights to brighter, cooler tones. Hosting a dinner party? Elevate the mood with some vibrant colours. The options really are endless.
Conclusion:
Cosy lighting has the remarkable ability to transform a dull, sterile room into a warm, inviting sanctuary. The secret to achieving this lies in layering your lighting.
Start with Layer 1 – a statement focal point light that forms the foundation of your cosy setup. Next, incorporate Layer 2 – ambient lighting achieved with LED strips hidden behind objects to create a soft, diffused glow. Finally, complete the look with Layer 3 – accent lamps thoughtfully placed around the room to add personality and charm.
By combining all three layers, you can create the ultimate cosy lighting setup that feels both functional and relaxing. And to make your lighting experience even more seamless, consider installing a smart lighting system. With just the tap of a button or a voice command, you’ll have complete control over the vibe of your space.
Let us Know Your Thoughts!
If you enjoyed this article or found it helpful, we’d love to hear your thoughts—feel free to leave a comment and share your feedback. If any of the product ideas caught your eye, you can explore more options on our website at nationallighting.co.uk, where you’ll find a wide range of quality lights to suit every style.
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