The principles of lighting

The principles of lighting are to highlight certain objects or parts of a room to their best advantage. It is therefore necessary to create zones of shadow and light by multiplying the various light sources as a way of drawing the eye.
Hanging lamps will have a tendency to draw the walls in together and narrow the room by lighting it uniformly.
Walls bathed in light, however, tend to increase the apparent of a room. And a rising floodlight will lift people's eyes upwards towards the ceiling.

Be careful to avoid dazzling effects in your attempts to disguise any light sources. And lastly, think about the electrical installation: they there are going to be enough plugs available to avoid using extension cords and multiplugs. Light dimmers make it possible to adjust lighting for different times of the day and the ambience that best suits the moment.
Carefully checking over the electrical plan with a specialist is essential before any installation work.

Lighting and colours

Lamps contribute towards creating an ambience. Colours play on the ambience and on the light itself. Yellow (incandescent bulbs) or red lamps generate a sensation of warmth. White (halogen) or lightly bluish bulbs provide a dazzling bright light and a sensation of cold. If the walls are in a light colour, they will reflect the light.

If they're dark, they will tend to absorb it. In addition to general ambient lighting, spots directed to specific locations or coloured bulbs can create a vey special and personal atmosphere.

Direct lighting

Projected onto a defined surface, lighting can make an emphasis on an object or particular zone. Such occasional lighting diffuses a lively illumination. The more distant the lamp is, the wider the zone that is lit, albeit rather less intensely with greater distance.

The inconvenience: direct lighting is bright but also dazzling and creates numerous shadows. Lighting can also be decorative when it involves light sculptures or candles, which can aid to make a room and its atmosphere feel warmer.

Indirect lighting

This kind of lighting creates the ambience in a room. Lamps pointed towards a flat surface, such as a wall or ceiling, will light up the entire room. The lighter and brighter the surface is, the more it will reflect that light. If the surface is painted, the light can become quite blinding. In order to make the light more gently diffuse, certain materials can help make it more uniform: frosted glass, translucid plastics, fine material, paper, all of which diminish the bulb's glare without significantly reducing the illumination power.