Just a few quick tips about lighting your most used rooms.
One of the main things to remember is that you need to have a variety of lighting options to choose from, to mix and match, in each room. In the lighting industry this is referred to as "layered" lighting. For example in your bedroom you need the overhead to see things properly, but you also need a bedside light for reading, and I also recommend some small, soft additional lighting to create a romantic mood. The same goes for the living room, and the kitchen in particular needs good task lighting (think under-cabinet lights!) so you can see well to prepare food. You may turn them all on at once, or use them separately; this modular aspect allows you to choose the sort of mood you wish to create and obtain the varied light levels that you require.
Another important things to consider is that you need light that goes in multiple directions. The more directions from which light hits an object, the fewer shadows. Even if your room is overly full of pot-lights, you will need some additional lighting that shines upward. This is very important because if lighting only faces downward, then it alights the floor, and the top of your head, and creates lots of shadows...but it does not create a warm and welcoming atmosphere! We call this the "cave effect" in the lighting industry.
If you are adding a fixture to the centre of the room, consider getting something that also shines up onto the ceiling, i.e. not something that is covered at the top, or flush with the ceiling, but rather a semi-flush mounted fixture or pendant, that is open at the top. The light will hit the ceiling and reflect back down around you in a lovely soft glow.
If you choose not to replace or add a fixture to accomplish this, consider additional floor lamps and/or table lamps that have translucent shades (light fabric) so that the light emitted will be soft and warm, and create the same sort of reflected light as mentioned above, on not only the ceiling but the surrounding walls as well.
One of the main things to remember is that you need to have a variety of lighting options to choose from, to mix and match, in each room. In the lighting industry this is referred to as "layered" lighting. For example in your bedroom you need the overhead to see things properly, but you also need a bedside light for reading, and I also recommend some small, soft additional lighting to create a romantic mood. The same goes for the living room, and the kitchen in particular needs good task lighting (think under-cabinet lights!) so you can see well to prepare food. You may turn them all on at once, or use them separately; this modular aspect allows you to choose the sort of mood you wish to create and obtain the varied light levels that you require.
Another important things to consider is that you need light that goes in multiple directions. The more directions from which light hits an object, the fewer shadows. Even if your room is overly full of pot-lights, you will need some additional lighting that shines upward. This is very important because if lighting only faces downward, then it alights the floor, and the top of your head, and creates lots of shadows...but it does not create a warm and welcoming atmosphere! We call this the "cave effect" in the lighting industry.
If you are adding a fixture to the centre of the room, consider getting something that also shines up onto the ceiling, i.e. not something that is covered at the top, or flush with the ceiling, but rather a semi-flush mounted fixture or pendant, that is open at the top. The light will hit the ceiling and reflect back down around you in a lovely soft glow.
If you choose not to replace or add a fixture to accomplish this, consider additional floor lamps and/or table lamps that have translucent shades (light fabric) so that the light emitted will be soft and warm, and create the same sort of reflected light as mentioned above, on not only the ceiling but the surrounding walls as well.