In the process of home decoration, the choice of hard decoration and furniture is often valued by everyone, while lighting design is easily valued. However, a good home lighting design can add icing on the cake to home decoration and help create a comfortable, warm and healthy living environment.
So, what is expected of a good lighting design? Let me share with you the 9 major areas of home lighting design to help you avoid detours when doing lighting design.
Myth 1 The higher the wattage of the bulb, the higher the brightness
Many people think that the higher the wattage of the bulb, the better the lighting effect. In fact, wattage is only an indicator of power consumption and does not directly reflect the brightness of the bulb. Brightness is usually measured in lumens (lm), and a higher wattage does not necessarily mean a higher lumen. For example, modern LED lights can provide higher lumen output at lower wattages, which is both energy-saving and bright enough.
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Correct approach: When choosing a bulb, carefully check the data on the package and focus on the lumen value, rather than simply pursuing high wattage. You can choose the appropriate lumen value according to the size and function of the room. Generally speaking, the bedroom needs 300 lumens per square meter, and the living room needs 400 lumens. This ensures that the room is well lit and neither too dazzling nor dim.
Misunderstanding 2: Excessive pursuit of atmosphere, colorful lights
Some families choose multi-color lamps and light sources to create a romantic or luxurious atmosphere. Although colorful lights look good, long-term use can cause damage to eyesight and may interfere with the brain's higher neural functions, leading to distraction and fatigue.
Correct approach: It is recommended to combine the practicality and decorativeness of lamps, and try to avoid using overly complex light colors to ensure a comfortable and healthy lighting environment.
Misunderstanding 3: Living room lighting must be bright
As the center of family activities, many people believe that lighting must be very bright, so it is often seen that many families always use a large and bright chandelier or ceiling lamp as the main light when designing living room lighting, and match it with a variety of other auxiliary lighting, such as: lamp pool, wall lamp, downlight, spotlight, etc. However, such a setting will not only waste energy, but also cause visual fatigue due to overly bright lights, which is not conducive to comfortable rest and social activities. Especially in small apartments, there is no need to go to such lengths. The setting of the lights should be bright and practical.
Correct approach: The brightness of the living room lighting should be adjusted according to the area of the space and different usage scenarios. For example, soft lights are needed when watching TV, while brighter lights are needed when reading or doing other activities. In addition, the focus of the light can also be not on the top surface. The partition lighting and dimming functions can be used to adjust the brightness of the lights according to needs to improve the living experience.
Misunderstanding 4 The brighter the light source, the better, and there is no need to distinguish between strong and weak brightness
In fact, the functions of different spaces in the home are different, and the requirements for contrast strength are also different.
Generally speaking, the brightness of spaces such as living rooms and study rooms is relatively stronger than that of spaces such as bedrooms and terraces. In particular, bedrooms should not be too bright, and soft light is needed to create a comfortable rest environment.
Correct approach: Reasonably distinguish the brightness of different areas in the home, which not only meets the needs of each functional area, but also improves the overall comfort and functionality.
Misconception 5: Only consider brightness and ignore the role of color temperature
General lighting design often only considers brightness, power, etc., but the choice of color temperature is also critical and greatly affects the use effect of space and living comfort.
Correct approach: Install lamps with suitable color temperature at home according to different space and functional requirements. Kelvin (k) represents or is responsible for the color of light produced by the bulb. Generally speaking, warm color temperature (2700K-3000K) is suitable for creating a warm and comfortable atmosphere, suitable for bedrooms and living rooms; neutral color temperature (3500K-4500K) is suitable for daily work and study environments, such as study rooms and kitchens; cold color temperature (5000K-6500K) is suitable for work areas that require high brightness.
Misconception 6: The larger the lamp, the more stylish it is, ignoring the proportion of the size of the room
When choosing lamps, ignoring the proportion of the size of the lamp to the room is also a common misunderstanding. If the family is small, but insists on choosing large lamps in pursuit of a sense of grandeur, it may not be satisfactory. Oversized lamps will make the space look crowded, thereby reducing the overall visual effect and functionality of the space.
Correct approach: The size of the lamp should be coordinated with the size of the room. You can refer to this formula for calculation: lamp diameter (room length + room width)/12. Taking the living room as an example, for an area of about 10-15m^2, the lamp size is generally suitable for a diameter of 60cm; when the living room area is larger than 30m^2, in order to enhance the lighting effect, you can consider using lamps with a diameter of 1m.
In addition, the installation height of the lamp should also refer to the floor height of the house. Taking the chandelier installed in the restaurant as an example, it is usually recommended that after installation, the lowest point of the chandelier is about 60-80cm away from the tabletop and the height from the ground is 130cm-150cm. The length of the hanging wire can be retained according to the on-site use experience to ensure that it is both beautiful and practical. At the same time, many families now install chandeliers in the restaurant, and they will choose multiple combinations. It should be noted that the lights should not be installed "excessively". It is recommended to design the hanging distance between two adjacent chandeliers to be about 76cm, and the margin between the outermost lamp on both sides and the edge of the table should be at least 15cm, so that the combination of the chandelier and the dining table will be more coordinated visually. Taking a 1.7m dining table and a 35cm diameter chandelier as an example, it is recommended to install two lamps. The diameter of the two lamps adds up to 70cm, and the remaining 1m just meets the requirements of the margins on both sides and the distance between the two lamps. If the dining table is longer and the diameter of the lamp is smaller, you can consider adding lamps according to the actual situation.
Misunderstanding 7 Ignore "stroboscopic" lights, thinking that eye discomfort is caused by long-term eye use
When we read under the lamp for a long time, our eyes are prone to discomfort, and many people may attribute the reason to "excessive eye use". But do you know? It is likely that the "stroboscopic" light source makes your eyes uncomfortable.
The flicker of a light source is essentially the light emitted by the light source showing a certain frequency and periodic change over time, and changing between different brightness and colors over time. If the lamp is driven without a suitable electronic circuit, such as a ballast, driver or power supply, the light source will produce flicker. The greater the fluctuation of the output luminous flux, the more serious the flicker.
Since the human eye cannot clearly perceive "stroboscopic" in most cases, and the effect of flicker on human physiology and psychology is often slow, it has not attracted widespread attention for a long time.
Correct approach: When choosing lighting fixtures, especially those placed on desks, bedside tables, etc. for work and reading, try to avoid flicker and glare. In addition, when choosing learning lamps for children, special attention should be paid to purchasing lamps without flicker effect and electromagnetic radiation. Let me share with you a quick trick to identify whether a lamp has flicker: when buying lamps, you can turn on the camera of your mobile phone under the light. If there is flicker, the screen of the mobile phone will flicker.
Myth 8 Turn on the lights on one side of the TV wall to save electricity and create an atmosphere
Many owners will install lamps on the TV wall design. When watching TV, they only turn on the lamps on the TV wall, or even only turn on one side, and turn off the main lights in the living room. They feel that it is very atmospheric and saves electricity. This approach is actually inappropriate. It may not only reduce the audio-visual experience, but also have a negative impact on people's vision and health.
Correct approach: Design wall lamps, table lamps or floor lamps next to the sofa. When watching TV, it is recommended to adjust the brightness to 50%, which not only ensures sufficient indoor illumination, but also a good atmosphere.
Myth 9 Lamps do not need to be cleaned frequently. It is most convenient to replace them directly when they are broken
Correct approach: Regular cleaning of lamps can make the light source perform better and extend the life of the lamps. The cleaning frequency is generally recommended to be about once every six months. When cleaning lamps, pay attention to the following points:
