Getting the lighting right in your bedroom can be pretty important given that it’s a room predominantly used for sleeping, as well as other practical uses. Whether it be reading, preparing your night time routine, or getting ready in the morning, the right kind of lighting helps the bedroom to be functional at all times of the day. Despite this, lighting is a design feature that is often overlooked.
So, what type of lighting is best for your bedroom? In this blog, our experts will explain how to choose the perfect lighting for your bedroom – from the type of fixture you should use to its layout in your bedroom.
How to choose lighting for a bedroom
What colour lighting is best for bedrooms?
A question that often divides people when it comes to bedroom lighting is – should bedrooms use bright or warm light bulbs? Most of the time, the answer to this question is unique to the individual. However, research studies suggest that warm coloured bedroom lights are preferred to promote better sleep quality.
When the sun goes down, the body begins to increase its melatonin levels which signals to the body that it’s time to begin to wind down, relax, and prepare for sleep. Due to its similar colour temperature, a warm coloured light can create this same effect and cause the release of this sleep hormone too.
In comparison, blue and white light exposure in the evening should be avoided. The stark contrast in colour, compared to warm light, can cause you to feel more energised before sleeping and interfere with your body’s natural sleep cycle. As a result, you are likely to have a much lower quality of sleep.
Other colour attributes that can also affect sleep include:
- Brightness
- Hue
- Saturation
So, to create optimal lighting in a bedroom, LED light bulbs are an ideal solution. LED lights for bedrooms can easily be dimmed and brightened according to your preferences and even allow you control over colours. This means you can create warm, ambient lighting in the evening whilst winding down, and bright, light colours in the morning to help you feel awake.
How will your bedroom lights fit into your space?
When looking at bedroom light fittings, it’s important to know what works and what doesn’t. Even though your lighting fixtures may look good and pair well with your bedroom design, if your fixture doesn’t physically fit in your space, it can easily overpower your room, or get lost within it.
This is particularly important when installing statement lighting fixtures such as chandeliers. Whilst they will add an element of grandeur, it’s important that the fixture is proportional to the size of the room.
Remember it should be a focal point, however if the centrepiece is too big or small, it can look out of place.
Have you considered layering your lighting?
Layering your bedroom lights can be a great way to add extra interest in your room and helps to ensure you have appropriate lighting for different purposes.
If you’ve not thought about layering your lighting before, you first need to decide what you need your bedroom lighting to do. As we’ve already mentioned, it is important when collecting bedroom lighting ideas to remember that it is a practical space, and you might need task lighting as well as general lighting.
Task Lighting
Task lighting is ideal when you need to add localised lighting into a bedroom for reading or writing. Bedroom wall lights help to create perfect task lighting in the form of an in bed reading light. These light fixtures, as well as bright, white light bulbs help to create focused light without overpowering the overall atmosphere in the room.
Ambient Lighting
On the other hand, ambient lighting is preferred for bedroom ceiling lights as it creates a more relaxed atmosphere. In terms of what ceiling lights should be used in a bedroom, we recommend warm white light bulbs as they are much softer compared to the harsh light created from task lighting, and help to add a cosy feel to any room.
Don’t forget to be decorative
Just because lighting is practical doesn’t mean it can’t be fun too. Using an interesting bedroom lighting design can add a sense of drama, and enhance the look and feel of your room design. Pendant lighting is a popular choice for modern homes right now due to its minimalistic style. However, don’t let this fool you, it can still make an instant impact in your bedroom.
If your bedroom has the luxury of high ceilings, pendant lighting can be left to hang low and grab the attention of visitors without overtaking other design features in your room.
Alternatively, you can achieve the ultimate cosy room design by incorporating bedroom fairy lights into your design. These bedroom lights can be draped delicately along headboards, mirrors, or hung from ceilings and walls to create a unique display feature in your space.
Have fun with your lighting design
Ultimately, your bedroom light design needs to be bespoke to your taste. Making small changes to your layout can really transform the look of your room to make it your own.
Adding new bedroom light shades and fixtures to your ceiling lights and lamps can make a big difference to the ambience of a bedroom and have it appear more inviting on an evening. However, if you’re feeling slightly more daring, you can even opt for colourful lighting to really impact the mood of your bedroom.
RGB (red, blue, green) light bulbs for bedrooms are a great example of how to create bespoke lighting. Controlled via a remote app, these LED lights give the user complete control over the colour and brightness of the light bulb at any time.
As well as being great for creating personalised ambient lighting to help with sleep, their extensive colour range makes these LED light bulbs a great decorative option too. Our RGB LED light bulbs also come in the standard GLS shape, making them highly compatible with a wide variety of fittings.
Buy bedroom lighting with Lightbulbs Direct
Purchasing the right lighting for your bedroom is essential to create a peaceful environment that allows you to relax and reset.
Whether you’re looking to purchase bed lights for reading, bedroom ceiling lights or completely new light fittings, Lightbulbs Direct have multiple options for you.
If you would like to look at some bedroom lighting ideas, have a look at our full range of bedroom lighting.