Stylish Living Room Lighting Ideas

21 February 2019

The living room is where we spend most of our hours when we’re at home. From entertaining guests to relaxing on the couch after a long day, the lighting in your living room plays an important role.

Learn how to light a room beautifully for every occasion with these living room lighting ideas.

Use layered lighting

The three layers of lighting are ambient, accent and task. Depending on the size of your living room, you’ll need several sources of each. A skillful mix of these 3 types of lighting has the power to transform the atmosphere of your living room.

Tip: Use smart LED lights for each layer. This way you can control the brightness for each type of lighting separately.

Living room with pink-lit accent lighting

Find the right fixtures and lamps

The key to creating the right lighting atmosphere in your multipurpose living room is to choose the right light fixture for every activity. Also, keep in mind that the light fixtures and lamps should complement the interior design and furniture of your room.

Light fixtures for ambient lighting

Ambient lighting, often referred to as mood lighting, illuminates the whole room uniformly. The key to achieve the perfect ambiance is to combine two different kinds of overhead lighting fixtures. For example, a chandelier or flush mount ceiling lamp with recessed spotlights. 

Tip: Add colour-changing smart bulbs to personalise the lighting atmosphere of your living room.

Living room with coloured lighting

Light fixtures for task lighting

Task lighting for living room pastimes such as reading and family game nights can be more cleanly accomplished with low hanging pendant lights or floor and desk lamps. The best part about pendant lights is that they do not disturb the movement in the room - no power cords to trip over.

Tip: Choose smart LED lighting to get the right light output for every individual task - reading, eating breakfast, household chores.

Couple reading in a living room

Light fixtures for accent lighting

When it comes to living room lighting ideas, get creative with accent lighting! Accent lighting sources indirectly illuminate spaces while remaining mostly hidden. The purpose of accent lighting is to highlight particular areas or objects - like artwork - in your living room.

Tip: Choose colour-changing smart LED lightstrips to add a touch of style to your living room space.

Accent lighting through lightstrips

Position your lights strategically

If your living room is large or lacks natural daylight, you should consider all the light sources that you will need to brighten up your room evenly. Recessed spotlights with chandeliers are a great combination to overall illuminate a large room. For dark corners or reading nooks, opt for tall adjustable floor lamps or pendant lights that provide light from above. LED lightstrips are perfect to create a soft, yet even, light effect in dark or shadowed spaces like behind the TV, showcases or indoor plants.

Tip: Use a lighting app to create light settings or scenes that can be recalled easily.

*When a bulb displays "Up to" a certain number of lumens in its specifications, it displays the maximum lumen output of the bulb. It shows how bright the bulb can get at 2700 K (White bulbs) or 4000 K (White ambiance or White and colour ambiance bulbs). Learn more about brightness