Illuminate Your Home: 15 Lighting Ideas To Spark Your Inspiration

Lighting is essential to every home: a warm welcome home on winter evenings; a dark corner illuminated into a reading sanctuary; a glow setting the mood in every room of the house. To help you get it right, we bring you some some chic lighting ideas to spark your inspiration...

1. Create an ambient mood lighting and a relaxed atmosphere with an arc floor lamp, inspired by the iconic Achille Castiglioni Arco Lamp. To add intrigue, combine with soft-glow tessellating wall lighting, as pictured.

2. For a gentle take on the bright downlight, try a reflector downlight featuring a broad clouded glass diffuser: this eliminates the glare and softens the light as it is dispersed.

3. To create a golden glow which complements the rich tones of deep mahogany beams, opt for spotlight bulbs which emit a warm white light. Place these parallel to the wall to allow the light to cascade down, ricocheting to create delicate shapes.

4. Hidden LED lighting fixtures are available in a vast array of different tones: combine with artistic wall lighting and spotlights, and enhance the look with glass or mirror features for an ultra-modern, striking finish.

5. Uplighters and downlighters are ideal for highlighting the textures on walls: use on brick or textured wall paper to create a dappled, ambient light which emanates a relaxed vibe.

6. Draw the eye upwards and enhance the spacious feel of a room with LED light fixtures hidden in sleek block ceiling coving: go for cool white light to intensify this effect.

7. Create an illusion of additional space in your bathroom by combining spotters with full-width, carefully placed mirrors.

8. For a delicate appeal, incorporate the elegance of nature into your space with lighting features which recreate floral and vine forms in tones of bronze, gold and lit pearl glass.

9. For a retro feel, hang an assortment of Edison style loop and squirrel cage filament pear and globe light bulbs on extendable antique-look wire; space them apart slightly at marginally different heights for a distinctive finish.

10. Continue a rich colour scheme in your space by using a lamp shade tinged with a corresponding deep hue: the light emitted will cast a tinted glow onto the surrounding area.

11. Create a staircase with a contemporary twist by installing lighting on the under crop of each step; use a smooth, glossy material for the steps to exaggerate the reflection of this light.

12. For an ethereal appeal, bundle fairy lights into large glass jars and place these around the room; cool white fairylights will create an airy, celestial feel, whilst warm golden ones will emanate cosiness.

13. Utilise chunky candles for a striking effect: draw attention to key features within the space using miniature, flickering flames. Candles should be different heights to draw in the eye and keep it moving.

14. In a nod to the vintage, neatly hang evenly spaced, large Edison-style globe bulbs at equal heights; focus these above the central island in your kitchen to highlight this feature.

15. For a minimal, futuristic finish, go for hanging, steel-hue cylindrical ceiling lights; those with perforations permit a striking, luminous patterned glow.