Home Frosting’s head designer Karen Post recently visited the Daytime TV set to share what’s hot in home lighting design and provided some designer secrets that can help transform any room.
Lighting up the room with Daytime TV’s Maggie Rodríguez (left)
Have you ever noticed how good lighting makes such a difference in a room? It sets the mood, adds style, and maximizes function. Karen Post, Tampa interior designer and regular home decor contributor to The Daytime show shares how to make your lighting look like a pro did it.
Start the process by identifying your lighting needs. Ask yourself, will your lighting be your
- Primary lighting source and provide overall brightness, or will it be
- Accent lighting and highlight art & architectural features, or will it function as
- Task lighting that is focused to help you do something like read
What’s hot in home lighting trends?
Below you will see some of the latest residential lighting trends.
1) Oversized lighting is bigger than ever. From the dining room to offices to bedroom.
2) Geometric/sculptural lighting designs add a grand statement to any room.
3) Natural home lighting options come in many materials from wood to beads, to jute and leathers.
4) Soft gold is the new “it” finish
5) Drums home lighting is a timeless style as it looks great with many home decor styles like modern to more transitional.
…and what’s not so hot in residential lighting? Say good-bye to these no-no’s!
- Bling is still in, but it’s toned down
- Heavy Tuscan is tired unless you make some style tweaks with shades and cleaner lines
- “Booby” lights (my all-time pet peeve!). Some builders fell in love with these years ago. These fixtures are dated, look cheap and not recommended. Even if you are on a budget, there are so many other better options
A closing tip, choosing the correct lamp shade is critical.
One of the worst things you can do is select the wrong size lamp shade. To avoid this, measure the base & height of your lamp, and follow these basic rules:
- The shade should be twice as wide as the lamp base, and one third of the total height of the lamp.
- The bottom of the shade should meet with the body of the lamp so that no mechanical parts (except 1/2 the neck) show.
- The bottom of the shade should also fall at the eye level of the user.
- Most harps are not interchangeable so you may need to purchase a new harp with your new shade to get a perfect fit.
For more lighting tips & secrets, watch the full segment here. And for even more ideas, you can check out all of our previous Daytime segments over on the Home Frosting YouTube channel. Daytime TV films in Tampa and is syndicated in over 100 markets.
