What type of lighting for a living room ?
Reception room or rest room, The living room is the room where the family gathers around the fireplace or in front of the television. Sometimes the living room can also serve as a dining room. It is therefore naturally the place that most attracts your attention for its decoration. It is regularly a question of the largest room in the house. One type of lighting is not enough, in any case, it cannot be suitable for all the moments that can be spent there. You need to multiply the light sources to illuminate the areas of your living room and respect the different atmospheres that you wish to create.
How to light a living room ?
Distinguish between general and functional lighting
To properly light a room, you need to determine the areas to be lit. You will first need to distinguish between general lighting and functional lighting.
General lighting is lighting that allows the entire room to be illuminated without turning on spot lights. , scattered in various corners of the room. This general lighting is, in most cases, provided by your suspension light positioned in the center of the room.
Most living rooms have a ceiling light, a point of lighting on the ceiling connected to a switch at the entrance to the room. The center point is often equipped with a device light fixture (For luminaire connection device ) which is a connection box for light fixtures.
The Hoopzï range, with its woven electrical wires, offers you the French aesthetic solution with its 1-wire or 2-wire suspensions spider suspensions can light you up with 2, 3 or 5 bulbs. A clever and colorful idea for the general lighting of your living room.
Discover our living room lighting and accessories
At the same time, you will also need to work on functional lighting to determine how to light your reading corner, or your dining table for example. This lighting generally provides the additional light needed for the activity you want to have depending on the time of day and the activity you are doing.
Think about your lighting by zones
We first advise you to zone the different spaces in your living room. Where will you position your sofas and armchairs, your dining room table, your television, your reading corner? ? The intensity of lighting you will need actually varies depending on your activities. , and each zone therefore has a different brightness to ensure your comfort. Some zones can be equipped with additional lighting allowing you to add more or less lumens.
The TV area, for example, will not be lit with the same intensity or with the same light fixture as the dining area.Did you know that a minimum intensity of 470 lux is usually recommended for the dining table, while 100 lux is sufficient for the TV area? ?
Hoopzï gives you the choice : its range of 4.5 meter long portable suspensions with switch, or that of lighting suspension kits allow you to imagine all situations to ensure optimum functional lighting in your living room.
So, for your reading corner, you can choose the cord of your choice associated with the ASYM floor lamp . While you will rather select a portable lamp, with a wire color in symbiosis with the tones of your walls, to position above the table.
And to go further in the personalization of your bright idea, each Hoopzï suspension is equipped with an E27 socket which allows you to associate a lampshade with it or not.
What lighting to choose for a living room ?
We recommend choosing LED lighting, with a warm color temperature. We do not recommend installing spotlights on the ceiling because your living room is a room intended to be versatile, you will rarely need or want to turn on all your spotlights.
Your living room should mix different light intensities, with different lighting fixtures depending on each area. The brightness should be warm and we advise you to use bulbs that do not exceed 3500 kelvin. The kelvin is the basic unit of thermodynamic temperature that defines the general tint of light. It is indicated on each bulb package.
Another good idea is to equip your living room with a switch with a dimmer. , and thus vary the voltage of the bulb by acting directly on the current. An easy-to-use system because you just have to turn the wheel or press the switch for a longer or shorter time to adjust light intensity at the desired level.
If you equip yourself with such a device, do not forget to check that your LED bulbs are intended for this use. The manufacturer of your LED bulbs indicates on the packaging whether your bulbs are dimmable, i.e. whether their light intensity is variable.
What lighting power to choose for a living room ?
The total lighting power your living room needs is between 180 Lux and 220 lux.
What is a lux in light?
You're ready for a little math session. ? Follow us, we’ll explain… Lux indicates the flow of light received per m2. The lux value is calculated according to the number of lumens projected by your bulb. Lux is therefore the number of lumens per m2.
For example, if you use a bulb projecting 800 lumens over 10 m2 you get a power of 80 lux.
To get an average of about 200 lux in your living room in total lighting, you calculate the surface area of your living room and calculate the number of lumens you need. It should be noted that the lumens are added (fortunately !) and that you have to rely on several light sources to obtain this amount of luminous flux once all the lights are on.
So, a 20m2 living room requires around 4000 lumens to obtain 200 lux per m2.
Come on… we’ll help you find the right combination ! Take a 3-wire suspension equipped with 3 decorative LED 95 milky bulbs (3x930 lumens) + 2 Bala cords with 2 G95 LED bulbs (2x806 lumens) + an Asym with portable cord and switch equipped with a 350 lumen ST64 LED bulb. Once all lit, your lighting sources will be able to provide you with sufficient total lighting for your living room.
General lighting will be provided by your 3-bulb pendant light while the 2 Balas and the floor lamp will provide functional and/or decorative lighting wherever you need it.
Multiple solutions to support you in your activities : close to the sofa with the Asym floor lamp for reading, the television to watch it comfortably and a last one in a corner of your room to obtain a pleasant atmosphere in your living room. You are now equipped !
Direct or indirect lighting ?
The difference between direct and indirect lighting is simple. We speak of direct lighting when it directly illuminates a surface. Indirect lighting corresponds to the wide projection of a light source, we also speak of general lighting.
Indirect lighting is usually controlled by your switch to turn on the central pendant light in your living room. This often corresponds in the Hoopzï range to all 1-bulb pendant lights, 2-bulb suspension or spider also called spider lamp with 3 wires or 5 wires.
Direct lighting is the one that will allow you to illuminate a specific surface. For example, lighting a desk surface corresponds to direct lighting.
Directional light allows you to improve your visibility to work properly, without generating eye strain. The Asym floor lamp at the end of the sofa is also direct lighting. It will allow you to read in comfort because the bulb will be ideally positioned above your book or newspaper.
The Bala pendant light, a 4.5-metre long portable lamp, is the ideal lamp for creating direct lighting. The flexibility of the electric wire allows you to position your bulb exactly where you need it.
Finally, You can also try accent lighting. This lighting technique allows you to highlight a specific area or object, and enhance your decoration. So let's imagine that you have a pretty statue on a cupboard. : positioning your Bala nearby will highlight the artwork, as for an exhibition. An idea from one of our Hoopzï users is to position his Bala behind the drape of the curtain to stage this area of his house.
Accent lighting is a great way to create ambiance in your home and for this purpose, the Bala and its 4.5-meter long cord will be your ideal partner. Enough to accentuate the aesthetics of your pretty objects or draw attention to the ambiance areas of your home !
Now you know all about ideas for lighting your living room. ; we can't wait to discover new ideas for using Hoopzï products, so send us your creations !
The Hoopzi Team
