How to Get Mood Lighting at Home

Would love some advice on this! We live in the Pacific Northwest and it can get dark and gloomy outside which means it can feel dark and gloomy inside as well. We can easily create a “glow” and cozy space but would love to also bring some brightness into the space! All our sconces and table lamps create a cozy but also sleepy space. Advice appreciated!

I’m a huge fan of cozy lighting! I have purple Christmas lights and battery operated candles. I was getting ready for bed one night and decided to play a trick my boyfriend and asked him to turn off the lights and blow out the candles. I still laugh thinking about him trying to blow out my fake candles!

I love mood lighting! I use a mix of purple Christmas light and battery operated candles. I was getting ready for bed one night and decided to play a trick on my boyfriend. I asked him to unplug the lights and blow out the candles. I still laugh thinking about him trying to blow battery operated candles 😂

Our fireplaces don’t work anymore, so I arranged Terrain’s Stargazer branch lights over the white birch logs piled in each grate. I bent all the little stems so they randomly fill the area where flames would be leaping. There are about 180 tiny warm lights glowing in each fireplace, and the effect is so pretty, especially at night, but we like the effect so much that leave them on during the day, too.

Tips for fairy-lighting a space that isn’t a college dorm? Love fairy-lights, have some in a box, but unsure how best to execute in an adult way. Anyone else relate?

How do you do a dimmer light that doesn’t have a high-pitched hum? I’ve made my hub switch out every dimmer light we’ve ever had because of the light isn’t on full, the noise it makes is unbearable to me! I first thought it was just the cheap dimmers, but our new overhead light/ fans have the same thing. How do they not drive everyone bonkers?

Has anyone found cute battery operated table lamps? We have a big living room with no floor outlets and I’d love to put cute warm lamps on the side tables!

I have a pendant light hanging over the dining room table that has a dimmer switch and just can’t find the right bulb to light the food and dining table bright but soft. Would love any tips!

Yep, great lighting is the domestic equivalent of great underwear – if you get those right, everything else follows. I’ve struggled for years with trying to find lamps which look good and cast a lovely buttery light – but also allow you to read. Solution is a few lamps and at least one at 60W (I’m in Australia). Hot tip: Noguchi lamps give the best, most beautiful glowiest, glow

As an architectural lighting designer it makes me ridiculously happy to see people discussing the importance of lighting in a space!! It’s one of those things people notice when it is bad, but rarely notice when it’s good – the space just “feels good.”
One thing I would recommend is to check the CRI – the color rendering index – on whatever fixture/bulb you are using. Try for 90+ to make skin look healthy and colors look true. Not all LEDs are equal and many don’t render reds/pinks very well.
And it’s important to light walls /surfaces – that’s what you see when you walk into a space – not what light is on the floor!
Our office even created an illustrated guide as a reference for common lighting questions (though much of it is specific to architecture).
https://www.renfrodesign.com/lighting-intuition-for-architects

The other day in Home Depot I overheard a woman asking a sales associate for the brightest LED lightbulb they sold. She told him it was for her bedroom (!) The sales associate tried to convince her otherwise and even asked her if she wanted her bedroom to look like the inside of a Home Depot. She persisted! My nightmare!!!

People always comment on how warm and cozy my apartment feels, and it is absolutely due to low-wattage incandescent lightbulbs. I know I am overdue to switch to LEDs, but I have never been able to find one that looks as warm as incandescent. Any brands people love?!

I wish every indoor space had this kind of lighting. I’m super sensitive to light– my partner calls me a vampire– and I HATE overhead lighting. It gives me anxiety to the point that I don’t travel without a baseball cap because of horrible overhead lights in planes and trains etc. If you must have overhead lighting, dimmer switches are a must.

We have Phillips Hue bulbs in most of our floor/table lamps and it creates such a vibe! You can customize the color and intensity from your phone (from bright white reading light to warm cozy relaxing light and everything in between). Our guests always compliment our mood lighting :)

About 10 years ago I spent considerable time in Manhattan for work and rented an apartment in the West Village. My husband came up too and worked from his NY office and we had the best time. Cafe Cluny was our favorite place and seeing this picture really took me back! Glad to know it is still going strong. Such a cozy spot.

Recently bought some amazing table lamps from Clay Mohr Lighting – a Vermont artist who makes wood lamps from Lake Champlain’s driftwood. They bring the outside in, and create such a cozy atmosphere.
http://www.claymohrlighting.com

Most of our lighting is vintage (get them rewired if not already). I think they give the best glowly look.

Any advice for what to do with two ugly sconces inexplicably on our dining/living room wall? It is a 1956 cottage ranch house and seems like the place one would have had a fireplace but there isn’t one—just a set of ugly (not 1950s cool) sconces four feet apart. The room is dark and we need light, but…

Lamps lamps, love love lamps…we have no overhead lighting, and most of my single gal (older build) apartments had none. We have10 lamps in the living room, and flameless candles on a remote with timer…before they were so hard to find, every other bulb in my lamps was a very light peach or pale pink toned incandescent…ahhhhh, they were magnificent. And lasted forever. Sweet warm flattering light, Heaven!

I cannot abide overhead lights in homes, especially if white, bright, energy efficiency lights are used. These lights, like fluorescent bulbs and tubes, make me feel like I’m in Best Buy, which I equate to a prison (bright lights, can’t see outside, endless noise). We do have overheads in our kitchen but I rarely use them without also turning on the directed, much warmer recessed lights and the light over the stove. And having a small lamp to put under an upper cabinet makes everything much cozier. I also think lighting is the key to successful commercial businesses. A small retail business with “glow-y” lighting is so much more inviting than the Big Box retail lighting

A small lamp in the bathroom and a calming classical playlist = cozy evening flossing. It’s really the only way I can stick to my flossing routine and now my 15 year old daughter is insisting we floss together bc it’s so dang cozy. We floss and grab. Hilarious and sorta odd, but working so well as a wind down.

This is so eye-opening coming from someone who LOVES bright overhead light! Dim light makes me strain my eyes and feel tired. I’m constantly turning on overhead lights and lamps together!

Thank you! I would love a post on floor lamps, though I know you guys are not an interior design blog :) I struggle to find any that work well in small spaces (either they seem old fashioned, take up tons of space, or are impossible to find/sold out everywhere).

If I could have zero overhead lights, I’d be happy. It does get tricky in bedrooms, where you want to see yourself in the mirror… but I’ve gotten over it. Our living room is quite large with big windows. During the day we don’t need lighting. At night, we have two lights, both on dimmers, and the atmosphere is beautiful. You dim up, when you need to read… you dim down, when you’re hanging out and chillin’. We have dimmers in the kitchen on all lights and I usually turn off the main kitchen lights during our meal, and only have the low overhead light over the table on. Even on a random Tuesday. It instantly calms the house and the people in it.

Ohhh this is exactly what I’ve been working on. I think lighting our wall art has really helped elevate our home. We’ve slowly been purchasing lamps and task lighting and have only used recessed cans in the kitchen. I think a small lamp in the kitchen looks so cozy. Our lights are on dimmer switches too. My other goal is to add landscape lighting to our garden.

My best tip: get Himalayan salt light bulbs so you can turn any lamp or light into a soft, peachy glow.