The living room is the heart of the home, with the right lighting it can go from entertainment area to an ambient space for relaxing. Lighting your living room is about options, being able to transform the space for different purposes and moods. Here we explain the different types of lighting and how it can give you flexibility.

General lighting for the living room
For a balanced overall illumination in the living room, recessed ceiling lighting offers an excellent unobtrusive source of light throughout the room. Placing a number of table lamps around the room on side tables or console tables also helps to soften the light and create atmosphere. Choose lamps with varying heights so as to create variety. A floor lamp is also a great addition to the living room and can be moved around depending on your lighting needs. To create a Hamptons style look in your living room choose natural warm coloured shades and country-style brass pendant lights.

Decorative living room lighting
A chandelier in the living room offers an elegant and stylish centrepiece to the room. It also supplies overall general illumination. The chandelier should be placed in the middle of the room, above the coffee table or above the main seating area. For a casual yet sophisticated Hamptons style look to your living room use a metal or rustic country style chandelier above the coffee table and balance this out by placing a number of table lamps around the room and a floor lamp beside the lounge.

An alternative to a chandelier is to have double or triple hanging pendant lights above your sitting area. Hanging pendants come in rustic, traditional and modern designs. Picture lights can be used to illuminate artworks around the living room and placing small recessed lights or downlights inside your display cabinet can help illuminate your collection or porcelain.

Accent lighting
Accent lighting is essential to creating mood and atmosphere in your living room. Twin sconces or matching wall lights provide soft accent lighting. They are a great way to create variation and texture within the room. These wall lights come in many different decorative styles. They can provide a decorative feature in themselves by offering elegance and style to the living room. Wall lights and sconces can be placed above the mantlepiece, beside the fireplace or bookshelf. Sconce wall lights wash light over a wall and help to eliminate dark areas within the living room.

Task lighting
A portable floor lamp is a great addition to the living room as it can moved around the room depending on your lighting needs. Floor lamps come in both traditional and modern styles. Since they create light at a different height to table lamps, a mixture of floor lamps and table lamps helps to create variety and mood within the room.