“Why does my house feel so great when it’s decorated for the holidays?” Asks our design client of over a decade.
“A lot of what you’re feeling is the powerful effect of room lighting,” I answer. The holidays are a time when we bring into play a design principle decorators have used for decades – layered lighting. In our Ojai home, decorative candles are lit, tree lights are hung, the dimmers are turned down low and the fireplace is aglow. The result is a really fantastic feeling space. Layers of light fill the vertical and the horizontal space of the room.
Our friend Michelle uses votives on her mantle to illuminate her vintage tree collection. If you don’t have a working fireplace, this is wonderful way to create a warm focal point even after the holidays.
Your holiday table is a great space to explore a variety of candle heights. We love using all sizes – small votives, tall tapers etc… We use a glass plate to display a variety of ivory pillar candles on our coffee table in the summer and a brushed gold tray in our holiday configuration. Combining glass and metal surfaces with candles is a great way to bounce a warm light effect throughout the room.
Setting light levels in a room can be just as important at a festive dinner party as the food. Low lighting makes an event feel more intimate. We added dimmers not only to our dining room but to our open concept kitchen as well. Lighting corner space with light cans (ideally behind a plant or chair), or using lamps made for seating level can also be a nice addition.
Designers normally work with three layers of lighting – ambient lighting (candles), task lighting(fixed lighting), and accent lighting (lamps, holiday lights). Remember these three lighting types when creating a well-presented room in your home, even beyond the holidays.
OHI HOME STYLE 