The 14 Best Ways to Light a Room with No Overhead Lighting
Overhead lighting is a helpful way to illuminate any space, but ceiling lights aren’t your only option. You can strategically — and beautifully — light a room without the use of ceiling lights by using a range of different types of lighting. Think: Wall sconces, floor lamps, table lamps, and even candles. By mixing light sources placed at varying heights you can create ambient, task and accent lighting without any dark spots or shadows, all while adding stylish touches to your décor. Read on to discover 14 tips to light your space like a pro.
How to Plan a Lighting Design Without Overhead Lighting
First, figure out how you plan to use the space. Do you need ambient general lighting? Or do you need focused light for specific tasks? Next, decide which areas you want to emphasize, such as a kitchen island or a dining room table. Finally, think about what accent lighting you want to add as a decorative element. Armed with this knowledge, you can plan the right combination of lighting for any room.
Unique Ways to Light a Room Without Overhead Lighting
1. Natural Light
Open up your curtains and let the daylight in. Once you do, you can add reflective surfaces to disperse sunlight throughout a room. Mirrors are fantastic for this purpose; for instance, you can hang a large wall mirror opposite a window, or place smaller mirrors behind a series of wall lights to help bounce light around a space while adding a bit of ambience.
You can further capitalize on natural light by adding an overhead skylight or installing light tubes, which use a special lens to maximize low-level light and reduce the intensity of the sun, channeling light along a reflective tube and through a diffuser, to spread it evenly around the room.
2. Floor Lamps
Floor lamps are an excellent lighting solution and welcome alternative to ceiling lights. Because they are tall and upright, they create the sense of overhead lighting without needing to be installed. An elegant arc lamp, with its graceful arm that extends out into the room (usually from a corner), takes this idea one step further.
3. Table Lamps
Set on end tables, pianos, desks, and other furniture and plugged into the wall, table lamps provide a welcoming glow that gives enough light for reading and entertaining. To maximize their potential, choose light-colored or sheer shades, since dark or metal shades won’t do much to replace overhead lighting. You can even use a desk lamp with an adjustable arm to radiate bright light where you’re working, and direct the light where you need it most.
4. Wall Sconces
Wall sconces add elegance to just about any room. In addition to sconces that are hard wired into your home’s electrical system, you can also find a wide range of plug-in or battery operated sconces.
5. String Lights
In styles like fairy lights or Edison bulbs, string lights are often used outdoors for their charming glow. But they can also bring bohemian whimsy inside, whether draped around windows or even hung as a curtain of tiny lights. Just be aware that you might need an extension cord to place them exactly where you want them.
6. LED Strip Lights
LED strip lights are often used as under-cabinet lighting in kitchens to illuminate cooking and food prep areas. But with their clean, bright light, they can also be plugged in and placed underneath furniture such as a bed or credenza, or behind a television set to create an otherworldly look.
7. Shelf Lighting
Small spotlights affixed to shelves offer a directed beam that you can shine on unique books, collectibles, or framed artwork. Another option is a puck light, which is typically around 3 inches in size, and round in shape (like a hockey puck). Small but mighty and simple to mount, puck lights can illuminate nooks and crannies shadowed by a shelf’s overhang.
8. Picture Lights
Picture lights can be installed on the wall above a special piece of art and pointed to shine downward, or even mounted onto the frame of the picture itself. Use one picture light for each piece of artwork that you want to feature, taking care to adjust it to a 30-degree angle to emphasize the artwork’s colors and textures.
9. Backlit Panels
Some wall panels or bed headboards can be installed with a light source placed behind the panel, providing consistent illumination across its surface, eliminating both hot spots and shadows. And because these panels radiate indirect light, they will not cause eye strain and fatigue.
10. Floor-Level Lighting
If you’re looking for permanent fixtures, consider floor-level recessed lights, which can be directed up the wall to create a dramatic effect. On stairs, step lights will help keep your family and friends from stumbling.
11. Fireplace Lighting
Today’s fireplace inserts are light years ahead of the ones of yesteryear, including faux fireplaces that will cast a flickering glow. Or, you can arrange candles of varying heights in an empty fireplace for a romantic, intimate atmosphere with a stylish touch.
12. Candles
Candles are also lovely on their own, giving off more light than you might expect while also letting you choose shapes, sizes, and candlesticks that match your interior design style. There are even battery powered options made from actual wax that are remarkably realistic — as well as being smokeless and dripless.
13. Portable Lamps
Though not powerful enough to replace the brightness you would get from an overhead light, cordless portable lamps add to a room’s ambience and can provide direct light for areas such as reading nooks. Some of them are battery operated, while others are rechargeable, making them especially handy if you experience a power outage.
14. Smart Lighting Solutions
So many of today’s lighting fixtures can be operated with smart controls. From dimmers to bulbs that will change color temperature automatically throughout the day to voice-activated and remote-controlled lights, you’ve got the power to significantly change the lighting in your room without changing out the fixtures.
No Overhead Light? We Can Help.
Whatever type of room you are lighting, at Visual Comfort you’ll discover fixtures that will help you light it beautifully and in style. Visit VisualComfort.com to find your perfect fit.
FAQ
What’s the easiest type of light to install, if I don’t have overhead lighting?
Floor and table lamps are easy to install, because they only need to be placed where you like and plugged into a wall outlet. Portable, battery-powered lights are also very easy, because they don’t even need to be plugged in.
What color temperature do I want for my indoor lighting?
Choose a bulb that is around 3,000 Kelvins in color temperature to bring a warm white light that has subtle hints of red or yellow. LED bulbs are available in this temperature range, and they use much less electricity than incandescent bulbs, only need to be replaced about once a decade, and emit light that will not damage artwork such as paintings or photographs.