Lighting Tips for Your Home

Lighting is an area of interior decorating that people often struggle to get right.  General lighting, task lighting, creating the right mood, it’s hard to know where to start.  We asked Tiffany Buckins, Head of Interior Design at IKEA Australia, to share some of her best lighting tips with us.

Furnish with lighting, tips from Tiffany Buckins

• Think of each activity you do, step back and evaluate the lighting levels. Can you really see well enough to perform that task? Adding extra light sources can really improve how you feel and interact within your space

HEKTAR lighting by IKEA

• General lighting is just that, typically these lights have a wider pool of light and create an overall good lighting level. These are generally down lights or ceiling lights

RANARP lighting by IKEA

• Task lighting is a concentrated light source that helps you see better when performing a specific task. Think adjustable floor lamps for reading, integrated wardrobe lighting to help you find the right shoes and vanity lighting to ensure your make up is just right

STRIBERG strip lighting by IKEA

• Mood lighting creates ambience – it doesn’t serve a functional purpose but it makes a space feel more harmonious

 NYMO copper lighting by IKEA

• Cable management is a big frustration in people’s homes. Using the KVISSLE cable management box ($9.99) is a great way to keep the cords and wires hidden and allows you to still charge your phone or iPad

• Make the switch to LED: LED is the biggest thing in light since electric light was invented. It shines for over 20 years, can be built into lamps for new designs, and uses a sliver of the energy of incandescent bulbs. LED lights are the sustainable choice, and the smart, functional choice. At IKEA, you’ll find both the LEDARE range LED bulbs which can be purchased individually or lamps with LEDs already built in.

Brighter Lives for Refugees campaign

IKEA Australia is flicking the switch on lighting throughout February and March, with the Brighter Lives for Refugees campaign.

For every LED light bulb purchased in IKEA Australia stores from now until the end of March, the IKEA Foundation will donate €1 to UNHCR. The much needed funds will allow UNHCR to provide refugee camps in Asia, Africa and the Middle East with solar-powered street lights and lanterns – making them a safer, more suitable place for the families who live there.

So if you’re planning on revamping your lighting or just want to make the switch to LED, visit your nearest IKEA store.

I'm Kylie, and I love to share practical home decorating and styling tips. I'm a qualified interior designer and self taught crafter and DIY'er. I'm addicted to decorating, and can't walk past a homewares shop without going in for a look. I live in a 1930's Queenslander in Brisbane's inner suburbs which I'm turning into a home one project at a time.