The right lighting design can enhance your home decor, creating a mesmerizing ambience and making it feel special. Ambient lighting is one of the three most important layers of lighting (the others being task lighting and accent lighting) that contribute to a well-lit space. Not only does it look beautiful, but it creates moods, articulates spaces, and adds warmth. If you’d like to give your room a lovely hidden glow, or highlight a dropped ceiling design, then cove lighting is what you should be looking at!
What exactly is cove lighting, and how can you use it in your home? Read on to find out.
What is Cove Lighting?
Cove lighting is a form of ambient lighting that is indirect, where the light fixtures themselves are hidden from view but all you see is the glimmer. The source of the light is installed in a ceiling recess in such a way that it is completely out of sight from all angles. The light is directed upwards and bounces off the ceiling, illuminating the room with a soft, diffuse glow.
As they are hidden from view, cove lights are usually energy-efficient LED or fluorescent strips or ropes. You can fit them with dimmers to increase or decrease the brightness, or you can even use light strips that change colour to create different moods.
Here’s how you can use cove lighting to advantage in each of the rooms in your home.
Layers of Light in Your Living Room
What you need in the living room is a thoughtful mix of all the layers of lighting that combine aesthetics with practical functionality. Cove lighting can be used not only in the ceiling, but also to highlight an architectural feature in the room. This could be on the wall, like a statement stone relief feature, or even at floor level, such as a hidden light below a wall-hung cabinet.
In this modern ocean-front living room, the floating ceiling is fitted with strip lights along all the sides, creating a lovely glow all along the edges of the room. Note how the curtains are hung from the slab height and seem to disappear above the edge of the false ceiling, adding the perception of increased height.
Cove lighting defines and outlines the TV wall in this room, with long strip lights along the edge of the POP wall unit that folds and continues into a floating ceiling. More hidden lights below the horizontal wall cabinet add visual interest.
Here, a circular false ceiling with hidden lights that throw intriguing shadows lends an air of opulence to this living room. The crystal chandelier and tiny twinkles of spotlights add to the spellbinding effect.
Set Your Bedroom in Relaxation Mode!
Your bedroom should be all about tranquillity and calm. At the end of a day’s work, you need to relax and destress—and diffuse, low levels of lighting will go a long way toward helping you unwind.
In this classical bedroom, a tray ceiling uses hidden cove lighting to cast a lovely glow on the ceiling, that can be turned down low for a relaxed, romantic evening.
Here’s another example of how cove lighting is used in a contemporary minimalistic bedroom. The dropped ceiling is designed with sharp edges, and features recessed strip LED lights that cast a warm ambient glow. Always remember that yellow lights feel warm, while white lights have a cooler effect.
The strip of light below the overhead cabinets in this bedroom offers a calm glow for night-time reading, and enhances the cove lighting in the false ceiling above. LED lights fitted with transformers and dimmer switches are ideal for this kind of illumination as they can be turned up or down as required. What’s more, this illumination level is not as harsh on the eyes as a table lamp would be.
Spice up Your Dining Room with the Right Lighting
The dropped ceiling and cove lights give this dining room added dimension and depth, introducing warmth to a room that’s mostly done up in white. Light that is bounced off the ceiling tends to open up spaces and make them appear lighter and brighter.
Functional and Aesthetic Kitchen Lights
Ceiling lights in the kitchen could throw shadows on the counter when you are trying to work, which can be frustrating. This is where an additional strip of lights below the cabinets works wonders! Give your kitchen a luxe touch by adding warm recessed lights below the upper run of cabinets. This is strategic as well as aesthetic, as it also throws light on the worktop.
Here, the warm lighting emphasizes the golden grains of the veneer, adding cosiness and heart to the otherwise cold grey minimal cabinets.
This lovely kitchen showcases cove lights not just in the ceiling, but also below the cabinets, just below the breakfast counter and at the level of the skirting—completely altering the mood of the space and adding tonnes of warmth.
Magic in Your Bathroom
When you’re soaking in a scented hot bath, the right kind of lighting will send you into Zen oblivion! Strip lights around the mirror cast an enchanting glow all around the mirror, which reflects and bounces the light for a soft-as-a-whisper low-key touch.
In this luxurious bathroom, the cove lighting in the ceiling adds a special touch.
The right lighting plan can enhance your décor, fill it with warmth and make each room special. If you need the lighting experts at HomeLane to lend a hand with your home décor, all you have to do is call. We’re right beside you all the way!
