When we were choosing the lighting for our master bedroom we had a lot to consider. There are two types of lighting that you need to consider when choosing your lighting options. They are:
- Work / Task Lighting
- Ambient Lighting
Work / Task Lighting
Typically your work / task lighting can be found in one, two or possibly three locations in the master bedroom. We have task lighting in only one location, but it would probably be nice to have it in the other two as well. The main locations for task / work lighting in a bedroom, in order of prominence, are:
- Bedside Tables
- Dresser Mirror
- Closet
We have reading lamps on our bedside tables. In purchasing these lights we went for a 45watt light that matched our bed set on each bedside. I have also seen the reading lamps mounted to the wall above the headboard for the bed, which can be quite effective.
Some dresser mirrors have lights built into them. This can help with getting dressed and ready for the day. Since we have an ensuite attached to our master bedroom we didn’t really have a need for lights for the mirror on our dresser.
Having lighting in the closets is something that I am starting to see more of. Once it was something reserved to walk in closest, but now you can find built in lighting in standard closets. I’ve seen closet lights can be attached to the wall, in the ceiling or sometimes attached to the shelves in the wardrobe.
Ambient Lighting
The ambient lighting in the master bedroom is your general lighting. We’ve had the ambient lighting provided by wall light scones, a light attached to the fan, inset in the ceiling or more traditional ceiling lights. If done properly the ambient lighting can be used to really “set the mood†in the master bedroom.
My favourite lights that we’ve had for ambient lighting in our bedroom so far was halogen down lights on a dimmer.
There were four lights evenly spaced in the ceiling around a ceiling fan. The placement of the lights helped to stop the flicker that can sometimes being experienced with a ceiling fan. Being on a dimmer allowed the same lights to be used for a wide variety of uses.
What kind of choices have you made in setting up your own lighting in your master bedroom? What have I missed in planning out bedroom lighting?
Just came across your site, and i notice the article is over a year old – do you have any info on how it turned out? any pics?
Unfortunately I don’t think that I have any final photos of the lighting in the room from before we sold the house and moved. Amongst everything else to do with finishing the house and moving some things we unfortunately missed.