The bedroom is the one room where lighting should actively help you slow down. Yet it is usually the worst-lit room in the house: a single bright ceiling light and perhaps a lamp that is too tall to read by. A few changes make a bigger difference here than anywhere else.
Start with warmth
Warm white, 2700K, is the right colour temperature for a bedroom. It is the colour of candlelight and sunset, and it tells your body the day is ending. Avoid anything cooler. If your ceiling light offers a choice of temperatures via remote, set it to the warmest and leave it there.
Make the ceiling light optional
A ceiling light in a bedroom is for finding socks and making the bed, not for the evening. Choose a low-profile flush fitting with a soft, diffused glow and put it on a dimmer. On most evenings it should be off by the time you are in bed.
Bedside pendants instead of lamps
The most effective bedroom upgrade is a pair of small pendants hung either side of the bed, roughly 50 to 60 cm above the bedside table. They free up the table, look considered and put light exactly where you read. Choose shades that are closed at the top so the light falls down onto your book rather than across the pillow. A pair of wall lights does the same job if you cannot drop pendants from the ceiling.
Give each side its own switch
Whatever you choose for the bedside, make sure each side has its own control. A pendant or wall light with a switch on the cord, or a lamp with an inline switch, means one person can read while the other sleeps.
Add one accent light
A small lamp on a chest of drawers, a lit shelf or a sculptural wall light on the far wall gives the room depth and is often the only light you need in the last half hour before sleep. Keep it low wattage and warm.
Keep screens and spotlights out
Downlights above the bed are the enemy of a calm bedroom; they glare straight into your eyes when you lie down. If you have them, put them on a dimmer or leave them off. The same goes for cool-toned screen light; a warm lamp on at the same time softens it.
A simple bedroom plan
- Flush ceiling light, warm white, on a dimmer.
- Two bedside pendants or wall lights, individually switched.
- One accent lamp across the room.
- Everything at 2700K.
That is four lights and it covers every moment from getting dressed to falling asleep. Browse our bedroom lighting collection for pendants, wall lights and flush fittings that fit the plan.