If you’ve heard me once, you’ve heard me a million times: Layered lighting is the best way to make a room feel spacious and inviting. From ambient lighting to task lighting to accent lighting, every room needs planes of light that come from different parts of the room and provide that light that makes you want to stay longer.
Lighting truly has as much impact on a space as paint color, flooring, or finishes. Below, I go through all the types of things we use in our home – overhead lighting, sconces, and lamps – as well as the rules, fixtures, and sources I reach for over and over again. Think of this as a basic guide.
First, Quick Updates to Light Layers
Before we get into the types of architecture, let’s talk about the three layers that each room needs. A common mistake I often see is one overhead light that does all the work in a room. One light source = flat, uninviting, and usually too bright.
Here’s a simple version (for a deeper dive, head over to our layered lighting guide):
- Ambient light it’s your normal, perfect light. Think chandeliers, pendant lights, recessed lights – light that replaces natural window light.
- Lighting work functional layer – bedside lamps for reading, hanging decorations over the kitchen island, desk lamp in the study.
- Accent light a mood-booster. Picture lamps over art, sconces, bookshelf lamps, anything that highlights an architectural feature or draws attention to where you want it to go.
My rule of thumb: each room should have at least 2-3 light sources. Our bedroom has all three (chandeliers + nightlights + picture light above the bed), and our living room has a dozen light sources – including chandeliers, candles, or fireplaces. That’s the secret to that layered, dynamic glow.
Don’t forget: The Bulb Is Part Of The War
You can spend all the time in the world choosing beautiful things – but if the indoor bulbs are wrong, nothing matters. There are two things you should pay attention to Kelvin (color temperature) again lumens (light).
- Kelvin is the warmth of light. Anything in the 2,700K–3,000K range is warm and flattering (think: candlelight being a cozy soft white light). More than 3,500K started feeling cool and medical. Almost everything in our home, we use 3,000K bulbs. (See the differences between them in our bulb guide.)
- Lumens is how much light you get. Approximate: traditional 60-watt incandescent = about 800 lumens.
For our lamps and accent lights, we like a 3,000K, 750-lumen the lamp.
Mixing Finishes & Keeping It Together
We hear this question all the time: “Can I combine lighting fixtures in one house?” Yes. In fact, please do.
My way:
- Choose 2 main instruments in each room. Let each handle about 60/40 or 70/30.
- Let one finish dominate each roomand the other is characterized by small supporting pieces.
- Repeat on the sight lines. If you can see two rooms at once, there must be something that ties them together – a brass lamp in one room that echoes a brass sconce in the other.
- Don’t go the same way. A fully matched set reads like a builder’s base. A selected mix has been collected.
If you’re looking for more lighting tips, I’ve rounded up my most popular posts below:
Are you ready to see all the light we use in our modern traditional home? Look at the lights!
Entry
Accessing Full Sources
Lesson
Read Full Sources
The kitchen
Kitchen Full Fountains
Dining room
Dining Room Full Fountains
Living room
Living Room Full Fountains
Basic Bedroom
Master Bedroom Fully Furnished
Master Bathroom And Closets
Basic Bathroom Full Fountains
Powder Bathroom
Powder Bathroom Full Sources
The Mud Room
Mud Full Springs
Bonus Room
Bonus Room Full Sources
Greta’s room
Greta’s Room Full Fountains
Greta’s bathroom
Greta’s Bathroom Full Fountains
Laundry Room
Full Fountain Laundry Room
Polly’s room
Polly’s Room Full Sources
Faye’s room
Faye’s Room Full Fountains
The Back Yard
Back Full Sources
Lighting FAQ
How many light sources should I have in the room? At least 2-3, and ideally one from each layer (ambient, work, accent). Large living rooms can fully support 10+ without feeling overwhelmed.
How high should I hang the chandelier above the dining table? 30-36 inches from the top of the table to get a standard 8 foot ceiling. For pitched or pitched ceilings, size up and hang evenly – we go up to 40 inches with our 12–16 foot shutters. [Full guide here]
What size chandelier do I need? The general formula: add the length and width of your room in feet, and the total amount inches is a good starting diameter. Then size up, not down – nine times out of ten, bigger is better.
What Kelvin should my bulbs be? 2,700K–3,000K in almost every room in the house. Anything cool sounds like a dentist’s office.
Can I combine the finished? Yes. You can have several options if there are two powerful instruments, which are repeated in all lines of sight.
Do I need an electrician for wall sconces? Hardwired, yes (unless you already have junction boxes). But plug-in sconces, picture lights, and rechargeable sconces are all rental and DIY-friendly options.
The Takeaway
Lighting is the single biggest design you have – over paint color, over flooring, over any finish you can name. It is also the most underrated and under-budgeted.
If you take nothing else from this post, take this: put on three types of light, zoom in on your stuff, and put almost everything on the dimmer. That’s 90 percent of how we get traditional modern moody lighting in our home
Lamp-o’clock forever.
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