GUEST POST: Bedroom Lighting Tips

This is a guest post from Ross Donald, interior design specialist

 with the light fixtures suppliers at LightingSale.com:

Bedroom Lighting Tips

The last room you visit at night and the first room you see in the morning, your bedroom is your solitary chamber in your home. There are, of course like any other room in the home, many aspects of design that come together to complete the aesthetic appeal of a room. One aspect of this spectrum of design comes from lighting, and the choices that you make when lighting a room greatly influence the atmosphere of the room itself. Here are a few great pointers for illuminating a room that needs both darkness and light.

Know the size and function
Bedrooms come in different shapes and sizes, and each person approaches their bedroom with their own unique demands for what they need it to do. Is this room strictly for sleeping or will you be engaging in other activities? The bedroom is gaining popularity as a media / reading room, and these create their own demands in lighting.

Install multiple options
A general rule for interior lighting is that there should be several different types of lighting in any room. Essentially you want lighting that is fashionable and lighting that is functional. Imagine a bar at closing time: the whole night they have the bar lights on to set the mood, but after last call the bright house lights come on so the staff can clean the place up.
Mornings in your bedroom might typically entail getting dressed for work, meaning you’ll probably want sufficient lighting to make sure your chose regalia for the day does not cause people to mock your fashion sense. A strong centralized light source such as a ceiling mounted chandelier works great for bringing light to the entire room.
In the evening you may want to sleep while your significant other wants to stay up and read. In this case the use of small focused lighting, akin to what you see on an airline, makes a great addition that gives sufficient directed lighting for reading without causing a distraction that keeps the other person awake.

Think outside the nightstand
Tableside lamps are the traditional lighting companion for the bed but they are not the only choice you have. Hanging lamps with pendant shades can bring soft intimate touches to the bedroom and while sconces bring a suave contemporary framing style to your bedroom. Both of these have the added feature of freeing up space on your bedside table, and if you’re anything like me, the open space on that nightstand is a rather rare real estate commodity.

Adapt and Adjust
Don’t leave yourself short socketed in your bedroom design. Install plenty of wall sockets, a few at different heights, so that you have the flexibility to add light where you want it. Installing dimmer switches are a remarkable addition to the bedroom that allow you to almost literally set the mood with adjustable luminosity.
The last call in how to light and set the mood is up to you though. Every design project should always reflect your tastes as an individual, or, if you’re married, your wife’s.

Ross Donald is a writer and interior design specialist with the light fixtures suppliers at LightingSale.com

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Thank you, Ross, for this lovely post!

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The company Ross is working for offers a huge quantity of various light fixtures. I had a look through a few of their pages and found besides the classical chandeliers and other lamps these sweet and unusual mini chandeliers f.e.:

Cypress Wrought Iron Mini-Chandelier in Wet White by Crystorama

Tartan 1-Light Mini-pendant in Aluminum by Lite Source

Raimondo 1-Light Wall Lamp in Polished Steel by Lite Source

Folha 1-Light Table Lamp in Antique Silver by Lite Source

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Dark blue Walls and Roses in the Bedroom

I absolutely love this colour concept: dark blue walls, white furniture and a white floor or carpets. A classical composition that makes a room light and floating. Of course I also love the chair that is shown here with its delicate but simple stripe pattern. I even love the pillow with the embroidered flower design, the small side table etc. Everything very harmoniously decorated. Only the art on the wall is an issue I would personally change. The reason - there is just too much sweetness in this room.

Why would it be better to find an alternative for the wall? Because in my opinion too much repetition leads to boredom and disinterest. The images on the wall too show flower motives. Now look at this image and you will find lots of flower motives in the same style. To try something different would be nice - wouldn't it?

Admittedly the alternative painting shows some flower-like motif too but it is modern style and adds more interest to this room.

  "WhiteWall"
(from the Reminiscences series)
acrylic, 26" x 18"
©Petra Voegtle

The painting belongs to the Reminiscenses series, a painting series that was created from my photo documentary about the Olympic Student Village in Munich, torn down a few years ago in order to be re-constructed.

In order to create a kind of memorial for the beautiful and often funnily painted walls which are now all lost I took hundreds of photos from the village. But this was not enough for me - I also decided to create a painting series from the most impressive and beautiful parts i.e. walls, doors and windows. The peeling paints and especially the marks all the vines left on the plaster created wonderful patterns and structures. There is an extra photo series only about these wall motifs which you will find here.

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Please add more Surprise to the Bedroom

The following bedroom is beautiful and very elegant but as usual I really don't like the decor on the wall. The cross above the bed is probably very valuable and may have a very special meaning for the owners but it is also too predictable for my personal taste. Rooms should look as if someone is LIVING there - not so much like a museum.

original image source: www.southernliving.com

I could see an alternative on this wall that would rather add a surprising exotic element to this classically designed bedroom without destroying the elegance and aura of this place. I am convinced that too many correspondents make a room static. It is like using too many colours of the same hues - you need a different object or area which attracts the eye and that delivers a counterpart in the symmetry.

The art on the wall is a so-called silk carving, a silk sculpture created with a technique that I developped out of the trapunto techniques you can find in quilting. If you would like to read more about the "making of" please check this link.

"Ganesha"
( from the Angkor's Faces series)
39" x 19" x 2" silk carving
©Petra Voegtle

A few details show you the depth of this "carving":

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Dreaming of...

...the perfect bedroom in a perfect world...

 found here

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Do You like empty Bedroom Walls?

Some people love minimalistic interior and others the contrary. The first one is often cold the second more often over-stuffed and cluttered. Both are not very helpful for a peaceful sleep I believe. Personally I don't like large rooms as a bedroom - I am more the cave type of person. My bedroom must be cosy, the bed should stand in the corner of the room with the wall directly behind my back. For protection - you know! You never know who could enter your cave to disturb your sleep and attack you. You need a safe place. This must be the remnants of evolutionary past?

What type of person are you? Would you be able to sleep in a wide open space with nothing behind and nothing in front of you and sometimes not even underneath? Let's say in one of those hyper-modern beds which are floating on a magnetic field? I could not sleep for the whole night for fear of drifting somewhere I cannot control.

Back to this example. As it stands this room is quite unappealing to me, too many squares and straight lines and the colour scheme is quite boring too. I would replace the armchair by something more colourful or at least upholster it with a different fabric.Then I would have something friendly and cheering to look at before I leave for the land of dreams instead of a dead brown thing that looks like a pile of dog poop.

And of course: the artwork is missing in this room. My suggestion would be to hang a large landscape on the wall that adds a bit more colour but fits harmoniously into the overall colour scheme such as this one:

The motif has been painted on pongé silk and depicts one of those breathtaking landscapes you can find on the Hawaiian Islands:

"Haleakala"

(from the Magic Landscapes Series)
silk, 21" x 40"
©Petra Voegtle

I have added Here are some details of the painting

The last picture shows a special detail. This couple of hikers is so small that it has been painted with a magnifying glass:

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Dark Blue and Cream in the Bedroom

Very nice colours - I thought when I saw this photo for the first time. A room that is completely harmonius, serene and not too dark despite the dark blue wall. But the light accents and carpet add enough brilliance.

I have an alternative for the art on the wall though. I would hang a different piece in order to add a bit more drama and movement without destroying the concept:

The artwork above the bed is the crop of a silk painting, a fine art print on heavy cotton canvas. The original silk painting shows a semi-abstract winter landscape:

 "Frozen"

(from the Magic Landscapes series)
40" x 20", silk
©Petra Voegtle

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Windows to your Soul

I would have loved to see more of this room than only this small vignette because I like the warm colours and the huge mirror besides the bed. So I can only start from here.

with courtesy of http://www.livingetc.com

As usual I was looking into my stock of art pieces and found a silk scroll that would fit nicely into this colour scheme and restrained pattern of the wall:

This silk scroll is a semi-abstract interpretation of the mind's view towards the inner self. As we never can see the whole until we have reached the perfection we will only be able to peek through many little windows. Doesn't this correlate wonderfully?

"Windows"
(painted and stitched) 

silk scroll

 45" x 24"
©Petra Voegtle

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Why leaving the Walls so blank?

When I came across this photo of a bedroom I thought why did they leave the walls so blank?
Although I love white interiors here is just too much white so that it causes dazzling to the eye. Also the contrasts are too harsh in my opinion although the windows probably reveal a lot of green outside which soothes in fact the contrast. But with closed curtains this room looks very stylish but cold.

To break this feeling up I would place a large painting on the wall. The perfect complement for this room would be this silk painting consisting of 5 panels. The landscape here opens the view to a large distance and makes this room even larger. But at the same time the eye has something to lean and rest on without becoming irritated...

This room is probably part of a resort rather than a private villa and therefore it might not be very practical to have an expensive silk painting on the wall. But there is an alternative. I found another view of the very same room and this shows a large wall where a photo wallpaper could do miracles. The original wall looks like this:

A huge wall where an enlarged fine art print version on canvas or even on paper only would have the most wonderful effect:

The original silk painting was inspired by the magical landscapes in Southern China. To see that breathtaking landscape with your own eyes will never let you forget about it. Photos are not sufficient to catch the special light, the atmosphere of this beauty. You can look at some of the photos I have taken here but I wished I could go back with the camera and the easel and do what so many artists have done before me. So many motifs I would like to share...

 "Monuments of Guilin"

(from the Magic Landscapes series) 
Polyptych, 40" x 65", silk
©Petra Voegtle

The painting consists of 5 panels which are painted on silk. It even could be continued to a 360° view. Imagine a room with an endless landscape! It takes you into a 3d-view when you are in front of it and opens the space even more into nearly endless distance...

If you would like to see more details of this painting please check this link. If you would like to see more examples of rooms with this painting please see here.

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Dreaming of...

...sleeping with the Fish...

found here

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Too much Contrast

Although I like clear lines and a minimalistic decoration in a room depending where it is and what the surroundings are, I find this one to contain too much contrast. In tropical landscapes you have plenty of light and the abundance of vegetation often needs a counterpart of simplicity. In this case though the contrast is too harsh in my opinion and the placement of the two additional colour spots increases the contrast even

This could easily be softened by different artwork above the bed such as this wall hanging and the silkcarving on the opposite wall.

The wall hanging above the bed is an art quilt made entirely of silk and handquilted with silk. The small wall hanging on the opposite wall is a silk carving, also made of silk and hand stitched with silk. Both have been painted with silk dyes and metallic pigments.

"Apsaras"
52" x 69", silk art quilt
©Petra Voegtle

You can read more about this art quilt here. There are also more detail photos to see.

 

"Apsara"
( from the Angkor's Faces series)
silk carving, 14" x 14"
©Petra Voegtle

The above silk carving has been mounted on stretcher bars and is ready to be hung with or without additional frame.

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Fossils in the Bedroom

No - it's not what YOU are thinking - I am talking about a painting that depicts the theme of ancient fossils i.e. ferns. It was one of those crazy ideas - hanging a painting horizontally although it was painted vertically but I thought it just made sense when you placed it above the headboard of the bed.

The image that sparked this idea was the photo of a bedroom that I felt missed a little bit of drama (I love to play the drama queen regarding interior and art). The colours in this room are very appealing though, warm and inviting.

What I also did not like was the little window just above the headboard. From the Feng Shui oriented point of view it is never a good idea to have an opening - the window - behind your back and I personally would have covered it and hung a painting instead. Whether you believe in Feng Shui or not - a window behind your back weakens your position and causes an insecure feeling:

"Why is a bed under a window considered bad feng shui?
At nighttime your body needs strong support, as well as protection, in order to do its best with the work of regenerating itself. This is the reason a good solid headboard is highly recommended in feng shui. In addition to a good headboard, you always want to have a solid wall behind your bed. When you sleep under the window, your personal energy tends to get weaker in time, as it has neither proper support, not protection.(read more)"

The original painting was painted in acrylics on rayon. I am collecting minerals, crystals and fossils. But not only that - I am also digging them up, when I find the time and the right place. It is so much fun. Currently though I am rather painting them and so it came that a couple of paintings became a series about Minerals and Fossils such as this one, called Triassic Prints II. The name comes from the imprints of fossils you can often find in rocks. Ferns are the oldest plants on our earth - I love them.

This painting was created with a special technique that is normally used with silk painting: dye resist painting. This means, that certain parts or patterns are covered/created by using a substance which is removed after painting the rest. This process has been repeated several times on this painting although this is not silk but textile paints and acrylics on cotton. The result was a kind of "printed" pattern of the ferns with many additional "ghost prints".

"Triassic Prints II"
(from the "Fossils" series)
40" x 13", acrylic on cotton

©Petra Voegtle

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Addendum:

I am extremely suspicious towards statements of people that claim to be Feng Shui EXPERTISES but of course there is a lot of truth in this 1000 years of knowlege - actually "the history of feng shui covers 3,500+ years before the invention of the magnetic compass. It originated in Chinese astronomy dating back to 3500 BC." Briefly said "The goal of feng shui as practiced today is to situate the human built environment on spots with good qi. The "perfect spot" is a location and an axis in time."(Wikipedia) Therefore I have added a few interesting links about Feng Shui:

How Interior Designers Can Work with Feng Shui Specialists
Feng Shui Diaries - Esoteric Feng Shui 
Qimancy - The Art and Science of Feng Shui

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SPECIAL SERIES: The Beds and Bedrooms of the Richie-Riches (part 4)

This time I thought I would do a fun post with a tiny satirical note on a theme that is - of course - about beds and bedrooms again. The title says "The Bedrooms of the Richy-Riches" and its all about spending money not about style and taste...

Why not decorate an apartment like this -  a luxurious apartment in St. Petersburg designed by Igor Gremitsky, located in St. Petersburg, in the style of the Rococo era?
According to Wikipedia Rococo is...

"...an 18th-century artistic movement and style, which affected several aspects of the arts including painting, sculpture, architecture, interior design, decoration, literature, music and theatre. The Rococo developed in the early part of the 18th century in Paris, France as a reaction against the grandeur, symmetry and strict regulations of the Baroque, especially that of the Palace of Versailles. In such a way, Rococo artists opted for a more jocular, florid and graceful approach to Baroque art and architecture. Rococo art and architecture in such a way was ornate and made strong usage of creamy, pastel-like colours, asymmetrical designs, curves and gold. Unlike the more politically focused Baroque, the Rococo had more playful and often witty artistic themes. With regards to interior decoration, Rococo rooms were designed as total works of art with elegant and ornate furniture, small sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapestry complementing architecture, reliefs, and wall paintings." 

So the livingroom as below, designed by Igor Gremitsky, might be the modern and slightly wacky version of  a Rococo style room:

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In the same style you can also find a luxurious kid's bedroom. I try to imagine what would happen if one of the kids who could live here gets hold of crayons and starts her/his creative juices newly on the walls (as my little sister did with our bedroom right after it had been newly wallpapered) - my Dad was not amused...

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In comparison the following bedrooms are a bit more decent although gold has been used in abundance here also which seems to be symptomatic of this kind of interior design:

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And then I came across these - from the website of an "Entrepreneur, Furniture Designer, Artist, Website Designer, Writer, Adventurer" as he says of himself on his website: Glenn Keith Madden, born in South Carolina and living currently in Indonesia. His company's furniture is all hand carved from solid wood.

Would this bed fulfil your dreams?

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In addition you could add this throne to complement your imagination of pure luxury and royal sublimeness...

Or would this bed rather complement your lifestyle...?

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And how about this bed? It is called the "Avatar Bed"...

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Or would you prefer to sleep in the bed of the "Conquerer"? To be honest I did not imagine that you could buy a bed such as the one below and who would actually buy this? Amazing...

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Now to some more bedroom designs and beds of the "unusual" kind....

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What would you say to a Cosmovoide Bed for ridiculous $60,000? This bed has twin electric relaxation bed frames (whatever that means), rainbow colored LEDs, a telephone, and a DVD system with a TV at its foot:

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Here is another futuristic bed that comes in vibrant red besides other colours: the Sphere bed from Karim Rashid for piffling $50,000. This Sphere bed has a 32 inch colored television, covered LED florescent canopy-top lights, a champagne holder, a mirror at the back, plus all the comforts that every bed offers. (from Better Homes):

The warning "do not show this to your kids" seems very reasonable to me because this fantasy coach bed is available for $47,000 only. It is made from wood and fibre glass and looks to have come straight out of a fairytale. This bed is every little princess’s dream. (from Better Homes)

And what do you say about one of the world's most expensive bed with a price that can reach over $210,000 which puts it right away into this category - available only for...?

"Furniture designer Abdolhay Parnian treats his furniture like works of art and it shows in the final product. It’s taken him two years to design this bed and I think you’ll agree that it was well worth the wait." (read more)

But there are more expensive options. F.e. the Jado Steel Style Gold Bed for $675,000!!! This bed is coated in 24 carat gold and features Swarovski crystals along the sideboard. This has to be the most expensive waterbed ever!

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Do you think this was it?? Be prepared to look at a bed that costs 1.8 Million US$. Yes, 1.8 Million Dollar.

It is probably the most futuristic bed you have ever seen, this magnetic floating bed. "Designed by architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars from the Netherlands, the 900 kilogram bed is kept afloat by powerful magnets. Just in case it tries to take off, the bed is tied by wires to the wall." (from Better Homes)

Ha - but this is still not the end of the list of superlatives. Here finally comes the most expensive bed in the world, a Baldacchino supreme for $6.3 million.

"At the price of $6.3 million this is the most expensive bed in the world. Created by none other than Stuart Hughes, the man who seems to want to make everything the ‘most expensive’. Hand carved from ash wood and chestnut wood, with the canopy’s edges in cherry wood, the 107 kg of 24 carat gold inlay work has added to the gob smacking price. The fabric is Italian silk and cotton; the headboard can be customised with diamond buttons (at an extra cost of course!). No wonder only two were made." (source)

Would this be your perception of a "beachhouse"?  Located near Stockholm this is in fact a property with a private beach.

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In the very same house you would find bedrooms such as this one:

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Here are some more examples of how the other part of the society sleeps:

spaces design by interior designer STRAIGHTLINE Interiors

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Why I added this bedroom you may ask. But yes, you are looking at the bedroom of the most expensive 1-bedroom appartment in the world:

"Listed at a cool 1.8 billion yen ($21.8 million USD), the Sifter’s jaw dropped when the listing stated an apartment called The House, in the exclusive Minami-Azabu district of Tokyo (the most expensive neighbourhood in Tokyo), was a 4,434 square foot (411.932 sq m) 1-Bedroom apartment.
At a mind-boggling $4,920.75 per square foot, the Sifter challenges you to find a more expensive 1-bedroom apartment for sale..."(read more)

Apparently a 2 story penthouse in Monaco was sold for only 305 million $ by an Arab Sheikh. Also this bedroom looks amazingly decent in consideration of the price for the whole penthouse.

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Another bedroom from the very same appartment looks even more decent. So the "justification" for the incredible price of this penthouse may be the location rather than a precious interior...

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Of course there are a series of extravagant rooms and bedrooms which are populated by the vips of the film and music branch. It may be nothing new to hear about the preferred style of Mariah Carey which would do justice to any royal diva:

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To be continued at another time...

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