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How to Light Your Bedroom to Perfection
A lot happens throughout the day in the bedroom, like the morning routine, doing the laundry, getting dressed up, ready and getting ready for bedtime. All of those things need bedroom lighting, but not just from one general source – you want layered, varied lighting for the perfect bedroom. From ceiling lights to floor lamps, to bedside reading lamps, our guide will talk you through each step.
You can view our full range of bedroom lights on our Bedroom Lighting page.
What is the right light bulb for my bedroom size?
When choosing bedroom lighting, the first thing you want to know is how much light is needed. This will help you buy the right light bulbs.
Brightness of light bulbs is now measured in lumens, so choosing the right bulb depends on how many lumens you need to keep the bedroom well lit.
To work out the number of lumens, you need to know the ideal number of lux for different tasks.
You can read our guide to lux and lumens if you’re confused, but for your bedroom you can follow a simple rule: to find the number of lumens required, multiply the number of lux by square metres of the room.
Lux is often referenced against footcandles, which you may come across sometimes. This is simply the amount of light from one candle a foot away from a surface. You can use the same calculation above to find the number of lumens, but with feet instead of metres. 1 foot candle = 1 lumen per square foot.
Build Layers of Light
Having several different types of light throughout your bedroom, helps to build layers and create a warm, welcoming atmosphere. There are three basic types of light – ambient, task and accent. They all perform different tasks, and you’ll want to have a nice mix of all three.
Ambient Lighting
Also called general lighting, this is the main source of light in a room. Ambient lighting should distribute light evenly throughout the room and perform adequately on its own.
Task and accent lighting are needed to complement ambient lighting, building layers of light and creating a beautiful, inviting room.
Pendants and Chandeliers
Great if you want to keep it simple, bathing the entire room evenly in light, with one central light fitting.
Pendants are cool, stylish and come in a wide range of styles, making it easy to personalise your bedroom.
Chandeliers bring a special touch to a bedroom, if you want to make more of a statement.
For something a bit different, you could try a ceiling fan. The main advantage of ceiling fans is they are multi-functional. They can be used for light, air conditioning, or both at the same time.
For air conditioning, they are far more efficient than an average air conditioning system.
Another option is track fixtures. They give you a more customisable light source, as you can adjust the direction of the spotlights to direct light where it is most needed. Without a lampshade the direct lights can be a little harsh on your eyes, so it’s good to have freedom to direct light where you want.
Buyer’s Tip: Customise your bedroom lighting by adding a dimmer switch. Having a dimmer gives you the flexibility to adjust the lighting for when you want to bathe the whole room, read a book, or wind down for bedtime.
Task Lighting
As the name suggests, this type of light helps you perform tasks – like reading or working on a laptop. Below are some of the best options for bedroom task lighting.
Most bedrooms have a bedside table, which is an ideal spot for a small desk lamp to sit on. They’re handy you when you want a little extra light to get ready for bed or read a book, without hurting your eyes.
Buyer’s tip: touch lamps are handy late at night so you can easily switch the light off for the night, without having to reach over or get out of bed.
Floor lamps are more decorative than desk lamps and take up a lot more room, so think about space before choosing a floor lamp.
They double up well as accent lighting too, complementing the ambient light and highlighting areas like plants or wall art.
If you have an armchair or beanbag in your bedroom, place a floor lamp next to it for when you want to sit and read a book or work on your laptop.
Accent Lighting
The last layer of light to consider is task lighting. Unlike ambient and task, accent lighting’s job is simply to complement the other layers of light and highlight features in the room. Below are our favourite choices for bedroom accent lighting.
Wall lights are popular in the bedroom for their versatility. They can highlight key points and double up as a bedside reading light, easy to reach and turn off from bed before going to sleep.
Bedside wall lights area great choice but consider using other wall light styles to highlight bedroom plants or paintings, if you have any.
A stylish choice of accent lighting for the bedroom is LED strips. Strip lights can outline the contours of the bedroom ceiling, creating a beautiful, subtle lighting effect.
Spotlight your bed, with LED strips lining the headboard, or the floor around your bed.
What is the best light bulb for the bedroom?
You’ve got an idea of the types of light you want for your bedroom, now you need to choose the right bulbs.
Your best choice for the bedroom is LED bulbs. They’re powerful, efficient and long-lasting.
There are cheaper options to choose from, like CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) and halogen lamps, but they don’t last as long and save less energy than LEDs.
For more information, see our guide on types of light bulbs.
Brightness
Look for a light bulb that has around 800 lumens for your ambient light source. This will give you adequate light for the range of roles your bedroom plays throughout the day.
We discussed lumens and measuring brightness at the top of the guide if you need to refresh your memory.
Bulbs with a lumen rating of 800 will vary in wattage, depending on the type of bulb – watts measure power, not brightness. Less efficient bulbs will use more watts to produce 800 lumens of light. Whichever bulb you choose, look for the lumens rating (many will also include their wattage equivalent).
Colour Temperature
Consider the colour of the light, as well as brightness. In the bedroom, you want a light that creates a warm, welcoming atmosphere but won't strain your eyes or disrupt your sleep. We recommend a soft white colour for this.
Try bulbs with a colour temperature between 2500-3500 Kelvin (K). This will give you a lovely soft white colour, which is ideal for your bedroom. Lights nearer 2500K will give a yellower light, lights nearer 3500K are closer to white.
(The image above is taken from our colour temperature guide).
