Color doesn’t exist without light - Crazy. Here, we cover all that you need to know about enhancing the colors of your living space with lighting.
The lighting of a room can wildly affect the color of anything in that room - from appliances and furniture to the trim and/or walls.
How Does Lighting Quality Affect Room Quality?
Color is quite dependent on lighting to... well, even exist. When lighting within a space is low, the room may appear dark - and the intensity of the color may lessen. If the light increases, the color within the room may appear more intense; pretty straight forward. Overall, the brighter the light is, the greater the chance the colors in the room will appear accurately.
Ultimately, lighting can transform a room. Even the shape and size of a room can be appear altered when proper lighting is installed; for example, painting a small room a bright color and adding multiple light fixtures that allow light to reflect off the walls can make a room seem larger.
Mirrors also do this, but we don't really specialize in those... :)
Understanding the Technicalities of Light Quality
Color literally doesn’t exist without light.
*Mind blown*
Now, light can be high-tech and complicated, there’s no doubt about that. However, having a simple understanding of the technicalities of light and how it affects color can be beneficial to just about anyone.
Light and light quality can be broken up into many different aspects. Two of the main ones we’ll be going over are Color Temperature and Color Rendering Index (CRI).
Color Temperature
White light can be measured on a scale of warm white to cool white; this scale is known as color temperature. This scale can vastly affect any living space – and, depending on the room – create a soothing, calming environment, or a stimulating and focused work area.
Warm White light can generally be found in comfortable places, like bedrooms, living rooms and restaurants. It allows for an environment to be both illuminated and relaxing.
Cool White light usually has the opposite effect, and is often used in workspaces, kitchens, and garages, where people are normally required to be alert.
For more information on Color Temperature and which kind might be best for your application, check out our Color Temperature Scale.
CRI
Color Rendering Index, (or, more commonly referred to as CRI), is a term used to describe how accurately light renders color. Measured on a scale from zero to one hundred, the higher the number, the closer the color is to its truest form.
Incandescent light bulbs have a CRI rating of 100, as the fire of the filament is a perfect and natural light source. This is the same with Halogen light bulbs. Unfortunately, most of these won’t be available beyond March of 2003, due to a recent regulation passed by the United States DOE.
Lighting and Color in your Home
Color conveys all kinds of things - and so do lights on their own - throw them together in the right way, and you can provoke any emotions or moods, as well as emphasize certain design elements, in rooms like...
Bedrooms
In order to produce a proper feel for a bedroom, less intense lights should be used to help induce a comfortable space. Think warm white table lamps, or calming LED strips under the bed. All of this said, keeping nice and bright overhead lights available is key - you never know when you'll need them.
Bathrooms
According to FM Lighting, the accuracy of color is important within a bathroom especially when applying makeup - makes sense. Daylight light bulbs should be used in order to render the true color of what you're working with.
Dining Rooms
The use of warmer toned lights can create a more welcoming atmosphere within a space like a dining room, which can then create easy conversation and an overall enjoyable environment.
Kitchens
There are many tasks done within a kitchen, so using lighting that creates an alert environment is key. White tone lights should be used to create a sense of cleanliness and clearer visibility in order to safely accomplish tasks.
In conclusion, lighting and color have an important relationship with each other; neither can really exist without the other. Hopefully you now have a clearer understanding of why that’s the case, and how you can keep this in mind when lighting and decorating your own living space.
