Ways to Add Mood Lighting to Your Home, According to an Interior Designer

You’ve probably seen slightly dimmed spaces illuminated by a streak of vibrant color or two all over your social media feed. These are often referred to as mood lighting. Judging by a quick search on popular e-commerce sites, you can easily find mood lamps and light bulbs in a variety of colors.

READ: 10 Commandments of Proper Lighting

Before you add some lamps to cart and go all out in injecting color in your home, it’s important to understand first what mood lighting is for. We reached out to interior designer Ardel Chua to discuss mood lighting, what it’s for, and some tips to properly achieve the vibe you’re aiming for through illumination.

What is mood lighting?

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For starters, mood lighting “is a type of illumination to create a specific atmosphere or to render a space with a particular feeling,” says Ardel. She provides dimmed or warm lighting often seen in dramatic and romantic setups as an example. Mood lighting could be a lot of things: calming, mysterious, or chill, among others.

How do you add mood lighting to a space?

Ardel attributes how color-changing smart bulbs, for instance, have now become more affordable, making it easier for homeowners to tweak their spaces and evoke a certain kind of atmosphere in their space. According to Ardel, the spaces ideal for incorporating mood lights would be your bedroom, bedroom, bar, den, and entertainment room.

“These smart, color-changing ‘mood lamps’ offer flexibility in altering the atmosphere of a space and setting the mood,” Ardel explains. As with other things, the choice of colors could imbibe a certain feeling, memory, or activity. “Feel like immersing yourself in an intense night of computer games; turn your mood lamp/s to red or magenta. Want to bring the sunset in; go for orange lighting,” she suggests.

READ: How Much Does It Cost to Install Mood Lighting in Your Room?

Ardel recommends getting standalone lamps for practicality and flexibility, should the time come that its novelty wears off. “Choose something slim and simple if you want your mood lamp to blend seamlessly with your existing décor.

Look also for dimming functions that can allow you to adjust the light intensity and, consequently, power consumption.” But if you go for built-in lights, Ardel suggests using them to highlight a ceiling cove or line the perimeter of a room. “You can also use them as backlighting for mirrors and wall panels,” she adds.

Ardel Chua has been an interior designer for 18 years, working mostly on residential projects. For eight years, she also worked for a New York-based retail design firm, which exposed her to retail and commercial design projects in different parts of Asia.