Making a House a Home

We truly love our homes when our homes love us back.

Home should be a sanctuary, a retreat from the outside world.  It should be a haven - a safe, comforting environment where we can be on our own terms, and which is set up to suit our lifestyle requirements.

Homes come in all shapes and sizes, from studio flats and interesting city conversions to traditional period homes or former barns out in the countryside.  We are adept at creating living environments in all sorts of different structures.

But what makes a space a home?

To feel at home somewhere, we need a sense of belonging.  Ideally, we want to create an environment which is comfortable and safe, filled with things which give us pleasure and improve the quality of our daily lives.

Warmth and light are two of the key elements which provide us with this sense of comfort and safety.

When we arrive home after dark, on foot or in the car, having lighting which comes on to greet us gives us both a sense of security and a feeling of welcome.  Being blinded by a glary flood light is not the welcome we want.  Instead, think about using subtle, directed lighting in warmer colour temperatures to light the entrance to your home.

What can we do with lighting inside our homes to enhance the feeling of a comfortable sanctuary?

Entrance halls don’t need to be bright, but they need to be welcoming.  Whether your hallway is a small area which can be adequately lit with the warm glow of a table lamp or wall lights, or whether it is a statement space with high volumes and striking architectural features where lighting can add an element of glamour and drama, this space sets the tone for the rest of your home.  So, although the hallway is a transient space where we don’t usually spend a lot of time, don’t neglect the lighting. 

The lighting in the rest of your home can be designed to enhance the space, make it more user friendly and give it a sense of cosiness and comfort.

Think about using accent lighting to highlight your favourite features at home.  This might be artwork, a book collection, favourite objects displayed on shelving, a sculpture or carefully chosen fabrics and rugs.  Accent lighting brings to life the things you like most and allows you to get maximum enjoyment from them.

Good task lighting means you always have light where it is needed without having to over-light the whole space which can make the home feel a bit stark and lacking in atmosphere.  Provide task lighting in the form of lamps, directed spots or pendants and under-unit lighting in areas where you regularly carry out specific activities such as reading, working or preparing food.  Little things like this which make life feel easier and make the space work for the way you live are key to making your pad feel like home.

Last but by no means least, think about the ambient, or general, lighting in your home.  Adding mid-level layers of light, through the use of wall lights, lamps and joinery lighting, creates a feeling of intimacy and warmth.  How often, in the evening, to we shun the downlights in a living room and go straight for the table lamps instead?  The light we crave is gentler, lower level and warm in colour.  Ideally you will have you table lamps on a 5-amp circuit so that they can be switched and dimmed at the wall, along with your wall lights and/or joinery lighting. 

If you are using ceiling spots, position them to throw light onto features in the room, rather than setting them in a grid shining straight down, which creates harsh shadows and feels rather clinical.  Always have them on a dimmer so that they can be reduced to a soft glow in the evenings.

Soft furnishings are another way of adding layers of warmth and interest and making your space feel homely.  These days, there is a huge choice of lamp shades on the market so you can include these in the decoration of your rooms.  The great thing about lamps shades is that, like cushions, they can be swapped around and/or changed with the seasons or when you simply get fed up with them.

Other tricks which make a home more user-friendly are things like having lighting inside cupboards, linked to door-operated switches, so that they come on automatically when the cupboard is opened, or low-level night-lights on landings and in bathrooms, again linked to a sensor and timer so that they come on automatically as you walk by.

Lighting control is also something to consider and, these days, there is lots of choice in terms of solutions.  The choice is a personal one.  Some people will appreciate having their lighting automated, along with their heating, security and other elements of the home, all controlled neatly from their phone so that the lighting can be set to their preferred level even ahead of their arrival.  For others, nothing will do other than a wall-mounted switch plate.  Either solution can work.  What is key is circuiting your lighting correctly and making sure it can all be dimmed.