Sally Storey, Creative Director at Sally Storey, shares her dining room lighting tips and tricks with you. Create the right atmosphere in your dining room before adding food or guests. To achieve this, lighting is the best option. Dining rooms should be flexible enough to create a moody, intimate atmosphere for dinner parties or a bright feel for lunch on a gloomy day. Read our top dining-room lighting ideas for some inspiration.
Lighting is a powerful tool that cannot be undervalued. Lighting can make a space that is entirely unadorned look moody. It can highlight what we want to notice and hide what we do not. A beautifully decorated home can become a disaster if the house is well-lit, too bright, and has no control over lighting.
Create a focus
For a successful dining room, the key is to create drama. This can be done by focusing the light on the center of the table. It creates intimacy, which will draw your guests to the table. Highlight your centerpiece with a pole spring LED that emits a warm white 10deg light.
Decorative lighting
Dining room lighting can be enhanced with decorative lighting, such as walls and chandeliers. They add a warm glow to the dining area. You can choose from various styles that will suit your interior. Avoid non-dimmable decorative lights as they are too bright at night. Another consideration is that the LED lights should be warm, as this will make them look harsh and not match your other lighting. You can use decorative lighting as your focal point, but you should also add architectural lighting to make it more noticeable. We have used some narrow beam Polespring LED downlights in the middle of the table and Lucca 30-uplights on the shutter boxes. This is a great way to add another light layer and show the architectural detail.
Light up your art
You can display your artwork in the dining room, whether painting or sculpture. If you want to keep your favorite pieces from falling flat, make sure they are lit at night. This can be achieved with an angled downlight like the Polespring 50. It will work with either a picture or a sculpture. You can show the true colors of art with a CRI above 80. Read more about How to Light Art
Contemporary effects
It can be used to uplight behind the banquette. We have chosen the 2400K Contoured HD24. This soft uplight provides an indirect light reflecting warm light in your dining room.
You could have a skylight over your dining room. They can appear dark at night if they aren’t lit. Consider incorporating lighting into it to avoid this. We have here recessed the Contoured HD24 in a channel, creating a solid line effect at night.
Kinetic lighting
Candles are a great addition to your dining room. They provide a dynamic and soft appeal. Use tea lights or traditional chandeliers to enhance the atmosphere in your room.
Positioning downlights
Avoid grids of low lights. Consider carefully where to place your downlights to maximize their effectiveness. Before you position them, it is essential to understand your furniture plan. Never put a wide beam pole spring above the head. Avoid grids at all costs, and place your downlights with care.
Layering your lighting
It is hard to create moods with just one source of light: just pendants or only downlights. Good architectural lighting needs a variety of effects. Here, shelves are lit by Contour LED27 for a soft glow. The center of the table has been lit with Polespring Downlights.
Control your lights
The final idea for dining room lighting is to use a system to dim and separate the circuits. Separate the lighting over the center of the table from the decorative lights and any other feature lighting. It is easier to create a different mood by using a variety of effects.
