Soft and cozy lighting makes all the difference in a home and how it makes you feel overall. When you open the door, I want it to feel like you are getting a warm embrace. There’s no time more perfect to get it right than in the winter! January can seem dark and long. However, with the right lighting, it can look and feel so cozy.
The first thing I do in the morning is wake up the house with warm and cozy lighting. I have Edison-style bulbs in low-wattage or on dimmers in all our lamps and sconces. I turn on lights in every corner to create that hygge feeling.
I leave lights on during the day as someone is always home. I never use overhead lighting. I feel very strongly about avoiding overhead lighting other than pendants and chandeliers.
Light is the first chapter in The Little Book of Hygge
When we think of hygge and light, we might think of candles, but it’s way more than that. Soft lighting from carefully selected lamps emits the perfect light.
The Danes love their lighting. They have an obsession and for good reason. From October to March, Denmark has an abundance of darkness making Hygge a necessity. A well-lit home in Denmark will almost always have at least one lamp designed by architect Poul Henningsen.
When Madeline and I took a trip to Copenhagen a few years ago, I could not stop talking about the lighting. At dusk, I would look at the buildings and see the cozy lighting. Something a lot of people seem to sort of misunderstand the importance of in other places.
My husband and I take long walks at night in the city and in our neighborhood and we are always pointing out good (warm) and cozy) and bad (blue and harsh) lighting. This has definitely had an impact on our grown children. They do not like overhead lighting and they are always searching for the right balance when they move into a new space.
Too bright lighting in a restaurant is a deal breaker
There’s a restaurant in New York that’s like your neighborhood spot where the owner knows you…or does a pretty good job of making you feel like he remembers you. This is the place you keep going back to year after year. It’s a little Italian trattoria with homemade pasta that you dream about. You know exactly what you’ll order even before you arrive. The walls are dark red, the lighting is soft and cozy and then one day, they renovate. The lighting goes from cozy to way too bright. The white tablecloths are replaced by white paper and not a single votive candle anywhere. I’ll miss this place, but that’s how much lighting plays a part in the overall experience.
Equally important as the right lamp is the right kind of light bulb
I always look for incandescent light bulbs. I buy in pairs or sets of 8 for the chandelier. It’s so important to use the same light bulbs in a chandelier or in pairs for lamps or sconces.
I look for low-wattage bulbs and also use dimmers on almost every lamp.
Much of our lighting is from Serena & Lily & Schoolhouse Electric
The Fairmont Chandelier in White
Santa Barbara Pendant in Black
We used the Santa Barbara pendant in black in our New Canaan house with the Tucker chairs.
The Brass Ring Lamp on a console table
The brass ring lamp on a bedside table
Small Brass Ring Lamp and Montara Mirror on a dresser
A pair of Everly Ceramic Pendants in the Kitchen
Everly Ceramic pendants and a small lamp from Target
An Ion Lamp from Schoolhouse Electric on the Coffee Bar Shelves
Ion Lamp on Industrial Shelf in Living Room
Lighting in Primary bedroom similar to Claremont Sconces
Flynn Sconces in the office
Lighting up dark corners
I love a mini lamp in places where there’s no room for anything more than a tiny lamp. If there is NO room, then I use a strand of 20 twinkle lights with a white cord. I talked about that in this post. I have a few School House Electric Ion Lamps. They work well in small areas like the shelves above the coffee bar and the tall shelf in the living room. These areas would seem way too dark without some sort of small lamp.
I love mini lamps for closets and Target always has a good selection for around $20!
I hope this post has given you some ideas for simple ways to light up a corner and make it cozy! Stay safe my friends!
Lighting from Serena & Lily on sale!
- Fairmont Chandelier // 2. Claremont Sconce // 3. Fisher Table Lamp // 4. Everly Ceramic Pendants 5. SoHo Floor Lamp // 6. Flynn Wall Sconce // 7. Brass Ring Lamp
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Hi Annie,
This is a great post! I am in total agreement with you about the need for cozy lighting. I was taught in school to layer from floor to ceiling and all the hidden, in-between areas. Someone dear to me told me “she doesn’t like lamps and won’t have them in her house.” Everything in her house is harsh, overhead, very bright can lighting. There’s no way to read cofmortably, or even have a conversation without it feeling like an interrogation! No dimmers either. It’s so unfriendly and unwelcoming.
We have lots of lamps, dimmers and adjustable 3-way bulbs.In the dining room I have a chandelier with 10 real candles. Unlit it’s pretty, when lit it creates the nicest atmosphere!
I’m looking to replace a few of the fixtures now after living with them for 10 years, and I think that’s a quick and easy way to refresh the room. I just need to make up my mind. I see a few in your post that I love!!
Thanks for this!
XO Heidi
Heidi! I can tell we are in agreement on this one! I would love to sit at your table with a candle-lit chandelier! That sounds amazing! xx
Perhaps you could share what it is about overhead lighting (other than pendants and chandeliers) that you and your children dislike. This would be very illuminating! Ceiling lights cast a lot of light over a broad space, thus eliminating the need for lamps every several feet. Ceiling lights also are useful for layering lighting in a room. What is it that one should avoid or consider with regard to ceiling lighting?
Hi Marilyn, What I mean by overhead lighting is like the recessed lighting that is used in kitchens and baths, but then some builders like to put it everywhere. To me, recessed light is not cozy as it sends the light down instead of filling a space with soft light from a lamp. We like very soft lighting. I like a triangle of light in every room. It’s all personal preference, and we just like it very very cozy…and a little dark. Probably too dark for some!
This is right up my alley right now. I just redecorated my living, dining, and bedroom and treated myself to new lighting for the first time in years. It was so much fun picking things out slowly in order to get the right ones. Most recently I bought a dining chandelier and for the first time bought Edison bulbs for it. I was thinking since my walls are warm that I should get the cool white bulb so that I could steer away from too much of a Tuscan glow. But I was so wrong and ended up with a dingy grey glare. So I took them back and exchanged them and love it so much now. I’m going to replace the bulbs in a few other lamps now since I’ve been reading about their energy savings and how long they last.
Joni! How exciting to redecorate your living, dining room and bedroom! Isn’t it amazing the difference between the right color of light bulbs?? from gray to a warm glow just because of the choice of bulb. Enjoy your home! xx
Annie I agree with you hugely about cozy lighting. My house we only use the lamps mainly and I have a new home that was required to put in a ton of cap lights by California standards, but we rarely use them! I am horrified when I go to someone’s home and they have it lit up like a surgery center. I appreciate lamps on counters and small spaces. I also think outdoor lighting is so important.. We need dark sky compliant lighting for so many reasons . Not only is it more beautiful, but it is so needed for the ecosystem. Birds and frogs cannot sleep at night when people have homes lit like small prisons. That’s why on my remodel I did all the lights with it.
Annie I know you and I are always on the same page. A friend came over and calls my house spa lighting. I took it as a compliment! My kids are the same and hate fluorescents and bright lighting. Great lamps you have and I and going to buy one of those small ones for my closet. xo
Kim,
Your comment is probably my most favorite comment ever! It’s so validating that you understand the point I was trying to make! It’s really more of a feeling that’s hard to put into words! But you did! I love that your friend calls your home spa-like…think of the feeling she has when she comes into your house. She feels relaxed, like a spa! You bring up an excellent point about outdoor lighting that’s so important for our ecosystem. Thank you, Kim, for taking the time to write this! xx
Creating a home where you feel relaxed is the main objective of the idle place you should prioritize. I think more restaurants do that because they know people will feel at home if they create a cozy environment and get coma again and again.
I could not agree more!