Red Light, Green Light, Cold Light, Source Light: What Color Is Your Light?

February 8th, 2010 | Uncategorized

One of the most important aspects of any home or office remodel or construction is lighting. dental office design is an art all by itself. Light can turn a beautiful room into a space with the ambience of a prison ward. It’s the same if the project is a rustic log cabin retreat or a interior lighting design. Lighting can enhance or destroy all the efforts of a good interior design plan.

One of the first decisions an interior designer needs to make concerns source lighting. Where does the light come from, where does it appear, and how does it change. The first problem of designing a room is determining what the major source of light will be. If the space is use mostly during the daylight hours and has adequate windows, then the designer may have a major component influencing the choices of color and even the form of the room. If the room has no windows, or is mostly used at night then a different set of design rules may apply. A space with mixed light, and 24 hour accessibility offers up another set of challenges.

Daylight has a tint to it that is different from other light sources. It is blue during the day with warmer tones at sunrise and sunset. Also, the tone will change with the seasons depending on location. Selecting paint, floor material and furniture can all be enhanced with this knowledge. The blue cast of a midday sun can pull up the blues in the wall. The warm tones of evening and morning can pull up the red hues in paint. Several important questions to ask concerning a room lit primarily by sunlight include the hours of use, the nature of the use, the colors of the floor and whether or not there will be supplemental lighting.

A space illuminated mostly by artificial light has several other issues to take into account. Artificial light comes in different color temperature as well. Fluorescent light has a blue green hue, tungsten light a yellow orange hue. If the room is illuminated by fluorescent lights a shade or tint of color should be choosen that will best work with the greenish cast. Everyone has been in a room where fluorescent light has washed the walls with unpleasant colors. Careful selection of paint color can minimize this effect and help create a room with an almost daylight feel.

Selecting a color using a sample card is usually a risky venture. First, a bit of paint may be very different then an entire space using the same tint. Second, consider the source of light under which the paint chip is being viewed. Many paint departments are located deep inside a store and lit by fluorescent lights. Take the paint sample, walk it to the window and examine the shade in the sunlight. Next, go home with the sample or a small can of paint and put it on the wall. Look at it during the day and also after dark. Switch the wall the sample is on. Different walls reflect different light sources or the same source in a a unique way. Knowing the light is a major part of the design battle.