How To Create A Feeling With Light

Introduction – Create a Feeling With Your Lighting Design

Explore how lighting shapes our environments and enhances our experiences. This guide unveils 18 distinct lighting vibes—from cinematic to lantern—each designed to evoke specific feelings and atmospheres in your space. This comprehensive guide provides practical strategies for architects and interior designers to create a feeling with light. Let’s jump in…

Table of Contents: Create A Feeling With Light

Create a Feeling With Light: Cinematic Vibe

VIBE: Warm, magical, energized.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: Most of the light in this room needs to be directed toward the walls & ceiling.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls and ceilings should be medium to dark tones, with matte/satin finishes.

Creating a Cinematic Lighting Layout

Life as a movie?… You know how you wish your life was a movie? No…? Just me?

I can’t help but analyze the lighting that we see in movies and television. How did they create that mood? And if they can create a feeling on a movie set then WHY can’t we do that when we design architecture?

I first started experimenting with a cinematic vibe on a project in the San Juan Islands in Washington State. It was a beachfront property, absolutely stunning sunsets, and an interior designer with a grand vision (Miller Interior Design out of Seattle).

The key to pulling off this look is to balance the light, with some lighting directed upward, and some directed downward. Some of the finishes should be textured/matte so that they “catch” the light and create that dreamy feel. Happy designing! Now pass me the popcorn.

How Many Lights for a Cinematic Lighting Design?

To figure out how much illumination is needed for the whole room, we can do a quick calculation. It only takes a couple minutes. First follow the link to our cinematic lighting estimator here.

Example Cinematic Lighting Calculation

Create a Feeling With Light: Bright Vibe

VIBE: Clean, expansive, ordered.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: Most of the light in this room needs to be aimed at the walls, to make the space “feel” bright.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls and ceilings should be bright tones. Matte finishes are recommended because they will appear brighter than finishes which are glossy.

Creating a Bright Lighting Layout

It’s boring. It’s predictable. And I love it. Make it BRIGHT! I use this vibe on virtually every project I work on because it’s a crowd pleaser.

Of course you want your spaces to FEEL bright, and the key here is to focus light on vertical surfaces. You need to get light onto the walls, cabinets, and artwork to make a space feel bright.

Shocker installing a whole bunch of recessed cans is NOT going to make your room feel bright, because those cans are pointed downward at the floor. If your floor is white, then you get a free pass, but for everyone else, you’re throwing money away when you point lights at dark surfaces, like … floors.

If you’re drawing a grid of recessed cans for your lighting plan, PLEASE make some of those adjustable lights that can be aimed at walls. Your eyes will thank you. Check out our template to get started.

How Many Lights for a Bright Lighting Design?

To figure out how much illumination is needed for the whole room, we can do a quick calculation. It only takes a couple minutes. First follow the link to our bright lighting estimator here.

Example Bright Lighting Calculation

Create a Feeling With Light: Mysterious Vibe

VIBE: Captivating, artistic, subdued.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: Most of the light in this room needs to be directed at one wall of the room.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls and ceilings should be medium to dark tones. A mixture of matte and glossy finishes is recommend to create texture and visual interest.

Creating a Mysterious Lighting Layout

You know how your heart kind of skips a beat if you’re checking someone out and then they catch you? Yeah, this lighting vibe has nothing to do with that. Well, maybe a little bit.

There’s something about that moment when you meet someone new. Maybe it’s at a bar or a coffee shop, and you just know that there’s something there and this could be the beginning of the next chapter of your life.

Today’s lighting vibe is a step toward bottling up that excitement and mystery. The key to executing a mysterious vibe, is to all of the lighting downward, with most of the lighting directed at one wall of the room.

This creates soft reflected light across most of a person’s face, as well as the furniture in the room. This also leaves some areas which are slightly darker, with some shadows for depth and visual interest.

How Many Lights for a Mysterious Lighting Design?

To figure out how much illumination is needed for the whole room, we can do a quick calculation. It only takes a couple minutes. First follow the link to our mysterious lighting estimator here.

Example Mysterious Lighting Calculation

Create a Feeling With Light: Builder Grade Vibe

VIBE: Pragmatic, economical, quickship.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: Create a uniform grid of downlights to evenly light living areas.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls and ceilings should be bright tones. Floor should be medium to bright tones. Matte and semi-gloss finishes are recommended.

Creating a Builder Grade Lighting Layout

Leading with value… Every project I work on has “builder grade” elements to it, and that is what allows us to reallocate more budget to high impact areas like entertaining spaces and the primary bedroom suite, or reallocate money toward high end finishes and furniture instead. Not every space needs to have premium lighting, and that’s OK!

How Many Lights for a Builder Grade Lighting Design?

To figure out how much illumination is needed for the whole room, we can do a quick calculation. It only takes a couple minutes. First follow the link to our builder grade lighting estimator here.

Example Builder Grade Lighting Calculation

Create a Feeling With Light: Forest Light Vibe

VIBE: Dappled, natural, connected.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: This scheme requires a balance of accent light and uplight, to create pockets of bright and dark at the ceiling and floor. Pendants with a patterned shade can also be used to create an organic pattern of bright light and dark shadow..

ROOM FINISHES: Medium tones are recommended, and wood treated with a semi-opaque stain (avoid glossy finishes).

Creating a Forest Lighting Layout

It was a once in a lifetime design opportunity… I’d been tasked with designing a new home, nestled into the woods, on an island just outside Seattle.

The property was sublime. I felt like I was on a camping trip, detached from reality, in tune with nature. There were so many sources of inspiration, but it was only after we went on a hike in the woods nearby that it all clicked for me.

Mist was coming up off of the ground, and streaks of dappled light streamed through the canopy of the trees, and in that moment I knew we wanted to recreate that feeling with the architecture. There’s a reason that people want to escape back to nature.

Architecture should be there to keep us safe and protected, while still reminding us that nature isn’t “out there”, it’s IN HERE.

How Many Lights for a Forest Lighting Design?

To figure out how much illumination is needed for the whole room, we can do a quick calculation. It only takes a couple minutes. First follow the link to our forest lighting estimator here.

Example Forest Lighting Calculation

Create a Feeling With Light: Golden Hour Vibe

VIBE: Social, exciting, active.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: Most of the light should be directed up at the ceiling, to create a mix of color like the sky. This can be complimented with adjustable task lighting to create long shadows to mimic golden hour lighting.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls and ceilings should be bright tones. Ceiling must have a Level 5 matte finish.

Creating a Golden Hour Lighting Layout

Golden Hour Lighting Layout Living Room Template

Golden Hour… what if we could recreate that vibe in our designs? Growing up, I always dreamed of visiting California (which is apparently an unpopular opinion now??). I distinctly remember finally arriving at the ocean, and then walking down the boardwalk in Santa Cruz.

In that moment I decided I would one day live in California and that these pristine sunsets would be a regular part of my life. After a stint living in Seattle, my love (obsession?) for sunshine reached it’s peak.

Well I’ve been here in California for ten years now, and I never get tired of golden hour in the golden state. If I could bottle it up and take it with me back to Seattle, I would.

In the meantime, let’s design our buildings to feel more inspired by the (outside) world around us, you know … like a walk along the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Hope this helps….

How Many Lights for a Golden Hour Lighting Design?

To figure out how much illumination is needed for the whole room, we can do a quick calculation. It only takes a couple minutes. First follow the link to our golden hour lighting estimator here.

Example Golden Hour Lighting Calculation

Create a Feeling With Light: Grounded Vibe

VIBE: Steady, relaxed, protected.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: Graze one of the walls with a bright light recessed into the ceiling.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls, ceilings, and floors should medium to dark tones, with finishes that are textured or matte.

Creating a Grounded Lighting Layout

I spent some of my teenage years living in St. George, Utah, a short drive from Zion National Park and Snow Canyon State park.

Needless to say I have a (un?)healthy obsession with slot canyons and the mesmerizing quality of the light in these cathedrals. It’s almost like Nature is a temple and hiking is actually a spiritual experience.

These are the kinds of grounded spaces that architects should aspire to create, where we’re just left in awe and reflection. It’s such a strong concept and I had to decode how to recreate this light quality.

I’ve designed dozens of homes in my career, but I still have this itch to go back to southern Utah and build a home inspired by this landscape of the Southwest.

Create a Feeling With Light: Twilight Vibe

VIBE: Surreal, calm, spiritual.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: In this scheme, the ceiling becomes a canvas for light, with a mixture of colored light mixing on the ceiling to hearken back to a sky.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls and ceilings can be medium to bright tones, with matte finishes to create a soft/airy appearance.

Creating a Twilight Lighting Layout

Twilight Lighting Layout Living Room Template

A few years back, I scored big-time (no, not like that), and was given the opportunity to be Project Architect for a Nature Preserve in Sonoma County.

There were acres and acres of mountains and hiking trails, and my team was tasked with designing a home for the scientists who would visit from time to time to do research in the tops of the mountains. As we were close to the end of construction, I woke up to a text message from the Site Superintendent. . .

It was dawn at the jobsite and he couldn’t resist sending me a photo of the home – glowing in the landscape through the fog, and in that moment it was all worth it. The countless hours and weekends and sacrifices had become a physical reality (even if I’d have to settle for a digital photo of it for the time being).

A few months later there was ribbon cutting and cheers all around, and as the day turned to night I got to experience the magical moment of twilight for myself. It was one of those days that you don’t forget because the feeling is indelible. Sometimes lighting can help us “snap out of it” and remember moments like this.

Time to snap out of it, and be intentional with your lighting design! What if that fleeting moment of twilight, didn’t have to be…. fleeting?

Create a Feeling With Light: Urban Vibe

VIBE: Edgy, dramatic, driven.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: In this scheme, the majority of the light should come from a cool colored accent light, aimed at one wall. This can be balanced with warm decorative lighting. The result is artistic shadows of color, and a memorable vibe.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls and ceilings can be medium to dark tones, with a mixture of polished and matte finishes.

Creating an Urban Lighting Layout

Urban Lighting Layout Living Room Template

Feeling urban… I’ve always been drawn to cities. You can almost feel a vibration of all the people coming and going, driven by ambition, making their dreams a reality.

Sometimes the pace almost feels like a dream. I remember the first time I visited New York, watching the symphony of lights playing off of the canyons of building, like watercolor paint mixing on a canvas.

What if that symphony could be in your living room…at anytime?

Create a Feeling With Light: Stormy Vibe

VIBE: Dramatic, turbulent, contrast.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: The key to executing this look is balance, with some light aimed upward at the ceiling, and adjustable lighting grazing across wall surfaces to mimic sunrays.

ROOM FINISHES: Medium to bright finishes are recommended, with a flat/matte finish.

Creating a Stormy Lighting Layout

Storm Lighting Layout Living Room Template

It was the first summer after I started high school… Utah is usually pretty dry, but this was the summer of thunderstorms.

Each afternoon I could actually watch the clouds in real time as they grew and billowed into towering monsters above the valley, until the inevitable and powerful release of a thunderstorm.

Then came the calm, as the sun peaked through the clouds for fleeting moments and time stood still. It’s human to crave times like this, and the best architecture embraces the transient and imperfect quality of light.

Create a Feeling With Light: Cozy & Relaxed Vibe

VIBE: Warm, peaceful, recharge.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: Most of the light in this room needs to be directed downward.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls, ceilings, and floors should be medium tones. Matte finishes are recommended to make space feel softer.

Creating a Cozy & Relaxed Lighting Layout

Relaxed Lighting Layout Living Room Template

A few years back, I was brought in to “fix” the lighting for a beautiful home off of Lake Washington in Bellevue, Washington.

The home had wood ceilings and beams, and polished concrete floors, but the homeowner said it always felt dark and depressing. The vibe they wanted was RELAXED and soft.

The existing lighting was an eclectic hodgepodge of lights, that looked like they’d all been pulled from a clearance sales rack.

But the real issue was that there wasn’t any light directed at the walls and ceiling. No wonder everything felt dark and depressing! To achieve a soft, cozy, relaxed vibe we had to introduct additional light directed at soft surfaces like the wood ceiling, matte painted walls, and new area rugs.

We traded out the sea of “spotlights”, and we introduced new lighting to wash the walls and ceiling with light, so that most of the light was REFLECTED off of room was reflected light. WHERE you aim the light is just as important as HOW MUCH light there is. Hope this helps…

How Many Lights for a Cozy & Relaxed Lighting Design?

To figure out how much illumination is needed for the whole room, we can do a quick calculation. It only takes a couple minutes. First follow the link to our cozy & relaxed lighting estimator here.

Example Relaxed Lighting Calculation

Create a Feeling With Light: Expansive & Grand

VIBE: Grand, visionary, satisfying.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: Most of the light in this room needs to be directed up toward the ceiling and toward the walls.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls and ceilings should be bright tones. Matte & semi-gloss finishes are recommended.

Creating an Expansive & Grand Lighting Layout

Expansive Lighting Layout Living Room Template

I feel…free.

It was the first thought that came to my mind as I stood at the edge of a mountaintop where we were going to design a home to replace the house that had burned down in the 2017 Tubbs fire.

That feeling of being able to reach out and touch the sky?… THAT is what I wanted it to home to feel like. Grand, expansive, and big… just like the surrounding landscape.

The key to pulling off this vibe is to use electric light (and daylight) to wash the ceiling and walls with light, so that when you’re in a room you feel the full dimension of the space.

Create a Feeling With Light: Ripple

VIBE: Magical, edgeless, mesmerizing.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: In this scheme, cool teal light is balanced with warm adjustable lights for dramatic effect. Sconces can be used to create a rippled light appearance.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls and ceilings should be medium tones with a semi-gloss finish.

Creating a Ripple Lighting Layout

Ripple Lighting Layout Living Room Template

Online dating, but for real estate…

You know how some people just string along the person their dating and it never goes anywhere? Well! That also happens in the design world, and there’s a special place in hell for developers who do this.

Alright, storytime. A contractor put me in touch with a developer in Orange County who wanted to maximize the buildable area for a single family home lot. After a couple months of feasibility analysis, design, and marketing renderings, the developer ghosted me and the contractor without payment. Its a lesson every designer has to learn (or better yet, learn from others so that they don’t make the same mistake).

There IS one great thing that came out of that experience… well, two good things. I now get deposits before I start to design ANYTHING, and today’s lighting vibe is brought to you by that developer.

For that project we were organizing the home around a central courtyard with a pool, and one of the concepts we were working with was playing off of this mesmerizing ripple of light that would come off of the pool, and this is an effect you can also create with electric lighting. Check it out! 💡

And yeah, I’m totally over it. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, really…

Create a Feeling With Light: Fashion Shoot Vibe

VIBE: Striking, main-character, confident.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: In this scheme, most of the light in this room needs to be aimed at one wall, and balanced with large pendant lights which act like a softbox for the most flattering lighting.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls and ceilings should be bright tones with a matte finish. Drywall should have a Level 5 Finish.

Creating a Fashion Shoot Lighting Layout

Fashion Shoot Lighting Layout Living Room Template

I have a sneaking suspicion… that models aren’t actually as attractive as we think they are, and that actually, it’s just really REALLY good lighting.

Got light? Maybe instead of hitting the gym, you should just get better lighting.

Just kidding, do both and be unstoppable! Now hand me that box of donuts.

How Many Lights for a Fashion Shoot Lighting Design?

To figure out how much illumination is needed for the whole room, we can do a quick calculation. It only takes a couple minutes. First follow the link to our fashion shoot lighting estimator here.

Example Fashion Shoot Lighting Calculation

Create a Feeling With Light: Powder Vibe

VIBE: Free, floating, fluid.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: Most of the light in this room needs to from adjustable downlights.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls, ceilings, and floors should be bright tones with matte finishes.

Creating a Powder Lighting Layout

Powder Lighting Layout Living Room Template

Today we’re pulling lighting inspiration from the experience of skiing and snowboarding.

Although lighting is a key consideration for this look, the key to pulling of this vibe is to select finishes that are bright and matte.

Create a Feeling With Light: Sparkle

VIBE: Luxe, premium.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: In this scheme, the majority of the lighting should come from decorative pendant lights, with crystal, or soda bubble glass.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls and ceilings can be medium to bright tones, with a mixture of matte and polished surfaces.

Creating a Sparkle Lighting Layout

Sparkle Lighting Layout Living Room Template

Gold leaf… but drab?

I never would have thought that a ceiling gilded in gold leaf could look depressing and dark, but I stood corrected.

We were tasked with bringing the life back to a historic lobby in Baltimore. The answer was clear. Keep the beautiful gold ceiling, but introduce an element of sparkle and uplight to showcase this pristine ceiling.

Normally, I like to let the lighting be understated and let the architecture speak for itself, but this was a great example of when lighting needed to take the lead. And like this lobby, sometimes a living room design is begging for decorative, sparkling lights, that unapologetically say “I’m beautiful…look at me”.

How Many Lights for a Sparkle Lighting Design?

To figure out how much illumination is needed for the whole room, we can do a quick calculation. It only takes a couple minutes. First follow the link to our sparkle lighting estimator here.

Example Sparkle Lighting Calculation

Create a Feeling With Light: Lantern Vibe

VIBE: On Display, showcase, art piece.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: In this scheme, the majority of the light should be aimed at walls without windows, paired with uplight to wash the ceiling with light. This will give people a silhouette appearance and make for a dramatic scene.

ROOM FINISHES: Walls and ceilings should be bright tones, with matte/flat finishes.

Creating a Lantern Lighting Layout

Lantern Lighting Layout Living Room Template

This never happens…

Ok so a couple years ago I was brought in to design the lighting for an 400 Unit college dorm, for graduate students at Princeton, and for one of the Community rooms, the interior design concept was “lantern”.

What!? This never happens, the interior design concept was actually centered around good lighting. Well, game on player! I’ve got this.

The key to executing this vibe is to uplight the ceiling, and light the back wall of the room, so that when viewed from outside, it feels like the room is glowing.

Remember, you don’t see light until it travels through the air and actually HITS something, so you have to think about directing the lighting towards walls and ceilings if you want to create that bright glowing Lantern effect.

How Many Lights for a Lantern Lighting Design?

To figure out how much illumination is needed for the whole room, we can do a quick calculation. It only takes a couple minutes. First follow the link to our lantern lighting estimator here.

Example Lantern Lighting Calculation

Create a Feeling With Light: Weightless & Floating Vibe

Weightless Floating Vibe Color Temperature

VIBE: Weightless, dramatic, magical.

LIGHTING STRATEGY: This scheme requires that most light is directed up toward the ceiling. Avoid directing light across the surface of columns and walls. To create the appearance of floating shelves, locate lighting between the shelf and the wall and aim the lighting back at the wall.

ROOM FINISHES: Medium to bright tones are recommended, with satin and matte finishes.

Creating a Floating Lighting Layout

Float Lighting Layout Living Room Template

An architect’s kryptonite…

A dramatic cantilever is an architect’s kryptonite. I’m always taken back when a seemingly heavy building seems to float over the landscape. Now the true heroes here are the structural engineers, but the reality is that lighting also plays a huge factor in whether a building feels like it is anchored or whether it is floating.

To achieve this “weightless” effect, you have to light the underside of a surface, and go out of your way NOT to light the vertical supports.

What to Look for in a Quality LED Light

Regardless of the vibe you are going for, there are two things that can trip up designers when they are selecting LED lighting:

COLOR RENDERING INDEX (CRI)

If you only remember one thing from me, please remember that color rendering is EVERYTHING when it comes to lighting. If you love incandescent and halogen lights, but hate fluorescent, then color rendering is the reason.

We always want to find lights that have a color rendering (CRI) of at least 90, so that we can bring out the true color of our room finishes and decor. Many LED lights have a color rendering of 80, and this score is actually worse than fluorescent (which has a score of 82). As you can see in the image below, the true color of the wood is brought out with the light on the right, which has a score of 90. The red tones of the wood come through and it feels warm. In contrast, the light on the left makes the wood look a bit greenish and yellow, because it has a poor color rendering score of 80.

Comparison of two different lights with regard to color rendering performance.

Trust me! It’s worth it to spend just a little bit more on lights to make sure that you’re getting LEDs with a score of 90 or higher, so that the people and finishes in your spaces feel vibrant and full of life. Make sure to pay attention to this when you find a light you like and you’re ready to hit that “order” button.

DIMMER COMPATIBILITY

Lastly, make sure that the LEDs you select are dimmable. This is something you need to check in the product cut sheet or through the web store that you are browsing.

Also, you’ll need to make sure that the dimmer you select will be compatible with the LED light fixture. In the past, we could easily dim incandescent and halogen lighting with a simple rotary dimmer. This may or may not work for a new LED light fixture.

You wouldn’t expect your television remote to be able to turn on your stereo system, would you? The same is true for LED dimmers. You have to make sure that the dimmer switch can actually communicate with the light fixture.

There’s a variety of dimming protocols: it may be TRIAC, Electronic Low Voltage (ELV), 0-10 Volt, or DALI. So make sure to work with your electrician or a sales representative to make sure that the components of your lighting design are all compatible.

Why it is Important to do a Lighting Calculation?

If you want to be confident in your lighting design, you have to do a lighting calculation. It’s as simple as that.

But how do we actually estimate how bright a room actually needs to be? Well, the footcandle targets for a room are set by the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), and the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD). This professional organization has studied and analyzed the functional requirements for each kind of space designed by architects. For residential projects, I like to refer back to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory & Department of Energy’s footcandle targets, since those are made freely available to the public. These are the targets I use for my own projects, and are the basis for the lighting estimator on this webpage.

You don’t want to have too little light. It’s expensive for a contractor and electrician to come back after the fact to revise the lighting strategy and patch the walls/ceiling. This happened to an interior designer early in my career, and it wasn’t a fun situation. For me, it was the beginning of a great collaboration with this design professional, because we worked on many projects after that – but of course it would have been better if this interior designer hadn’t made that mistake to begin with.

Likewise, you also don’t want to be too bright, and overspend on lighting, just because you’re unsure what is needed and just hoping for the best (yikes!).

This is fundamentally why I created lighting estimators – to balance making sure there’s enough light, while also making sure a client isn’t paying for too many lights. Hopefully using the calculator was straightforward. Reach out with questions (before buying/building anything), if you’d like help! Good luck on your project!

-Steve Duncan, AIA

Architect & Lighting Designer

Works Cited

Duncan, Steve. “Why Is It Important to Do a Lighting Calculation?” Lighting Design Insights. [LightingJUMP.com, https://www.lightingjump.com/how-many-lights-cinematic-vibe ].

The author emphasizes the necessity of conducting lighting calculations to ensure effective lighting design in various spaces. He cites the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) and the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) for their established footcandle targets that help determine appropriate lighting levels. Duncan also mentions the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Department of Energy’s publicly available footcandle targets, which he uses for residential projects. He shares a personal anecdote about the complications that arise from inadequate lighting, stressing the importance of precise calculations to avoid costly adjustments and excessive spending. The lighting estimator featured on his webpage is designed to assist clients in achieving optimal lighting without overspending.

REFERENCES

International Association of Lighting Designers. “About the IALD.” https://iald.org/IALD/IALD/Abo ut/About-the-IALD.aspx?hkey=104e951f-5da0-4cb8-8ca8-8cce8a7b4caf.

Duncan, Steve. “Why Is It Important to Do a Lighting Calculation?” Lighting Design Insights.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) in Residential Lighting.” NREL/TP-53467. 2012. https://www.nrel.g ov/docs/fy12osti/53467.pdf.

Illuminating Engineering Society. “Standards.” https ://st ore.ies.org/individual-standards/?v=0b3b97fa6688.