No matter the size of your space, good lighting can always turn it into a posh home.
So you’re building a new home — or thinking of renovating it — and want to make it look luxurious. While there are a myriad of home interior ideas to find on Pinterest, turning your space into a posh abode primarily comes down to a few things: having a keen eye for detail and the ability to maximize the space.
To make your house appear expensive and elegant, be selective of the materials you use; pick furniture pieces that are not only made of hardwood, leather, or glass but also come in various textures and characters.
Good lighting is also among the must-have elements of modish interior design. Great lighting can accentuate the beauty of a space and make it feel more open. Bad lighting, on the other hand, can make your house feel dark and uninviting. In addition, decorative ceiling and wall lights, as well as table and floor lamps, can double as a design statement in any room.
To give you an idea of how to elevate the look of your home with lighting, The POST interviewed Mika Villarosa, sales designer of Louis Poulsen, during the recent celebration of the brand’s 150th anniversary.
Louis Poulsen’s anniversary exhibit in Manila, titled He(art) of Light, located at the Twenty Four Seven building in Bonifacio Global City, featured the Danish lighting manufacturer’s special 150th anniversary editions as well as the brand’s iconic designs, including the PH Artichoke, PH5, and AJ Mini Lamp.
Below are the lighting tips shared by the brand and curated by The POST to help you showcase the true beauty of your home.
Create the illusion of space
One of the best ways to make a space look bigger is through the use of right lighting. Getting more natural light into a room is one step. To do that, Florida-based design company HK Interiors suggests removing the blinds and using mirrors to reflect light.
When it comes to artificial light, Villarosa said that recessed lighting, or those installed directly inside a ceiling or any surface, is a common approach to making an area look spacious. Cove lighting, or the technique of using indirect lighting to brighten up the ceiling or walls, is another workaround as it softens the edges of a room, making the space look more open and fluid.
In addition, Villarosa recommends maintaining “an unobstructed look in a room” by using pendant lights with “light or translucent material.” For that, she recommends Louis Poulsen’s PH Septima and Enigma lights.
To emphasize the height of a room, the interior designer suggests “incorporating vertical accessories” in the space. “The Louis Poulsen PH floor lamps, with their slender glossy metal bodies and opal glass shades, are an excellent option,” Villarosa said.
Opting for “space-saving solutions” is also key for when you have a small space, the interior designer said. She recommends installing wall sconces or small light fixtures on either side of a focal piece. She explained, “In smaller spaces, wall sconces can serve as space-saving solutions while providing indirect, moody lighting. They also add depth to a wall, enhancing its character.
“The AJ Eklipta and Flindt wall lamps from Louis Poulsen are among my favorite pieces because of their sleek, functionalist design that provides essential lighting,” she added.
Incorporate and invest in a statement piece
Statement lighting fixtures create a captivating focal point in any room. It can transform a space, giving an interesting spin to an area that’s otherwise drab and gray. This is also important as the lighting in your home should altogether be an “artistic piece,” said Liz Bianco, a veteran American interior designer and creator of the design platform My Design Sherpa.
“The lighting has got to have a jaw-dropping moment,” she said in a YouTube video published last March. “When you’re planning about your house and you’re thinking about those countertops, the cabinets, the flooring, the sofa, the painting, whatever it might be, think about your lighting as an artistic piece, as the focal point of a room.”
“But make sure that you have a ‘wow’ (piece),” she continued. “Pick one fixture that’s going to shine. You can have other fixtures that are special, but one fixture is gonna take the cake. It’s gonna be the one when everyone walks in and gonna go, ‘Oh my goodness, isn’t that nice?’”
A perfect example of a statement piece is Louis Poulsen’s PH Artichoke, a meticulously crafted pendant by Danish architect and designer Poul Henningsen. Originally designed in 1958 for Copenhagen’s Langelinie Pavilion, Henningsen’s masterpiece is composed of 72 hand-placed metal leaves. Each leaf is carefully positioned to ensure anti-glare lighting from every angle. Today, the PH Artichoke is considered a true design icon in the Danish capital.
Only 300 pieces of the PH Artichoke are available in Louis Poulsen stores all over the world, with each piece ranging from P700,000 to P900,000. But for the Danish company, investing in a statement piece like its PH Artcihoke goes beyond aesthetics.
“Investing in beautiful, high-quality lighting can not only elevate the look of your home but also add value to it,” Villarosa said. “They ensure that the light is always pleasing and gentle on the eyes, never too harsh, and seamlessly blends with your space no matter what time of day.”
She added, “Louis Poulsen lamps have been thoughtfully made with superior materials by expert craftsmen for 150 years now. The handmade process ensures both physical durability and timeless design that cannot be matched by low-quality lighting fixtures.”
Choose light fixtures with no glare
Using light fixtures with no glare is also key to making your house look expensive and pleasing, according to Villarosa. This concept, she said, is among Poul Henningsen’s design principles for “the perfect light.”
Apart from being an architect, designer, and writer, Henningsen is a pioneer in the study of electric light. He then worked on a theory that the observer should not be subjected to direct glare from the electric light source. “Aside from it being blinding, it’s also uncomfortable,” Villarosa told The POST.
Henningsen’s no-glare design principle is also inspired by the Danish concept of Hygge, the interior designer said. “So Hygge basically means to create a comfortable, warm, and cozy ambience,” she said. “In Denmark, the average temperature is 7.7 degrees Celsius. Everything outside is quite cold. So, the Danes want that whenever they go home, they feel the warmth. They really follow the Hygge concept.”
With this, Henningsen created softer, more diffused lighting using a series of layered shades that diffuse light and hide the bulb. The result is Louis Poulsen’s PH Artichoke.
Villarosa expounded, “The PH Artichoke is a beauty in itself and, at the same time, it has the 72 hand-placed leaves that really make it unique. You cannot see any glare even if you’re staring directly under the lamp.”
Use layers of light
Having a well-thought-of layered lighting scheme provides functionality and, at the same time, sophistication to your home. It makes a room aesthetically pleasing and convenient to work at any time of the day.
Bianco suggests using a combination of task, ambient, and accent lighting “to achieve layers, to achieve a layer of richness because we know rich people like options.”
Task lighting is the use of increased lighting for specific tasks, such as reading, writing, cooking, sewing. It is also similar to Henningsen’s concept of creating “islands of light” or putting highlight only on the areas that have to be lighted. Having this will ensure that your room has functionality.
An example of task lighting is Louis Poulsen’s Portable Panthellas. “These lamps just makes it really easy to bring light to the living room or dining room so you can really focus on what you’re doing and where you need it,” said Villarosa.
Meanwhile, ambient lighting, or the general lighting in a room, will “light up the space” while accent lighting will “highlight the pieces in the room that you want to accentuate, creating a balance between layers.”
Making use of all three prevents your house from looking dull. “A house shouldn’t be so monochromatic, na everything is the same. It’s nice to have different pieces all around the room to make your home unique,” she said.
Let’s say you’re decorating your living room. Villarosa suggests combining Louis Poulsen’s Pantera, which is a modern take on the classic chandelier, with a Panthella Table Lamp. “It’s really nice. It’s really elevated when we pair them together,” she said.
For the bedroom, the interior designer recommends using the Yuh collection. “It’s basically a series of lamps that you can adjust,” Villarosa said. “They named it Yuh because it’s designed for ‘you.’”
“You can tilt it up and down, you can put it higher, you can put it lower, you can also change the dimming,” she continued. “It has a floor version, a wall version, a table version. Whichever fits for your home, Louis Poulsen has it for you.”
Use proper lighting proportions
When it comes to decorating a house, one of the most important things to consider is the size of your space and the furniture you will put in it. Not only that, the size of your fixtures will establish the importance of it in the room — whether it’s the focal point or if it’s only used as secondary element. It also determines how functional your room can be.
Villarosa explained, “The size of the lamp should complement the intended space. For instance, in a dining room with a long rectangular table, you might use one wide lamp or two to three pendant lamps.”
“In contrast, a round dining table would be best paired with a single pendant light such as the poetic PH Snowball for an intimate table of four or the head-turning PH Artichoke for a larger table of eight,” she continued.
Proper lighting proportions, according to Villarosa, are “essential because they influence the mood, functionality, and overall experience of a space. Apart from the size, Villarosa notes that the mounting height of your fixtures is equally important in making your home look upscale. “It allows users to fully appreciate the design of the fixture and ensures light is directed exactly where it is needed,” she said.
Explore the rest of Louis Poulsen’s products at The He(art of Light) exhibit, which runs until Sept. 15 at the 29th floor of the Twenty-four Seven McKinley Building in BGC. You can also visit its showroom at the 10th floor of the same building.
