Reflective surfaces in the home range from mirrors to the glass panels on your china cabinet or kitchen wall cabinets, to the glassware inside it, to windows and sidelights. You’ll notice the shiny floors, windows and ceilings, backsplashes, bathroom tiles, metal counters, fixtures and towel bars. The goal is to brightly light your home while avoiding the glare, hot spots and eyestrain that may come from these shiny surfaces. At the same time, you’ll want to take advantage of the benefits that reflective surfaces can bring to a room.
Place the lighting strategically
The one rule lighting experts give about lighting and reflective surfaces is to avoid placing lights where they shine directly into people’s eyes. Instead, if you can direct the light to bounce off reflective surfaces in the room, you should do so. One trick that can help you with this is to move a flashlight beam around a room and see what it does. When you no longer see glare, that’s where you put your light source.
Be mindful of the type of reflective surface
If you are in the middle of decorating your home, be mindful of the types of reflective surfaces you install. Smooth, highly polished surfaces increase the risk of glare, while matte surfaces keep glare under control. Also, lighter colors, such as pale yellow, reflect light around a room. Darker shades, such as raw umber, absorb it. Colors and light also affect the mood of the room, and this also needs to be taken into consideration.
Use lighting layers
Another way to light a room full of shiny surfaces is to layer the lighting. The layers of light are:
- General or ambient lighting, which lights the whole room
- Task lighting, where the light is used to illuminate an activity such as reading
- Accent lighting, which is used to highlight an object or specific area of the room
Arrange these lights in ways that reduce glare. For example, there’s another lighting “rule” that has a light fixture about 5 feet, 7 inches from a reflective floor. Because this is at eye level for most adults, it reduces glare while still providing bright light.
Use diffusers
Diffusers also reduce glare and spread light more evenly around the room. These items range from frosted covers that go over LED light strips to milky opal diffusers that gently spread light throughout the room to textured, prismatic diffusers. These diffusers are aesthetically pleasing and also work very well with LED lights.
There are ways to light your home that make it a comfortable place, even if you have lots of reflective surfaces. To consult with a professional about your lighting, check out our Marketplace. Visit us on Instagram or Facebook. Consult an interior decorator for more information.
