Home Tree Atlas: Home Decor Ideas and Mood Boards

The Beauty of Using Cove Lighting: Design and Ideas

Cove lighting adds a special touch to a room. It works by there being a space, usually a false ceiling, where light fixtures can be hidden away. The lights bounce off of the ceiling and softly glow in the room. This kind of lighting makes a room feel relaxing, yet larger, taller, grander and more luxurious.

The Different Types of Cove Lighting Designs

The standard cove lighting design is when you have a drop ceiling, and hide the lights in a cutaway just like in picture (1). But there are a ton of other design styles that can be done. Like, instead of having the entire ceiling drop down, you could reverse it and have only a section of the ceiling drop down. This is called reversed cove lighting.

How about being ambitious and doing a multi level design? Also the drop down ceiling doesn’t have to be in a rectangle or square shape. It could be curved, or shaped how you’d like. Or for something even more majestic, take a look at the dome cove lighting in picture (3).

The simplest and cheapest way of adding cove lighting to a room is to forget about the drop down ceiling and instead go with cove molding lighting seen in pictures (4) (5) (6). If you fit crown molding a few inches below the ceiling, you’ll have space for rope lights to sit on top. They’ll be hidden away and will softly bounce light off of the ceiling and into the room.

Mixing It Up

Remember, the key to great lighting design is to layer the lighting, aka mix it up. A room that only uses ceiling lights will feel a lot duller than a room that makes use of ceiling lights, a wall lamp and a table light. By using a mixture of light fixtures you create different lighting effects and layer the lighting. The same should be done with cove lighting.

Cove lighting is generally used as an accent piece in the room. It isn’t used for functionality. So you’re going to need lights that are brighter. Recessed lights are good, so are pendant lights. For a dome ceiling you could have a chandelier hang down in the middle. The soft glow of the cove lighting will show off the dome ceiling while the chandelier lights up the room.

Cove Lighting Else Where

The cove lighting technique can be used in other areas of the room. Like in the walls. In picture (7), lights softly glow around a bathroom shelf. This can also be done for closets, living room cabinets, or even above kitchen cabinets (8). The idea is to hide the light fixtures, and just let the light softly glow indirectly.

Technical Tip

There are a few light fixtures you could use for cove lighting. Everything from florescent strips to halogen bulbs. The down side to using these lights is that if you don’t do it right there could be gaps in the lighting. A better, cheaper, and more energy efficient option would be to use LED lights, like rope lights seen in picture (9). The lighting will be uninterrupted and you can even choosing the color of the light. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9

December 17, 2013 in Lighting

Home Decor Ideas: Using Concrete

Concrete is one versatile material. You can use it to make small DIY home decor projects, or even something as large as a countertop. DIY concrete countertops can make their way into kitchens or even bathrooms as seen in picture (1), with the reclaimed walnut sink. This post is going to focus more on simpler and smaller home decor projects.

DIY Concrete Ideas: Designer Pieces

Making your own letters is a popular DIY project, whether it is with cardboard, clay, or even concrete. What sets Wit and Whistle’s concrete letter apart is that Amanda went ahead and used two different colors of concrete. Resulting in a designer like piece – seen in picture (2).

It is really great seeing people make designer like pieces at home with ordinary materials like concrete. Over at A Merry Mishap you can follow along with the instructions on how to make the diamond paper weight (3). There are no DIY instructions for the concrete pillows in picture (4), but you could create the same illusion by “pouring concrete into bags then resting an object in the centre”.

Light Up The Night

When it comes to lighting, how about creating your own lamp with a solid, sturdy concrete base (5) – over at Nimi Design. Or follow along with the tutorial at HomeMade Modern to create the industrial chic pendant lamps in picture (6).

Out the Front Door

Working our way out the front door we have a minimalist style coat rack – made with a concrete base (using a bucket as a mold) and dowels (7).

Outside you can get creative with concrete by making your own stepping stones. See how to make leaf stamped ones (8) over at HGTV. Using cinder blocks, you can easily create your own modern wall planters seen in picture (9) – from Apartment Therapy.

December 13, 2013 in Decor, DIY

Home Office Lighting Ideas: How To Be Productive and Creative in One Space

Are you lucky enough to be able to work from home? I am, and it’s pretty great. When it comes to being productive while working at home there are a few key things to keep in mind. One of those is a great workspace. It allows you to be organized, have your own space to work on projects, and keeps you inspired. And lighting plays a big role in how your home workspace feels.

When it comes to home office lighting ideas, there are two types that you need to keep in mind: functional lighting and relaxing lighting. Functional lighting is more task based, and helps you stay on the ball and productive. While relaxing lighting helps and nurtures creative thinking.

Functional and Productive Home Office Lighting

If you are about to remodel your home office, then pay close attention to the ceiling lights. These will help fill the room with ambient lighting, making it a comfortable space to be in. The go to choice for ceiling lights would be recessed (the ones that are fitted inside of the ceiling, creating a modern look). If you choose this type of light fixture, make sure you have enough and space them out so they light up the whole room.

An alternative to recessed lights would be track lighting. The good thing about these, is that you can angle the lights to different areas of the room. Then you also have the choice of pendant lights, which are ideal for hanging over working areas as they bring the light closer down from the ceiling as seen in pictures (1) and (2).

Natural Lighting

The best kind of lighting to have while working in the day is daylight (3). It is natural, and energizing. So look to open up your windows as much as possible. If the windows face direct sunlight, fit blinds and shades so you can adjust how much light comes through. It is always better to use natural lighting over indoor lights.

Desk Lamps

Your desk lamp is quite vital in creating a functional workspace. It can reduce eyestrain when looking at your computer screen, and make offline desk tasks a lot easier to do too. Look for an adjustable one – like a swing arm (4) or angelpoise lamp (seen below). These adjustable lamps let you move the light around the desk, if you have a large one.

Save space on your desk by having a lamp that clamps to the side of the desk. Alternative desk space saving ideas include using a floor lamp or have a magnetic lamp that can be stuck onto something metallic, like a shelf, nearby. If you have a wall nearby, then an adjustable wall lamp will work too like in picture (5).

Creative Thinking Lighting

When it comes time to do some brainstorming and more creative thinking in your home office, you’ll want to create a different work setting. You can easily do this with your lights. By switching from cold and functional work and task based lights, to more relaxing dim down lighting (just like in a chilled out café) you’ll create a work space ideal for creative thinking.

If you want to make a space feel more relaxing, then you want to bring the lights down. Avoid lighting the ceiling and instead use floor and desk lamps. Try and layer the lighting in the room and add some soft glowing lights too.

Soft Glowing Lighting Ideas for a Home Office

Put a light behind your computer screen and let the light softly bounce off of the wall.
If you really want to go for it, how about having a transparent desk and have it softly lit up (6)
Mood lights are great to have. You can change the entire feel of the room just by changing the color of the lamp. If it is a grey and dull day, then set the mood light to a bright green or yellow. If you want to get in a more creative mood, how about coloring the room orange, or dark red?
Put up some display lighting. Light up some art work, or fit some book case lights to create more soft glows of light in the room.
Have your ceiling lights hooked up to a dimmer, so you can be in full control of your ceiling lights.
If you want to create a whimsical feel in your home office, then check out the string lights in picture (7)

Lighting is just one of the things to keep in mind when setting up your home office to be a productive workspace. Other things to keep in mind are organization, decor, creative stimuli, and inspiration. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7

Create the Best Home Workspace for Yourself

Sign up here if you want to know more about creating a creative space at home – as I’ll be putting out a pocket sized guide that covers everything from how to come up with ideas, creative exercises, to case studies (Pixar, Ideo) and how to create a creative workspace at home.

November 11, 2013 in Home Office, Living Room

DIY Candle Photo Stands

A while ago I did this DIY post making photo stands using air drying clay. After seeing the FYRKANTIG candle blocks in IKEA, I figured these would make great photo stands too, and colorful ones. I went ahead and bought the green pack, though they also have a palette of reds.

This is defiantly the easiest way of creating your own DIY photo stands that I’ve seen. All you need to do is a) take out the wick, b) slowly cut a slit for the photo to stand in. Thats it!

It’s pretty great how the box of candles comes in different hues of green. Stay tuned, as I’ll be making custom candle molds to be used as photo stands – follow me on Pinterest here.

Other DIY Projects on Home Tree Atlas