6 Rules I'd Die on a Lighting Hill for – The First One Is Non-Negotiable

Lighting is one of the very first things we think about when designing a home. And I mean very first. Long before the furniture arrives, before the art is hung and, in many cases, before the drywall even goes up, we're already thinking about where the lights need to be.

Because here's the thing: lighting is not an afterthought. It isn't the final layer you add once you've chosen the sofa, ordered the curtains, and realized you have approximately three weeks until the house is finished. Lighting needs to be planned right alongside the architecture and the furniture.

In our projects, the furniture plan happens before the house is even built. Yes, before there is technically a house to put furniture in. We need to know where the sofa is going, where the dining table will sit, which wall will have the bed, where the artwork will hang, and, most importantly, how people are actually going to use the room. Once we know that, we can figure out where the lighting needs to be.

A bedside sconce needs to know where the bed is, how high the headboard is, do you read or is it for ambiance? A chandelier needs to know where the dining table is and how large the table is. A reading lamp needs to know where you're actually going to sit. And a pot light should probably not be positioned directly over the top of your head unless you're particularly interested in looking like you're being interrogated.

It sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how often lighting gets treated as something to figure out later. And 'later' is usually when someone is standing in a finished room saying, Wait... why is the light there? Or why is it so dark in here? The good news is that getting lighting right doesn't have to be complicated. There are a few simple rules I follow on every project, and the first one is completely non-negotiable.

1. Layer, Layer, Layer

This is where the magic happens. Wall sconces, table lamps, floor lamps, picture lights, pendants, chandeliers these are all your best friends. And you can never really have too many. The trick is to mix them. I love a room where the lighting feels collected rather than perfectly matched. A pair of sconces doesn't necessarily need to match the table lamps. A floor lamp can sit beside a vintage table lamp. A picture light can highlight artwork while a small lamp creates a pool of light on a nearby console.

Think of a layered lighting scheme the way you think about decorating: it should have layers. When everything comes from the same collection and matches perfectly, the room can start to feel a little... showroom-esque. And we are not designing a showroom. Mix it up. Your lighting doesn't need to behave itself. A room should never rely on one lonely ceiling fixture to do all the work. Your home is not a warehouse, and your chandelier does not need to carry the emotional burden of the entire room.

Think of lighting the same way you think about dressing a room: you need layers, different heights, different sources, and a little bit of personality. And, just like a good outfit, the best results usually happen when you stop trying so hard to make everything match.

2. Yes, You Need Pot Lights

I know. We designers love to complain about pot lights. We've spent years trying to convince people that a room shouldn't look like an airport runway, and I'm still firmly in that camp. But here's the thing: pot lights have a purpose. You need them for functional lighting. They're there when you're cleaning, when you're hunting for the dust bunnies hiding under the sofa, when you're trying to find something you've dropped, or when it's the middle of February and it feels like the sun has personally abandoned you. Pot lights are your workhorse lighting. They just shouldn't be the only lighting in the room.

And this is where planning comes in again. Ceiling height matters. The higher the ceiling, the more thought needs to go into where that light is actually landing. Once you start getting above 12 feet, ask yourself: Is that light actually reaching the floor, or are we essentially illuminating the upper half of the room? The height of the ceiling, the beam spread, and the type of fixture all matter. Don't simply assume that because you've put 20 pot lights in a room, you've solved the lighting problem. You may have just created a very well-lit ceiling. (P.S. You don't see pot lights in all the pretty Pinterest photos due to the magic of photo editing – but they do exist!)

3. Don't Be Afraid of Scale

Chandeliers and pendants are where you get to have some fun. And please, put them on dimmers. I consider dimmers one of the greatest inventions in interior design. The same chandelier that provides useful light while you're setting the dinner table can become something completely different once it's turned down in the evening.

And don't automatically assume that bigger rooms require enormous fixtures – or that small rooms require tiny ones. Scale is an opportunity. Over a kitchen island, you might use two substantial pendants. Or you could use three, four, or even five smaller fixtures and create something much more unexpected. In a dining room, one oversized chandelier can be fantastic. Sometimes the slightly-too-big fixture is exactly what makes the room feel interesting.

Lighting is one of the places where I think you should take a risk. If you've been given a beautiful ceiling height, use it. If the room can handle a dramatic fixture, go for it. (Tip: lights get smaller the higher they are hung. If your chandelier box comes and you are questioning all of your math skills, wait until it's up at ceiling height. It will feel much smaller than it does sitting in a box on the ground.) Nobody ever walked into a room and complained that a chandelier had too much personality. Well, someone probably has. But I'm not designing for them.

4. Warm, Always Warm

Let's talk about color temperature. If there is one lighting hill I am willing to die on, it is this: please don't put daylight bulbs throughout your home. Cool, blue-toned light can make even the most beautiful room feel clinical. Your home should feel warm and inviting – not like you're being examined by a dentist.

For residential interiors, I generally prefer warmer light. It makes wood feel richer, fabrics feel softer, and colors feel more natural. The goal is for your home to glow. Not fluoresce. And remember that the color of the light matters just as much at night as the fixture itself. A gorgeous lamp with a harsh, cool bulb is still going to give you harsh, cool light. The fixture can be beautiful, but the bulb is doing the talking.

5. No Outlets? No Problem

Now for one of my favorite recent lighting developments: cordless lamps and battery-powered lighting. Because sometimes you have created the perfect little vignette, the perfect chair, the perfect table – and naturally, the outlet is approximately 14 feet away.

Enter the cordless lamp. They are fantastic for adding another layer of light without ripping open a wall or running an extension cord across your beautiful room. And while we're on the subject of cords: there is actually something deeply satisfying about cutting a lamp cord. I know you're not supposed to say these things as a designer. But if you've ever had a beautiful lamp sitting on a console with a cord dangling behind it, you understand. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for beauty.

And then there are battery-powered sconces, which may be my favorite lighting innovation of all. Want sconces beside a bed but don't want to open the wall?Battery-powered sconces. Want to highlight artwork but there's no electrical box? Battery-powered sconces. Renting? Battery-powered sconces. Have a wall that simply cannot be wired without turning your life into a construction project? Battery-powered sconces.

They're especially brilliant for anyone who loves to change things. You can add beautiful decorative lighting without committing to electrical work, and suddenly the wall you've been staring at, thinking there is absolutely no way I'm putting a light there, becomes fair game. And isn't that the dream?

6. The Bottom Line

Good lighting isn't about filling every inch of your ceiling with fixtures. It's about creating different levels of light that work together.

Start with your functional lighting. Add decorative lighting. Bring light down to eye level with lamps and sconces. Use chandeliers and pendants to create a focal point. Put everything you can on dimmers. Keep the light warm. And don't be afraid to mix things up. Most importantly, plan it early. Your lighting should respond to the way the room is furnished and used – not the other way around. If we're deciding where the furniture goes before the house is built, we should absolutely be deciding where the lighting goes too.

Because the best-lit rooms aren't necessarily the brightest ones. They're the ones where the lighting changes with the way you live in the space. Bright enough to find the dust bunnies when you need to. Soft enough to pretend they're not there when you don't.

Interior designer Ashley Montgomery is one of Homes & Gardens' Editors-At-Large for By Design, sharing her thoughts on decor. See the rest of her articles here.

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