The Ultimate Lighting Guide
Lighting is the quiet force behind every beautifully designed room.
It has the power to transform a space entirely — to sculpt it with shadow, to add depth and intrigue, to draw the eye exactly where you want it, and even to alter the sense of scale. A thoughtfully lit room can feel expansive and dramatic, or intimate and cocooning — all through the flick of a switch.
More than a finishing touch, lighting is what brings a space to life.
It highlights your most treasured pieces, softens architectural lines, and creates layers that make a room feel considered and complete. Get it right, and everything else falls into place.
Read on for expert tips and inspired ideas to help you curate a lighting scheme that feels stylish, atmospheric, and uniquely yours — whatever the space.
The Benefits Of A Good Lighting Scheme
How many types of lighting are there?
There are three main types of lighting and most rooms will need a selection of all three. The different types are ambient, task and accent. Use ambient lighting to create soft lighting that illuminates large spaces.Task lighting is great to brighten a space and is focused in one position while accent lighting will create little glowing pockets of light.
“How many types of lighting are there?
There are three main types of lighting and most rooms will need a selection of all three. The different types are ambient, task and accent. Use ambient lighting to create soft lighting that illuminates large spaces.Task lighting is great to brighten a space and is focused in one position while accent lighting will create little glowing pockets of light fo
Ambient Lighting
General lighting forms the backbone of any room. These are your overhead fixtures — recessed lights, pendants, or chandeliers — designed to flood the space with light and help you see clearly.
But here’s the key: they shouldn’t be doing all the work.
Relying solely on overhead lighting can leave a room feeling flat, harsh, and — let’s be honest — a bit like an airport lounge. Bright and functional? Yes. Inviting and cosy? Not so much.
Instead, think of general lighting as your base layer. Install dimmers wherever possible so you can adjust the intensity throughout the day. Bright and energising in the morning. Softer and more atmospheric in the evening.
The magic happens when you control the mood.
Accent Lighting
These are the lamps that you can load up on everywhere in the room, and Abi's favourite design trick. Plop lamps everywhere and anywhere, on side tables, consoles, on central islands and on the floor. These little glowing pockets of light create atmospheric, cosy, intimate spaces, and our portable lamps are especially useful for this. As you enter a beautifully lit room you immediately get that feeling of squishy contentment. Use them to highlight architectural features, add a soft to glow alcoves or along stairtreads. Hidden backlights tucked behind headboards and above kitchen cabinets give an unexpected extra layer of glow. Or the lighting can be a feature in it’s own right, like a stylish floor lamp or a neon wall sign.
Accent Lighting
These are the lamps that you can load up on everywhere in the room, and Abi's favourite design trick. Plop lamps everywhere and anywhere, on side tables, consoles, on central islands and on the floor. These little glowing pockets of light create atmospheric, cosy, intimate spaces, and our portable lamps are especially useful for this. As you enter a beautifully lit room you immediately get that feeling of squishy contentment. Use them to highlight architectural features, add a soft to glow alcoves or along stairtreads. Hidden backlights tucked behind headboards and above kitchen cabinets give an unexpected extra layer of glow. Or the lighting can be a feature in it’s own right, like a stylish floor lamp or a neon wall sign.
Lighting is the jewellery of a room —
transformative, expressive, and utterly essential.
At Abigail Ahern, statement lighting is designed to do more than illuminate. It sets the tone. It shapes the mood. It brings a quiet drama that lingers long after the sun goes down. Think sculptural chandeliers that command the ceiling with confidence, and deeply textural table lamps that cast the most seductive, atmospheric glow.
This is lighting with presence.
A beautifully placed lamp can draw the eye to a treasured artwork, graze the surface of a sculptural piece, or create shadows that add depth and intrigue. The interplay of light and shade adds dimension, making a space feel layered and expansive — or intimate and cocooning.
It’s never just about brightness.
It’s about atmosphere. Contrast. Emotion.
Discover lighting that transforms a room from simply styled to utterly unforgettable.
Home Lighting Design Tips
Styling Tip 1: Make a Statement
Adding a large chandelier above a dining table or console, or even as your central ceiling light, and hanging it a little lower than you would think adds immediate grandeur, a large pendant like the Drongo or the Sarria (pictured left) will have a similar effect. If you go larger than feels comfortable it makes spaces so much cooler.
Styling Tip 2: Layering Your Lights
By choosing lamps of varying heights think table lamps, floor lamps and pendants, you create a layered scheme that will excite the eye and highlight different elements of the room. Using side tables to elevate and stacks of books as a styling aid, will add another layer of style.
Styling Tip 3: Create Contrast
Add further intrigue to your living space with your lighting choices through a mixture of materiality. Super textural concrete lamps or shiny mushroom lamps look effortlessly cool but just remember to keep things balanced and curated by reigning in the colour palette.
Portable Table Lamps
Take your glow wherever you go with one of our portable table lamps. Whether they're battery operated or rechargeable, you've got the freedom to pop them in any room of your home. Read our helpful guide on how to incorporate these versatile design heroes into your home decor.