Playroom lighting help

last year

last modified: last year

Hi there! Looking for guidance on placement and style of lights to add to our playroom. It is a very dark space most of the time. We currently light it with a floor lamp, over cabinet lights, and by turning on lights in adjacent rooms (there are no ceiling lights built in). I'm hesitant to add more floor lamps (feel it might look cluttered) and hardwire in ceiling lights (the room furniture and layout will change as our family grows).I'm including some pictures in the comments section for reference!

Featured Answer

3onthetree

last year

Since it is undoubtedly a Living Room, you can choose permanent ceiling lights that accent a wall or the window (like 2 recessed lights). Then eventually rely on more floor/table lamps.

For this temporary toddler playroom, if you want to stick to only 1 lamp, swapping to an uplight fixture would throw more reflected light than the reading-while-seated-level floor lamp. Also, rotating the picture style lights on top the cabinet, or buying a couple strip fixtures (for undercabinet lighting) and setting them on top, will uplight the ceiling and is a quick easy fix.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

Matt McElch
Original Author
last year

My Project · More Info

My Project · More Info

My Project · More Info
Lyn Nielson
last year
what was the room initially? No ceiling light? Do you have outlets around the room?

battery operated light fixtures are available, but I think I would invest in hardwired fixtures, sconces and ceiling lights.
Matt McElch thanked Lyn Nielson
Related Professionals
Galveston Interior Designers & Decorators · Texarkana Interior Designers & Decorators · Worcester Interior Designers & Decorators · Little Rock Furniture & Accessories · Tallahassee Furniture & Accessories · Wichita Furniture & Accessories · Fayetteville Furniture & Accessories · Elgin Furniture & Accessories · Newport Interior Designers & Decorators · Stockton Interior Designers & Decorators · Clarksburg Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Green Bay Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Saint Marys Interior Designers & Decorators · Traverse City Architects & Building Designers · South Bend Kitchen & Bathroom Designers
Matt McElch
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
@Lyn Nielson - thank you for the response! Before we moved in I think the space was a formal living room? No ceiling lights, but a decent number of outlets. Like I mentioned in the post, the room layout will likely change as our family grows so I'm hesitant about hard wiring light fixtures since it may limit future layouts. I'm more curious about style and positioning of lights.
Matt McElch
Original Author
last year
@3onthetree - thank you! I hadn't thought about the direction of the light. I will take a look around!
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
last modified: last year
IMO in playroom no lamps that can be knocked over and honestly no matter what you plan down the road good ceiling lighting is one layer in a space so do that now and it will always work no matter what you do later .Toddlers can do things you never imagined so all things in the space hould be open storage and nothing tippable ever . I assume those cabinets with the child locks are not used for toy storgae so you need some of that . I think the lights above that storage wall are useless but since you have electrical there why not for now run a nice long articulating tarck light on the ceiling run from that electrical mak sure the bulbs are LED 4000K then the room will be well lit