What types of ceiling lights do you need in your living room? Being a shared area where family members gather alone or with guests, the living room should be well lit.
Living rooms have distinctive designs and sizes. If yours has a low ceiling, you might find it harder to select the best lights.
An 8-foot ceiling is low, and there are lighting fixtures you cannot use on it.
Additionally, your living room may require a combination of lights to suit all activities. Our lighting ideas for living room with low ceiling can help you decide what is best for your house.
A living room with layered lighting will appear to have balanced illumination. Whether you combine task, ambient, and accent lighting, the aim is to even out illumination and create a pleasant atmosphere.
Which ceiling light is the best for a living room?
When selecting the best light for your ceiling, consider some factors. First, choose according to your ceiling height.
Chandelier lights or pendant lights always look beautiful on a high living room ceiling.
For someone with a low living room ceiling, the best choice of lighting is flush mount lights, semi flush mount lights, and recessed lights.
Can I put a pendant light on a low ceiling?
Most interior designers do not support the use of pendant lights on a low ceiling. Nonetheless, they recommend focusing on size when selecting pendant lights for a low ceiling.
Long pendant lighting fixtures are no, no. Instead, select pendant lights with shorter lengths and the ability to illuminate a wider area.
For instance, install a group of tiny pendant lights above the sofas or coffee table.
Lighting Ideas for Living Room With Low Ceiling
A living room with a low ceiling can be easy to plan lighting for if you know what you are doing. Your aim should go beyond selecting the best lighting fixtures.
Ensure that those fixtures accentuate your walls, furniture, and other items in the living room. Here are some reliable lighting ideas to consider:
01. Size and proportion
Avoid buying a lighting fixture because it looks great in your friend’s living room. Your living room size, ceiling height, and lighting fixture size should be proportional.
Ensure you know the size of your living room’s dimensions and the correct ceiling height.
As the ceiling is low, avoid oversized pendant lights and chandeliers. They will not be proportional to the size of the living room and ceiling height and might knock tall people’s heads.
Instead of these, go for flush mount or semi-flush mount ceiling fixtures.
02. Trend
Although we design the living room to look nice, we also want to make it fashionable. Each item you add to the living room should demonstrate your sense of style and fashion.
So, choose your favorite trends when considering the best lighting fixtures for a living room with a low ceiling.
Do you lead a glamorous lifestyle? Do you often admire fashionable people like celebrities? Buy bold and lovely lighting fixtures for your low ceiling living room.
Remember the first point we shared above when choosing your posh crystal or glass lighting devices.
Some people live in cities, but they honestly love the countryside lifestyle. If you are one of them, farmhouse ceiling lights might interest you.
Vintage as they come, farmhouse lights can accentuate all living rooms. One reason for this is that these lights offer many designs and colors.
From distressed wood to black matte, farmhouse light fixtures are the easiest to use.
If you have a contemporary living room, advanced ceiling lights will make more sense to you.
For instance, glass lights can highlight the classy things you have in your modern living room.
Still, you can use bubble glass lights to create a modern look with some mid-20th-century themes.
Do you love a combination of metal and glass? An industrial living room light trend might work for you.
So, choose lights consisting of metal and glass parts to illustrate the industrial theme. Lastly, you can mix and match assorted styles if nothing goes off balance.
03. Energy efficiency
Even as you select the best lighting fixtures for a living room with a low ceiling, do not increase your power bills.
If you want to achieve energy efficiency, consider using LED bulbs on your ceiling lights. They consume less energy than any other bulb type.
Besides, LED bulbs have a durable design and appear in unique styles. Some LED bulbs are dimmable, and others are non-dimmable.
We recommend dimmable lights for your low ceiling living room to save energy and create the right mood.
Also, lighting devices that diffuse light can set that soft mood everyone needs in the living room to relax.
04. Natural light entry
A living room with plenty of natural light is energy-efficient and beautiful. If yours looks dark even during the day, you can use lighting devices to brighten it up.
Later, when you have the money, try to install floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
For now, floor lamps are a brilliant idea. Modern floor lamps are so advanced that they can use phone-controlled smart bulbs. Choose tall, bright, and user-friendly floor lamps.
Put one large lamp near a reflective surface like a wall mirror for maximum illumination. Alternatively, use a bunch of floor lamps to have the brightest light.
05. Installation ease
Some of you might not have the money to do expensive wiring projects when installing lights. Thus, choose plug-and-play lights as they do not require electrical wiring.
In this context, no other light fixtures fit your situation better than wall sconces. Although these lights attach to the walls, you do not need to pay an electrician to fix them.
Follow simple instructions when mounting them, and you will spend less time and money. Arrange them attractively, leaving even spaces between them.
Besides providing light, wall scones are decorative lighting devices that would complement other types of ceiling lights.
For instance, you can combine wall scones with plug-in ceiling pendant fixtures. Again, these do not require electrical wiring to function.
They have a hook that you can attach to the ceiling. After hooking the pendant lamp, insert the pendant’s cable through the hook and run it around the room.
Due to advanced lighting technology, a plug-in ceiling pendant fixture is very bright. One light fixture can be enough to illuminate the whole room.
As this pendant light has a switch, you can turn it on and off.
06. Preferred theme
Your living room activities matter when choosing the best lighting fixtures. If you love to watch movies or hold romantic dinners in your living room, use LED strips to create that theme.
They are ideal for any living room but will be more effective in dull rooms. LED strips are easy to install without complex wiring processes.
Once you remove the adhesive backing, carefully stick your tape, and finish the installation.
LED light strips are not bright and reliable enough as the only lighting fixture. They are perfect for creating a lovely living room theme rather than a sole lighting device.
In a living room with large pieces of furniture, hang string lights or LED strips right above them.
07. Task lighting
You do not have a dedicated home office where you can do computer tasks, schoolwork, or even read a magazine. You can still do it in a living room with or without low ceiling light.
All you need is a task lighting device and a segregated space. For instance, you can get a table lamp and place it on your side table.
As it will illuminate only the surrounding area, a table lamp is a secondary lighting fixture for your living room.
08. Lighting patterns
A living room without ceiling lights or with a low ceiling does not have to be boring. With laser projectors, you can illuminate the living area and create lovely patterns.
Laser projectors are energy efficient and super unique. Whether you want to project the galaxy or any other theme, it is up to you.
Lighting ideas for living room without ceiling light
Some people have living rooms without single ceiling light. If you are one of them, you might be searching for alternative lighting options. We can advise you to consider the following things:
- Floor lamps – Ideal for naturally dark living rooms. Wall sconces – Use these to decorate your living room, and as a secondary light source.
- LED strips or string lights – When you want to imitate a movie house theme, LED strips or string lights are perfect choices.
- Portable lights – If you have other dark rooms, portable lights that can plug into your electronics are good picks.
- Table lamp – Choose this one if you need a task lighting option in your living room.
How do you light a room with low ceilings?
Lighting ideas for living rooms with low ceilings also entail the light fixtures you can buy. Height restrictions should not stop you from creating the most hospitable living room. So, install these lighting fixtures on your low ceiling.
01. Flush mount lights:
Ambient lighting is necessary for any living room, even one with a low ceiling. Flush mount lights are the best for ambient lighting.
If you place an oversized flush mount light in the middle of your ceiling, it will diffuse light over a large area.
02. Semi-flush mount lights:
You can make a large semi-flush mount light the focal point of your living room by installing it in the center of the ceiling. Ensure the gap between the base of the light and the floor is over six feet.
03. Suspended lights:
Although suspended lights like pendant and chandelier fixtures are not ideal for low ceilings, you can still use them. Ensure that they are not long or oversized.
Now you can find modern chandeliers that fit close to the ceiling. These can suit a low ceiling living room. As for pendants, follow the tips we mentioned earlier in this guide.
04. Miscellaneous lighting:
Even if you have the brightest ceiling lamps, you might need task lighting fixtures and accent lights.Wall scones, recessed lights, LED strips, table lamps, and floor lamps are excellent secondary lights.
Modern Chandelier for low ceiling
Traditional chandelier lighting is mostly big and bold. When designing a low ceiling living room, it would be wiser to use modern chandelier lights.
They drop slightly from the ceiling and cannot block the field of vision or knock people’s heads. The best quality products feature lead crystals with lovely shapes.
Crystals sparkle more than typical glass, which makes the chandeliers more stylish and attractive. Some chandeliers feature Swarovski, strass, or luxe crystal lights. Hence, people can easily locate the best lighting for their low living room ceilings.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is the best ambient lighting for a low ceiling living room?
One of the best ambient lighting sources is the underlight ceiling fan. Usually, an underlight ceiling fan has a light fixture in the middle.
Featuring a very elaborate design, this type of lamp fits contemporary living rooms with a low ceiling.
How can I improve the living room atmosphere with an open-plan layout?
We use living rooms in several ways. Hence, we need to create the right atmosphere for the tasks we do there. An open-plan layout enables you to create lit and shady spaces.
Determine the spaces that need bright function lighting and those requiring mood illumination.
Then, choose the best layers of light plus accent lighting to emphasize your architectural features. Use dimmable light fixtures to easily switch between the atmospheres you want.
How can you illuminate the dark areas of your living room with a low ceiling?
After adding the best ceiling lights, you might still have a dark space or corner. For example, the alcove next to the fireplace is a dark space.
One way to illuminate it and add height and width to the living room is to get a fireplace lamp.
Conclusion
We have given you various lighting ideas for living room with low ceiling. Now it is upon you to put what you have learned into proper use.
Remember your sitting room is where you sit down for entertainment and family time. As a high-traffic area, the living room needs adequate ceiling lighting.
A combination of ambient, task and accent lighting will do even if the ceiling is low.