Bright indirect lighting on the cheap?
November 22, 2015 1:14 PM   Subscribe

There's very little lighting in my apartment's living room. It's pitch black outside by the time I get home from work these days, and I'd like to add some lighting to brighten things up. Suggestions?

My 1br apartment's large living+dining room has a large L-shaped window that lets a lot of light in during the day, but is dark at night. The only fixtures I have currently are a ceiling fan fixture, and a floor lamp over a chair I use for reading. I'd like to have the ability to add significantly more light, since it's pretty depressing to come home from work and sit at my desk, essentially in the dark. Since it's a rental, I can't easily add anything to the walls so I'm relatively limited to free-standing fixtures, or fixtures I can hang simply ( few nail holes are OK -- having an electrician install outlets higher on the walls is probably out).

Unfortunately, the stores I know about are either relatively expensive (Lamps Plus at $250+ per fixture) or aesthetically unpleasant (Target / Home Depot / Bed Bath and Beyond). What I'd really like to do is bounce a ton of indirect light off the ceilings/walls. Like, a ton. I'll probably fit whatever I set up with zigbee dimmable LEDs, so I can control/do different scenes for different purposes, but I'd also like to be able to go full-burn daylight. I've DIYed low-voltage and mains power fixtures before, and have access to a modest wood/metal shop, and I'm not opposed to relatively low-effort DIY for this purpose, but commercially-available fixtures are fine too. Apartment Therapy and similar venues seem to focus a lot on decorative fixtures. I'm not opposed to, eg, a couple of floor-standing indirect light, but I think I'd like more than that.

My aesthetic trends towards mid-century modern (Frank Lloyd Wright and friends) or european contemporary (Ikea and upscale from there). Solid colors, clean lines, etc. I've also got some east-asian inspired things like a couple of wood/paper screens as room dividers.

Thoughts for styles of fixture and/or vendors to consider?
posted by Alterscape to Home & Garden (8 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Uplights on the floor pointed up at your screens or a plant would be nice.
posted by cecic at 1:18 PM on November 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


I have a lamp on a timer so there's a light on when I get home. It makes the house feel much nicer.
posted by theora55 at 2:11 PM on November 22, 2015


Big matte globe lights near the ceiling. First lamp I've ever owned that felt functional.

I picked up an amazing mid-century five arm arc lamp with globe lights at an estate sale for less than $200 (It looks like an Arc Lamp by Nova).

The top of the arc is about a foot from the ceiling and it brightens up both sides of my L living room from it's position in the middle corner. The light feels non-directional with the light bouncing off the white walls and ceiling. I don't need an additional side lamp nearby to draw at night. I haven't tried LEDs yet, as mine came with a box of backup bulbs.

I scored on my find, but maybe it will spark some DIY ideas.
posted by SometimesChartreuse at 3:24 PM on November 22, 2015


Mirrors will almost double your lighting without taking up huge amounts of space or costing huge amounts of money.
posted by Jane the Brown at 3:39 PM on November 22, 2015


The Not uplighter standard lamp from Ikea is my go-to for this situation.
It costs only $7.49 where I live, which is insane for a standard lamp that is nearly 6 feet tall and looks fine. Buy a few of those and put them in corners and you have pretty nice lighting. Because the sections screw together it comes in quite a small box.
posted by w0mbat at 6:50 PM on November 22, 2015


Best answer: Shoji lighting. You can buy any number of variations, or make your own.
posted by rhizome at 11:57 PM on November 22, 2015


On Amazon I bought a strip of LEDs and a 12 volt plug for a few bucks. I literally taped them to a wall in my basement and it took no time at all. You could easily build a small enclosure to hold them so that you wouldn't see them, and bounce them off the wall or ceiling. It would take only marginally more to make something really nice. There are a ton of LED light box videos on YouTube.
posted by OmieWise at 10:23 AM on November 23, 2015


Response by poster: I ended up purchasing a couple of Ikea paper lanterns to tide me over until I can sort out a budget to afford some shoji (or, alternatively, build myself). Thanks for the thoughts, everyone!
posted by Alterscape at 10:17 PM on November 27, 2015


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