Family Room Lighting Trends

Your family room is a multipurpose space where you spend time together watching movies and TV, playing games, reading, and so much more. At Accent Lighting in Wichita, we love helping customers find new family room lighting, including lamps, chandeliers, sconces, and more. If you’re looking for new lighting ideas for your home, visit our showroom today or shop online to see what we have to offer!

As with any room in your house, the family room needs different layers of lighting in order to feel balanced and complete. Our expert lighting designers can help you choose fixtures for each layer, from the lights on the ceiling to the lamp next to your favorite chair.

Ambient Lighting

Beginning with the ambient lighting, which is often found in the upper layer of the room, you’ll want to think about how much light you’ll need for the general illumination of the family room. Depending on the square footage of the space, you might need multiple ambient fixtures so that the room is bright enough when only these lights are being used.

Chandeliers are a great choice for family rooms, provided the ceiling is high enough to accommodate a hanging fixture. Chandeliers come in all shapes and sizes, so it should be possible to find a light that meets your needs and fits the room’s dimensions. It can be beneficial to measure your family room before you begin shopping for new lights.

Pendants and semi-flush fixtures are also a good option, and if you want climate control along with new lighting, then a ceiling fan can be the way to go. Once you’ve chosen your central ambient lighting options, think about adding recessed lighting around the perimeter of the room for additional illumination. Recessed lights can be especially ideal for the home theater area of your family room.

Accent Lighting

For the middle layer of your family room, where you have artwork, decor, and other elements, you’ll want to choose the appropriate accent lighting. This lighting can be provided by floor and table lamps, wall sconces, and other fixtures that illuminate the middle of the room and brightens those spots the ambient lights don’t always reach, such as the walls and the corners.

Accent lights should do as their name suggests — accent the layout and decor of your family room. If you have a favorite painting or photograph on the wall, accentuate it with sconces. If you have a cozy corner with couches and chairs where you like to sit and chat with family and friends, add some lamps for a more intimate setting.

You may not need too many accent lights in order to achieve the amount of illumination the room calls for, but it’s important to think about where you want to place each light. Lamps are easy to move around, but with dedicated fixtures such as sconces, you’ll want to plan out where they’ll go before you begin to have wiring added for new lighting. If you’re replacing existing wall lights, our team can help you determine what size, shape, and style will be best for your home.

Task Lighting

With as much time as you spend in your family room, there are likely a variety of tasks and activities you enjoy while in the space. Task lighting illuminates the lowest layer of the room, where you sit and read or watch TV, or where you gather around a table to play games as a family. Table lamps are the most popular form of task lighting, and they can also function as accent lights when you’re not using them for a specific task.

Other lights, such as hanging pendants, can also act as task lights, especially when placed above a table. If you’re planning to add a game or activity area to your family room, it’s good to think about what task lighting you’ll need for this space.

Lighting Each Area

Many households break their family room into different areas, especially if they have kids. One area is dedicated to sitting and talking, while another is meant for movies and television. Each area calls for different lighting options, and we can help you choose the right fixtures.

Home Theater Area

The home theater area of your family room can benefit greatly from recessed lighting. These lights can be dimmed when you want to watch a favorite movie or show, reducing the amount of glare on the screen. With a few well-placed table lamps next to the couch, you can create the perfect setting for home entertainment.

Seating Area

For any family room with a cozy seating area, you can almost treat this space as a room all on its own. You’ll want to have an overhead ambient light, a few accent lights, and a task light or two to complete each layer. If you have a coffee table in the center of your seating area, consider adding a hanging pendant or small chandelier for the ambient fixture. Wall sconces and floor lamps can be your accent lights, and table lamps will finish the design as your task fixtures.

Game and Activity Area

If you’ve set up a game and activity area, complete with a table and chairs for family run, then make sure you have plenty of light for the space. As we stated above, a pendant or island light above the table can help you see as you put together a puzzle or play a board game, and wall lights or lamps can help make this area brighter and more inviting.

Family Room Lighting Controls

Every light needs a switch, and when thinking about new family room lighting controls, you can break everything down into each layer of lighting. For your overhead ambient lights, add enough switches for each fixture or set of fixtures. Your chandelier, pendant, or ceiling fan can be on its own switch, while the recessed lights are on a different switch, or better yet, a dimmer.

For your dedicated accent lights, such as wall sconces, put these fixtures on their own switch so you can use them as needed, while leaving the ambient lights on or off. Dimmers can be a great choice for these as well, since you may want to raise or lower the lights based on season or time of day.

Your floor and table lamps can be operated via their own individual switches, but you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of outlets for each light. If your family room doesn’t have floor outlets, consider adding some so that you don’t have to run cords from the end table next to the couch all the way to the wall, which may be a few feet away. You can also put your lamps on indoor timers so that they turn on at the same time each evening.
If you’d like to learn more about lighting timers, sensors, and other automated controls, we can discuss those choices with you as well. Perhaps you’re someone who would like to be able to control your entryway lighting with your phone or your voice — we can help you find the right smart lighting options that make it easier than ever to turn your lights on and off!

Find Your New Family Room Lights Today

At Accent Lighting, we want to make finding new family room lights easier than ever. We hope that you have found inspiration on our site that’s made you want to update your family room with new ceiling lights, lamps, and much more. If you have any questions about lighting design, or you want to learn more about how we can help you create the perfect family space, please feel free to contact or visit us at any time.

We’ve proudly served Wichita and south central Kansas for more than 40 years, and we love helping people find new lighting styles for their homes. We carry lighting, home decor, accent furniture, and everything else your family room needs. Our showroom is open Monday through Saturday, and you can always shop from the comfort of your own home by visiting our online catalog. We know you’ll find something that’s perfect for your family room.

We look forward to seeing you soon!