As we all know, light plays an important role in interior lighting and has many effects on the spirit and health of people, especially children. Therefore, in the process of building a house, interior designers need to pay attention and focus on lighting design, especially lighting design for children’s bedrooms to bring learning, playing, and more comfortable space. From there, it helps children to regenerate positive energy after stressful study hours at school and protect their eye health.

3 types of light to consider when designing children’s bedrooms

According to scientific research, sunlight is the best source for human health and development. However, not all residential buildings are eligible to maximise this source of natural light. Therefore, using artificial light from quality lighting devices is the optimal and most effective solution to provide a clean and safe light source for children’s eyes and development.

To bring a clean, safe light source for children and help the room to develop its full function; When designing bedroom lighting for children, parents should note that there are 3 types of light that are indispensable in a space: environmental light, functional light and accent light.

Environmental light

Ambient light is also known as synthetic light, provides a uniform light source for the whole room. Ambient light includes natural light and artificial light.

Therefore, when designing a baby’s bedroom, it is necessary to design a large window and face the rising sun to make the most of natural light sources (especially the light of the sun in the early morning). Because this not only helps the baby’s room always be airy, full of life, but also helps the baby absorb vitamin D naturally.

In case the natural light source is not optimal, parents should pay attention to choosing the right artificial light source for the baby’s room. Some parental lighting lines can be installed as reference:

• Compact and delicate ceiling spotlight system
• Wall light with lovely shapes
• Chandeliers with a modern and fun design
• Floor lamp with soft light,…

Functional light

Perhaps, focusing on studying has never been easy for children. Therefore, a light source capable of stimulating the concentration and creativity of children is indispensable.

Parents should not use ambient light to do this because insufficient light sources will adversely affect the baby’s vision. Instead, install lights for functional lightings, such as desk lamps or small spotlights, to help your baby’s brain stay awake and focus more on learning.

Accent light

Accent lighting with a narrow projection angle should highlight specific objects and furniture in the room. Thereby helping the room become more aesthetic, emotional and attractive.

Therefore, when designing children’s bedroom lighting, parents should harmoniously coordinate accent lighting with other lights to highlight children’s favorite corners such as bookshelves, paintings,certificates of merit, and toys.

Factors to consider when designing children’s bedroom lighting

Besides choosing the type of light needed for the space, when designing a bedroom for a child, parents should not ignore the following factors:

Baby’s bedroom light

In the process of lighting the baby’s bedroom, parents need to pay special attention when choosing a light source (lamp), power (light intensity). Because the light intensity is not enough or excess will be the main cause leading to facial refractive error in children. Parents can apply the following formula to calculate the illuminance (light intensity) and the appropriate number of lights in the child’s bedroom in particular and other functional spaces in general.

The formula for calculating illuminance and number of reference lamps:

• E= (F1*N1+F2N2+..fn*Nn)*LLF*UF/S

• N= E*S/F*LLF*UF

While:

• E: Calculated illuminance (target illuminance)
• F: Luminous flux of a light bulb
• N: Number of bulbs
• LLF*UF: Coefficient related to light loss through shackles, shutters, maintenance factor, absorption coefficient by the wall. Take the approximate value 0.6~0.8
• S: Room size

For example: The baby’s bedroom has an area of ​​20m2, using a 10w lumen 850 downlight bulb.

• Target illuminance: 300 lux
• Number of bulbs: N= 300*20/(850*0.8) = 8.8 ~ 9 bulbs

Besides light intensity, the colour temperature of your baby’s room is also important. Because it has both positive and negative effects on the emotions and psychology of the baby, when designing the lighting, it is also necessary to calculate the appropriate level to create the right atmosphere for the room.

Lighting experts recommended that the colour temperature (in Kelvins) of baby bedroom lights is in the range of 3500K-4200K. Parents can also choose smart lights that can change colour temperature flexibly to suit the baby’s daily routine.

CRI (colour rendering index) above 80

A lamp with a higher CRI (colour rendering index) will reflect the colour of the object when it is illuminated by the light source, the more faithful and sharper it will be. According to studies, a CRI index of 80 or more will be safe for children’s eyesight, helping children not have eye strain when focusing on studying for a long time.

Also, with a light source with a colour rendering index above 80, it will help to reflect the interior details and clearly express the baby’s personality through the living space. Currently, all luminaire products from Lumi have a CRI of over 90 to ensure the most realistic object colour reflection.

Lighting design that matches the room’s interior

It is crucial to calculate and design appropriate and consistent lighting with the layout of the baby’s bedroom to ensure:

• Firstly: convenient use for children to study, play, and rest without any inconvenience
  Second: Beds, classmates, wardrobes, decorative shelves-toys,… all are the focal points that need lighting. Therefore, the lighting effects need to be harmoniously combined, avoiding overlapping and damaging the design language

Besides, whether it is a baby’s bedroom or any bedroom, you should pay attention to avoid designing a fixed, boring lighting system. Instead, be flexible with spotlights, downlights,… to highlight interior details.

Minimise light sources from mobile devices

Blue light from phones, tablets, computers or televisions negatively affects sleep, health and especially the eyes. To limit the impacts of blue light, parents can apply the following ways:

• Arrange lighting equipment behind electronic equipment to create a general, soft diffused light source
• Mount additional colour LED lights behind the computer monitor
• Choose quality lights that reproduce sunlight
• Adjust the computer screen colour temperature accordingly
• Soft white light design, evenly diffused during the day and yellow light at night

Above are the things parents need to keep in mind to be able to design the bedroom lighting for the baby to achieve aesthetic effect without affecting the health and development of the baby. However, to design bedroom lighting for children in particular, lighting each living space in the overall house in general is not a simple task. If parents have problems in the lighting design process of their house, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the hotline number (+84) 904 665 965 to be consulted, supported and calculated by Lumi’s leading lighting design most suitable lighting.