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Design 101
Children's Room Lighting
September 12, 2024
Children's room lighting can be tricky to design. You have to balance your desire for a cute aesthetic while making sure your little ones happy and safe. Fortunately, there are several ways to create ambiance in your kids' rooms while keeping the space child-friendly.
Learn more about lighting options and check out our ideas for babies, older kids, and teens.
Types of Children's Lighting
Kids' room lighting can be both functional and creative. These categories can help you choose how to properly light a room for a new baby, growing child, or teen.
Children's ceiling lights
Overhead lighting doesn't need to draw much attention to itself, but it should be tailored to the individual room. For example, a room that gets a lot of natural light by your child's desk might not need a new light fixture or brighter bulbs in the ceiling.
However, a dimly lit room could frustrate your child and make homework time more difficult. You can choose to install ceiling fan lights, track lighting to brighten up a specific area, or even a small chandelier that adds both elegance and practicality.
Table and floor lamps
Lamps can make a big difference in a room that feels uninspiring or chronically dim. For example, a bedside table lamp with a convenient pull-chain can illuminate darker mornings and bedside story time.
Also, a tall but compact floor lamp can easily fit into a corner behind your child's favorite reading chair and add a soft glow for quiet time.
Nightlights
A small child will appreciate a nightlight as part of their room design. Consider a nightlight shaped like a star, a happy face, or your child's favorite cartoon character to ease fears of the dark and safely light the way to the bathroom.
Nightlights can also be great gifts for new parents to avoid fumbling around during middle of the night changings.
Specialty lights
Has a geometric dome light, a pineapple lamp, or a Star Wars-inspired table lamp caught your child's eye? Or, if your child is an animal lover, he or she might love a lamp shaped like a rhinoceros or cat. Specialty lights, depending on design, can be used as part of a regular lighting scheme or as a conversation piece that makes your child smile.
Light decals
Light decals have come a long way from the glow-in-the-dark stars of the '90s. For kids' rooms, you might choose one shaped like a cloud, a rainbow, or a moon. And they provide a steady glow that can add to the overall brightness of the room or serve as a dimmable nightlight.
String lights
String lights made with LED bulbs can add visual interest to a room for an older child or a teen. Consider looping them around bedposts or winding them around dresser decorations for a fun, whimsical design.
If your child isn't old enough to understand the safety issues that accompany long cords, though, it's better to hold off on string lights until they're older.
Neon
Neon lights for kids' rooms can provide fun and whimsy. Consider decorations like a neon palm tree, a cactus, a rainbow, or a cartoon character to match your child's room decor. Many of these lights can be wall-mounted or used as standalone lamps.
Children's Lighting by Room
Part of your choice of lighting will depend on your child's age. When your child is a baby or toddler, you may wish to focus on practical needs as well as a desire to match the room with the rest of the house. As older kids and teens become more self-sufficient, they also require lighting tailored to their needs.
Playroom
Play is a child's version of work, so you can think of the playroom as your child's home office. Playroom lighting should be bright, vibrant, and focused as your child learns to manipulate small toys, build block towers, and put together dollhouses.
This room should reach maximum brightness — for whatever level is comfortable for your child — so that your child can reach their full potential at home.
Nursery
The best nursery lighting in a baby or young child's room may need different brightness levels or lamp sizes for different areas. You might choose calming, warmer light by your changing table and a lamp next to a comfortable chair where you rock, read, or sing to your baby.
Older kids and teens
Older kids' rooms need to cater to their needs and preferences. If they do homework in their room, this might call for a dedicated desk lamp. Hobbies are important, too. Do they love reading, practicing an instrument, crafting or gaming with friends? Choose lighting that's bright enough to allow them to enjoy and see what they're doing.
Choosing The Right Bulbs
When choosing the type of bulbs in the lights for children's rooms, keep in mind what your child will be using the light for. Safety is another important consideration. For example, traditional incandescent bulbs easily overheat, and they can shatter if they're played with.
LED bulbs, on the other hand, are more durable, cooler, and tend to last longer. Consider the needs of the following age groups to choose the best corresponding lights:
Babies and toddlers
For lights that need to be turned on in the middle of the night — or during naptime — choose warmer, tungsten-colored bulbs that offer a dim glow rather than a bright, sunny blast of light. You may also want to choose a warm LED nightlight to ward off fears of the dark and allow your growing child to find the way to the bathroom independently.
School-aged kids
Kids around six to 12 years of age want to express their personalities and creativity when choosing decorations for their room. They may still favor a nightlight, but it's time to start thinking about what else they need.
Full-spectrum lighting will allow them to craft, do homework, and read in their own space. You can also choose cozier, softer lighting for lamps that they'll use in the evenings or for tasks that don't require close focus.
Again, for this age group, it's often safer to opt for LED bulbs that don't heat up when turned on.
Teens
Teens may enjoy choosing their own lighting depending on their needs for school and their hobbies. If your teen doesn't have a bright task lamp for his or her desk, this is a great place to start. Ideally, desk lighting can use "soft white" lighting or "day-spectrum" bulbs which mimic the bluer color temperature of outdoor light.
If your teen enjoys reading before bed or in a cozy nook in the corner, consider another light with medium brightness — but not a day-spectrum bulb — to accompany this piece.
Other lights that create ambiance, such as string lights placed around a bed canopy, can reflect your teen's preferences. lder kids' rooms need to cater to their needs and preferences. If they do homework in their room, this might call for a dedicated desk lamp. Hobbies are important, too. Do they love reading, practicing an instrument, crafting or gaming with friends? Choose lighting that's bright enough to allow them to enjoy and see what they're doing.
Find Your Perfect Children's Room Lighting
The right children's room lighting can completely transform a space. Look through our products to choose the best, and safest, lighting for your growing kids that works with their preferences and safety needs as well as your budget.