Update Your Vacation Home

Vacation In Style

When you need some time away from your primary residence, spending time at your vacation home or lake house is a great way to unwind. Lighting plays a big part in your atmosphere and relaxation, so be sure to use the best lighting options possible from Southern Lights.

Upgrade Your Home Away From Home

When you walk into your lake or vacation home, you want to feel comfortable and at ease right away. With good lighting, you’ll be able to affect how floors, furniture, walls, and every other aspect of your home’s interior look. With Southern Lights, you’ll find beautiful fixtures for any design motif, as well as options to fit any budget. Shop our online catalog or visit our Minnesota showroom today to help you imagine exactly how a fixture will fit into your lake house.

When you are not using your vacation or lake home, you may utilize a renting system like Airbnb to help you make some revenue off of the space. When the space is always looking its best with top-notch lighting, you will be more likely to attract good guests, as well as being able to increase the price of your luxury home.

Elements of Lighting

The best lighting is made up of three layers that all work with each other to make a space feel exactly how you want it. These three elements of lighting include task lighting, ambient lighting, and accent lighting. Ambient lighting is the main light source, and provides general light to the room. Task lights focus on providing brighter lights for specific needs and focus areas. Accent lighting adds dimension and ambience to the space. Take all of these elements into account when you are planning the layout for your rooms in your lake and vacation homes.

Bedroom Lighting

Give yourself the freedom to unwind and let go of your worries. While you’re at your lake house, you don’t want to be staring at an ugly light fixture as you’re relaxing or before drifting off to sleep. During the evening as you’re reading in bed, harsh or insufficient lighting can even be detrimental to your eyes and your rest cycle.

For your ambient lighting, you’ll want to have soft illumination that exudes comfort into the room. You can find the right ceiling fixture, chandelier, pendant lighting, or large floor lamps to achieve this goal.

If you will be reading, doing any grooming, or checking in on work, bedside lamps will be great options for task lighting. Having a light by the bedside can help to make the atmosphere feel more cozy when you have your main ambient source switched off.

You will spend most of your time in the bedroom during the mornings or evenings, so having some small accent lights will help create the mood you want during these darker hours. Utilize recessed or track lighting to make sure everything looks just right.

Bathroom Lighting

Getting yourself ready to go in the morning for your day of fun at the lake house may be a simpler task than normal, but you’ll still need high-quality lighting, and you’ll want to feel comfortable every time you use the bathroom.

The ambient lighting for your bathroom will help to fill the room with natural feeling light. Small chandeliers or wall sconces can achieve this look perfectly, and help the room to feel more warm without the true natural lighting.

Task lighting in the bathroom of your vacation home will need to be bright enough to make shaving or putting on makeup a cinch. You’ll want fixtures that illuminate the whole face so you don’t get any unnecessary or unnatural shadows while performing your daily routine.

The accent lighting in your bathroom is where you get to have a bit more fun. You can highlight artwork, give the shower or tub area some dimmable lighting to help the relaxation mood of your vacation, or adorn space with directional lighting.

Entryway Lighting

As you’re entering your lake house, you’ll want to feel at home right away, and you’ll want your guests to be able to get a good glimpse of the home. In the entryway or foyer, you won’t often need task lighting, because it is mainly for passing purposes, and generally not a large enough space to support any activities.

For larger spaces and higher ceilings, a beautiful chandelier can illuminate everything you need, and provide the luxurious ambience you want. If your entryway ceilings are lower, you can utilize sconces or recessed lighting to guide you and others into the home.

Living Room Lighting

Living Room Lighting

Since the living room or family room is often multi-functional, you’ll need to nail down what your plans are for the space in your lake house. Do you just need a couple places to sit and relax after a day outside swimming, shopping, or hiking? Do you want to have a TV in the space, or do you take breaks from your tech while you’re vacationing? Find the right balance for your plans, and create a lightscape to assist!

If you’ll be playing board games on rainy days, a large overhead chandelier or light fixture will provide the comfortable ambient lighting that you need for most activities.

Need a little reading nook? Some lamps will help to add the task lighting so you’re not straining your eyes in the shadows.

You can add some accent lighting to almost any area in the living room. Highlight a bar area, give artwork the attention it deserves, or add subtlety to your entertainment center.

Outdoor Lighting

Spend your vacation time outdoors! Make use of your lake house’s space, and enjoy fresh air on the patio or deck. As part of your outdoor lighting, you’ll also want to consider the entrance to your house.

For your patio, you can create a warm, welcoming atmosphere. If your outdoor area is enclosed, you can add a central fixture that provides the light you need to grill, talk, or play games. If it is not enclosed, you may be able to string ropes of lights across or throughout the deck to achieve a comfortable and fun environment.

You can illuminate your trees, your walkways, your steps, and your doorway so you always are able to see what is happening on your property. Apart from looking great, extra outdoor and entrance lighting helps to promote the safety of your vacation home.

Kitchen Lighting

You’re on vacation, and you may not be utilizing the kitchen to its full extent like normal, but you will still need a place to make simple meals and socialize with your friends and family. The kitchen area is naturally a place of congregation, and you will need lighting to support it.

Task lighting is very important in the kitchen, because you will always want to be able to see what you are doing when cooking. Shadowy counters will make it easy for you to spill, accidentally injure yourself, or make a huge mess.

If your kitchen has an island, chandeliers, pendant lighting, or hanging fixtures above it will be a focal point that provides light for any work that needs to get done, as well as providing a place for conversations to happen.

Spruce the cabinets or other nooks up with accent lighting to show off the spaces you enjoy. This can be for your wine rack, pantry, or sconces around your favorite piece of art.

When you’re ready to make your lake house or vacation home the best that it can be, come check out the options at the Southern Lights showroom! We have a huge catalog of fixtures, and our knowledgeable associates will be happy to help you find the options that will fit your home’s style, needs, and your budget. If you can’t make it to the showroom, you can shop online to explore our inventory and have everything shipped directly to you.

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