Throughout their history, drawing rooms – or sitting rooms as we more commonly call them now – have evoked formality and detachment. The name derives from the 16th-century term ‘withdrawing room,’ and they were originally places to which the homeowner would ‘withdraw’ for a bit of privacy. This dual legacy of seclusion and decorousness seems to linger on, turning this room, often the most carefully curated in the house, into a neglected no-go area; a place ‘saved for best,’ for Christmas, for guests, or where we simply go from time to time to puff up the cushions.
How to use your sitting room, then, while making sure that it still feels like a treat? It’s a fine balance making this room feel homely and accessible while preserving its elegance and ensuring that this space, where your best bits of furniture and paintings are on display, doesn’t become scruffy through overuse.
One simple and inexpensive solution is to try lampscaping: the careful deployment of lighting to enhance beauty and atmosphere. But before you try to re-conquer your sitting room through the medium of light, think first of all about what the room is for? Is it somewhere for you to sit, relax and switch off, away from all the doing in the house? More than ever we need places in our busy lives to ‘withdraw’ to. Why not treat yourself and make your ‘withdrawal’ to your sitting room a daily ritual?
Investing time in thoughtful lighting will encourage you to use the room more. The right lighting will soften the hard-edged, all-dressed-up-and-nowhere-to-go atmosphere of your neglected sitting room. Indulge yourself each evening; turn on at least one lamp in this room, which is often the first one you see as you return home after a long day. You may be surprised by the impact softer lighting will have on you, gradually drawing you back in.
Although the sitting room doesn’t ask to be divided into distinct areas it is worth thinking about the atmosphere you want to create in the space where you sit with friends, say; or where you might want to read; or in a possible working-from-home space. If you do work from home, placing a functional but stylish lamp like this on your desk is an excellent start.
You may be struggling to introduce the right lighting if you feel the room is already crowded with colour and pattern. In that case, try these simple but elegant pleated linen lampshades or this paper one. Paired with a classic lamp – for example these traditional Delft lamps – they would look spectacular sitting as a pair on a console table behind a sofa. Turning on these two lamps alone could be enough to lure you back in to sit, alone or with friends, on your beautifully lit sofa.
Good lampscaping can mean renewing the old as much as introducing the new. If you are looking to introduce a few new items consider adding a reading lamp, like this floor lamp, beside your armchair. Or if your chosen reading spot is beside a bookcase, use these clip-on lamps for beautifully focused, and inexpensive, lighting. If, like me, in the first wave of decorating, you missed out on wiring for wall lights, adding a new set of bookcases to disguise the wiring for wall lights can offer the perfect solution.
You may have inherited a bulb hanging from the ceiling - don’t feel compelled to take on your predecessors' lighting habits by adding a mediocre pendant light. Finding attractive ceiling lamps that give off a pleasant light is hard and compromising with something that is not quite right means overhead lamps can dominate the room in all the wrong ways. I lived uneasily with our central sitting room ceiling lamp for years. Finally removing it and disconnecting the wire was both straightforward and a huge relief.
If you do decide to go for a chandelier, favour one with wide open arms like this one and adorn it with pretty lampshades that can be admired when the light is off as much as when it is on. Think of your daytime ‘off’ lamps as an integral part of the decoration of the room and don’t underestimate how much visual pleasure they can give. But please, for ceiling lights, make sure you always use woven, 3-ply flexes. I usually source mine from here. Lamp fittings look so much prettier hanging from a smart mossy green or earthy brown flex.
The double reception room, quite common in the UK terraced house, with its windowless middle section, is always an irksome space to light. Where better than in your sitting room’s ‘murky middle’ to test out your lampscaping skills? Don’t be tempted to turn this area into something it isn’t. Work with its potentially cosy feeling by using soft, fabric lampshades that ooze comfort and encourage relaxation. I love oversized and colourful ceramic lamps like these, placed at seating level to break up the corridor effect. Work on linking the two sections by choosing two lampshades of different sizes but in the same paper or fabric and placing one at each end of the room. It will help pull things together.
At home, against the end wall of our double sitting room, I’ve put a small bar for drinks inside the bookcase. Above it, I placed tiny wall lights with patterned shades. Often, at dusk, these are the only lights that are on, which gently draws the eye to the far end of the room and creates a deep sense of warmth and welcome.
Framing a mantelpiece with wall lights or candle sconces can create an immediately softening effect. Don’t, however be afraid to break up the symmetry a little. Symmetry has its place in a room, but so does asymmetry. A large lamp placed next to a smaller lamp and lampshade in a completely different style on a chest of drawers can produce a very pleasing effect indeed.
And last but not least: light bulbs. Lampscaping can warm up even the coldest of north-facing sitting rooms but not if you choose the wrong bulbs. With all the effort you’re putting into attractive lamps and shades, if you use cold, white light bulbs you will never generate any feeling of warmth in the room. So wherever possible, use long-life, soft-light bulbs of no more than 40 watts.
To find out more about Rosi’s Lampscaping service, or any bespoke lampshade requirements you may have, do get in touch with her here.
