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Creative lighting ideas to brighten up a bedroom?

I'm a 20-year old college student, renting a room from a married couple. My room is pretty small (10' x 10') and I tend to be kind of a pack rat, lol. I desperately need more light in it! I can't do anything crazy like install track lighting...I was hoping for some creative lighting ideas? I have limited space and don't really want to put huge lamps everywhere. Any space-saving ideas?

Public Comments

  1. How about putting something reflective on the ceiling, like mylar? It's lightweight, cheap, and won't look like a mirror, but will reflect back a lot of light, and hopefully brighten up your little room.
  2. (-: Get to the Flylady website and learn how to deal with your packrat tendencies before it's too late! But, even with a tidy room, good lighting is very nice to have. There are some nice, free-standing lamps that shoot the light up to the ceiling,and then the light bounces off and lights up the whole room. These are very effective. You'll probably also want to have a desk lamp for studying, which can also double as a bedside lamp. You can get these freestanding, too. Also, you may want a nightlight or two -- one for your room, and another for the hall on the way to the bathroom. Hope that helps!
  3. It would be sweet to decorate some LED lightings at your bed frame. They are dim lightings and energy saving.
  4. Personally, in a 10x10 room, I would go with candles. Lots of candles. But that's just me... So here are some suggestions for YOU to consider. If you have shelves, you can attatch those lights in tubes (don't know what they're called) along the shelving. It's Christmas time, so you should be able to get those cheap enough right now. A friend of mine has lamps he made by drilling holes in the sides of liqueur bottled and filling them with Christmas lights. Now THAT says "college student"! One of the neatest things I've seen in a long time for lighting is a nightstand that has a glass top with a light underneath inside. I'm thinking of making a couple for myself after the holidays. Personally, I'm not a big fan of track lights. They're kind of like Roman shades. Been done to death! I like up lights though. A small canister lamp placed on the floor behind a ficus or over sized urn of colored Pampas grass... Very sexy! Last thought. As a packrat, you probably have a lot of items that could easily be turned into lighting fixtures that would be uniquely you. Put a pexiglass lid on a guitar case with a light inside and place it on a guitar stand in the corner... 2 red 40 watt bulbs inside a cowskull... whatever. I'm sure if you look around, you'll find that many of your nicnacs can be converted to interesting and usable lighting that is also a reflection of you. Remember, lamp kits are cheap. Have fun with it! -SD-
  5. I just put in recessed lighting in my bedroom with a dimmer switch. It gives me the bright light I need to get ready and the dimmer for reading.
  6. Sconces are quite neat. They bounce light off the ceiling, making the whole room feel warmer. Don't take up much space. They have lots of different ones at the home improvement stores, and they start at budget prices.