Deschamps on Design | Creating with Light
“Changing the color of lights changes the look of the room and in consequence can change your mood”
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Recent innovations are taking residential lighting well beyond simple illumination, opening up dramatic new avenues for designing entertainment spaces
by Maria Deschamps
April 12, 2022
Lighting isn’t simply about illuminating spaces anymore; today, it’s much more than that. It’s now used as part of the design concept of a space, and the opportunities are endless. This was beautifully illustrated by this year’s Oscars, which brought a lot of attention to the stage at the Dolby Theater and the details of everything around it. As an interior designer, I must pay attention to details, and the lighting really stood out for me.
Designed with 5,000 linear feet of LED strip lights combined with 90,000 Swarovski crystals, the entire space was simply magical. The lighting heightened the impact of everyone and everything that happened on that stage. I have to applaud Jason Sherwood for his design. He certainly astonished me. It’s a TV broadcast I will never forget.
More and more, we are integrating technology in our homes, and lighting is becoming a big part of that. LED lighting has come a long way, making it easier to obtain a specific color and temperature—an option that didn’t exist just a few years ago.
There’s something inherently theatrical about these new types of lighting that make them a perfect fit for entertainment spaces, whether we’re talking about a dedicated home theater room or a more open area like a media or great room. Changing the color of lights changes the look of the room and in consequence can change your
mood. Since colored lighting can be intense, your first encounter can be similar to the feeling that comes over you when you get off an airplane in somewhere like Maui—your entire body is affected, you get a burst of enthusiasm, and you discover a new world.
Using color-changing LEDs is a quick and easy way to change the overall design and atmosphere in a room. In the past, designers used paint to freshen up an interior since it’s not expensive and can make a huge difference. Today, color-changing lighting is the new paint—a non-physical layer with infinite colors that can be changed in a millisecond.
We used to have to choose a light bulb with a static color temperature but today we can control the color and temperature with the brush of an app. These options open up great creative possibilities. You can change your ceiling color from white to blue, and all of a sudden you’re looking at the midnight sky. If you wash the walls in your gym with a nice green light, instantly you feel like you’re outdoors.
I have used LED strip lighting in every home theater I’ve designed since it was introduced. The excitement and drama projected from these strips arouses your emotions. A home theater is a space where we can afford to venture into new elements, and this new kind of lighting can be a necessary component. Using LED strips behind panels or walls or in a cove are logical locations for indirect lighting because they project a soft glow and can be used as a background or general light.
The options are endless, and exploring them is exciting! I’m currently engaged in renovating a commercial theater where for the first time I’ll be using LED strip lights (all, of course, color-changing) that are surface mounted. I must admit it’s a challenge, but working with experienced professionals has given me the knowledge and confidence to prepare for the project. I’m hoping in the future to be able to integrate Swarovski crystals with LED strips in a private theater and create the kind of dramatic impact I witnessed on the Oscars’ stage.
Maria Deschamps is a certified Interior Designer, IDC, NCIDQ, APDIQ and has been designing home theaters and media rooms since the year 2000. She also designs high-end residential, restaurant, and commercial spaces, and is a partner at TKG, the Theo Kalomirakis Group.
indirect color-changing LED light strips are hidden behind custom-designed acoustic panels to enhance the atmosphere in this private theater
The colors of the indirect LED lighting in the Global Wave Integration showroom in Burbank, California easily transition from natural daylight to very warm tones to cool blues
“You can change your ceiling color from white to blue, and all of a sudden you’re looking at the midnight sky”
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