Interior designer Minna Haapakoski’s ideas for lighting a leisure home

For designer and interior designer Minna Haapakoski, illuminating a leisure home is a topic issue both in work and also in private life. Recently, she designed lighting for her new leisure apartment, using a range of Cariitti’s products.

Minna’s villa in southern Finland is built in accordance with the architecture of the 60’s. She is familiar with Cariitti’s products for a long time and has used them in several of her customer projects. In our interview, Minna tells about the lighting of her own leisure apartment and the best tips for lighting a leisure apartment or cottage.

The adaptability of lighting is important

Minna wanted an adaptable lighting for her leisure apartment. Dimmers play a key role in that. For example, in the evening you can create beautiful mood lighting. When heading towards autumn and winter, it is possible to increase the amount of light.

Minna says that she has thought carefully about what points are being highlighted by lighting.

– I prefer lights that highlight certain points in the space. One place is more illuminated, while the other point remains in a shadow, she explains.

The cottage has a terrace with impressive solid wood columns. On the terrace Minna did not want traditional top-down lighting, but the columns are illuminated from the bottom up. In addition, there is one lamp on the wall of the terrace that gives light both up and down. The sea-side wall of the cottage is completely glass, so the light coming from the inside is a part of the outdoor lighting. Cariitti Huuhto flush-light has been used at the top of the glass wall for indirect lighting.

Lighting creates the atmosphere of a cottage or leisure apartment

Minna points out that there is no more right ways to illuminate a leisure home or cottage than a detached house. We have a wide variety of leisure homes. Some cottages don’t have electricity at all. In the most modern leisure apartments, all technology can be controlled with a single device and the desired equipment can be switched on when entering the cottage.

So, the cottage and its inhabitants determine what kind of lighting is going to be created. Minna thinks that a successful result is usually best achieved by indirect lighting, where the source of light is not visible at all. Nowadays, there are many alternatives in lighting planning.

– In the old days there was often one light spot in the room in the middle of the ceiling, and also table and floor lamps. There has been much development for many years now, and huge quantities of products have been introduced to the market, which make it possible to create lighting more extensively.

The atmosphere can be created, for example, by adjusting the height of the light source. Minna’s leisure apartment has a shade hanging over the dining table. The height of the luminaire is adjusted so that light is only visible to the table while its surroundings remain in a shadow.

– Lights can also be placed creatively. For example, what if there was light coming under a sofa or some other furniture?

The colour temperature of the light also affects the mood. Minna recommends a colour temperature of 2700-3000 kelvin for the creation of atmospheric lighting.

Plan on time

When designing lighting, the focus is not only in creating a beautiful environment, but also practical things need to be considered. For example, the age of the inhabitants affects lighting.

– The more age you have, the more light is needed. Particular attention must also be paid to the fact that there is enough light for a certain type of work, for example.

If the surroundings of the cottage are dark, the light activated by the motion sensor is practical and increases safety. For example, visitors with evil intentions may be frightened by the activating light. Safety can also be affected by remote control and timer of the luminaires.

Minna hints that even before you start designing lighting, you should contact the designer. Often contacts come too late, and then it is no longer possible to fulfil all hopes.

– In a new object you can affect anything, such as the location of the wires. Lighting can become less expensive when everything is done correctly from the start.

Minna says that the current lighting trends include, for example, a casing at the ceiling edge, to create indirect lighting. However, she emphasizes that there is no need to decorate according to trends.

– Instead, we consider what inhabitants like, and if there is an existing apartment, its architecture can be respected. Trends tell us a story about time backwards. Which solution has been typical in a certain decade. From this point of view, it is wonderful that we have trends, but it is even more wonderful when you make solutions that look your own and important to you.

If you are currently decorating your leisure home or cottage, check out Cariitti’s product range or contact us.