13 bedroom wall light ideas for stylish homes

The bedroom can be one of the trickiest rooms to design or redecorate, partly because it’s such a personal space. It needs to reflect you and your interests while also being a place you can relax and retreat to. Lighting can help you achieve these goals but it must be done in a measured and thoughtful way. Embracing wall lights is a great way to complete a lighting plan to its fullest potential and there are some great tips and tricks to try too.

When deciding on wall lights for your bedroom, think about how they work with the colours you have. Selecting contrasting but complementary colours can make a more eye-catching scene, adding a bit of “pop” and dynamism. Depending on the type of light you choose, it may only be the colour of the light shades that you need to consider.

Most bedroom wall lighting is fixed directly to the wall, but you might want to consider something slightly outside the square. Hanging a pendant-style light from a hook on the wall will give your bedroom a unique edge and add an almost sculptural element to your decor.

Some pendant lights can be fixed over a hook, or you can go with an option that can move freely. With this style, you can adjust the height as needed, allowing you to alter the amount of illumination you experience while in bed.

For a bit of versatility, you could go with a swing arm wall light. Most bedroom wall lights are fixed in place. While they can often rotate, they generally can't move much more than that.

A light that can swing out on an arm will give you flexibility in terms of how it will light your room. The arm also means you can fold it close to the wall to save space.

A simple on/off switch will do the job, but a light dimmer will give you more control. This is ideal if you want to alter the ambience of your bedroom. It's also good if you want to adjust the lighting for different situations.

When you're not in bed, you might want the room to be fully illuminated. If you want to read a book before going to sleep, for example, you can easily dim the lights a bit.

Many people use a bedside wall light for reading while in bed. For this, directional reading lights are ideal.

When getting into bed, you can turn off the main light and just keep your bedside light on. It saves you the trouble of getting out of bed again once you’ve finished your reading for the night.

Because these will be in essence a task light, you’ll need to take the power of the lighting you use into account. A small bedside lamp may not be bright enough, but you also don't want something too strong as it will take away the soft ambient lighting over your space.

The materials you use in your bedroom can have a huge effect on the overall feel. Brass finishes are a popular choice for light fittings, and you can match them with other features like switches and plug sockets.

The reflection of the light will give a warm glow to the room. Just make sure they go well with the aesthetic of the rest of your room.

While it's common to place wall lamps on the wall behind the bed, you're free to change things up. If the bed sits close to a side wall, this can be a great spot to place a wall sconce. This can be even more suitable in a kid's room, where light is only needed on one side of the bed.

There are plenty of other places you can use your wall lights too. If you have a dressing table with a mirror, a good light source makes perfect sense. It will look great, make a feature out of the dressing table itself and help you get ready easier and quicker.

You want your lighting to be functional, but you can also use it as an accessory to match the rest of your bedroom decor. Bedroom wall lights ideas don't stop at the fixture - think about cords, cables, and switches too. You can incorporate these into the rest of the design scheme of your bedroom so that it all works as one cohesive piece.

If you have other interesting features in your bedroom, you can use your wall lighting to help these stand out. For example, if you’re lucky enough to have a great piece of artwork to hang, wall lights can help bring focus to it. Lights that can rotate are ideal for this as they will give you more flexibility to see where the light works best on the piece in question.

Natural materials have become very popular for home decor. Things like rattan or wicker lampshades and wooden fixtures can give your bedroom a more natural feel. Match these with earthy tones around your bedroom for a seamless aesthetic.

Wall lamps can often help you save space too. In a small bedroom, this can be ideal, and using slimline lights will help with this further. By using these, you can ditch the bedside table lamps while still keeping the room well-lit.

If you're looking for wall lights for a child's bedroom, you may want to go for a different style. While you may not want to go for something that's too “adult”, it's important to remember that kids' tastes can change quite quickly. Ideally, you want something that they'll still enjoy as they get older.

With this in mind, you might want to play it safe by going with a fairly simple design. They might like something a bit more flashy when they're young but may grow out of it sooner than you'd like.

Related article: 13 types of light fixtures and how to use them

Hopefully, these exciting bedroom wall lighting ideas have shed some light on what’s possible. They are ideas that deliver on both functionality and style, maximizing their influence and usefulness in the space. They also take the interior design of the room into consideration though this will be a matter of your own judgement as well so be sure to keep that front of mind when choosing which option to go for.