Lights! Camera! Sold!

Lighting Secrets Designers Swear By

As a professional home stager in Manhattan, Westchester and the Hudson Valley, I have prepared many homes for the market. If Professional Home Staging is about storytelling, lighting is your spotlight. It’s how we control mood, focus, warmth, and style. So let’s talk about the tricks designers use to make homes feel bigger, brighter, and more expensive—without changing a single wall.

Segment 1: Layer It Like a Pro

Professional designers always work with three types of lighting:

1. Ambient – your overall ceiling or recessed lights.

2. Task – under-cabinet lighting, reading lamps, pendants over islands.

3. Accent – sconces, art lights, and dimmable warm lights that create drama and dimension.

Layering these gives a space life. A single ceiling fixture just doesn’t cut it anymore

Segment 2: Warm it Up

Here’s a secret: Designers almost never use bright white bulbs. Switch to soft white (around 2700K–3000K) for a glow that feels cozy and welcoming.

Harsh lighting screams commercial. Warm lighting whispers home.

Segment 3: Use Light to Highlight Features

Got a beautiful stone backsplash? Illuminate it with LED strip lighting. Want to draw attention to that gorgeous built-in bookshelf? Try a pair of mounted sconces. Staging hack: you can find easy-to-install, surface mounted, battery operated options for both of these  I'll put the links on my show notes 

Good lighting doesn’t just light a room. It directs the eye.

Segment 4: Light Fixtures as Jewelry

Your fixtures are like earrings—they don’t take up space, but they add so much style. Swapping out a dated flush mount or dining pendant can instantly upgrade an entire room’s feel.

So next time you’re staging or refreshing a space, don’t forget to think about lighting—not just what it does, but how it feels.