Like the entirety of Anne Hathaway's California abode, the actress's bedroom offers a lot to excite interior design enthusiasts. Firstly, its blushing pink walls (designed to interrupt the rustic, Swiss-cabin-like feel of the home) – but as every great designer says, nothing can impact a room quite as much as lighting. It's no surprise, then, that Hathaway has nailed this design decision, too.
Alongside interior designer Pamela Shamshiri (of Studio Shamshiri), she created a light, bright sleep space in an otherwise darker home (where cabin-style wooden panels and flooring are in abundance). Unlike the rest of the house, Anne Hathaway's pink bedroom exhibits a lighter color palette that is set to relax the actress before she sleeps. However, as mentioned, perfecting bedroom lighting is arguably just as important as choosing the right hue, and this is where task lighting comes into play.
Task lighting involves using strategically placed fixtures in the areas of a space that benefit most from additional light instead of choosing one prominent fixture or lots of smaller spotlights in the center of the room.
Exclusively placing light fixtures in the areas needed (for example, above a section of a bed, in Hathaway's case) is among the most powerful ways to add a boutique hotel-style ambiance to a room, and it's a trick that isn't lost on designers, including London-based Benji Lewis.
Lewis recommends following Hathaway's example by choosing smaller, well-placed task lights, instead of brighter overhead fixtures – both in the bedroom, but also elsewhere.
'Getting the lighting right is essential to creating a cozy atmosphere in your home. Small changes can make a big difference in making your house an inviting home. Avoid overhead lights and spotlights. Focus on side lighting by blending table lamps, floor lights, and plentiful mirror glass,' he says.
Hathaway has placed her main fixture to the right of her bed, suggesting it's in the perfect spot for late-night reading (while also assisting her with light to find what she needs on her bedside table). Inevitably, the proximity to her bed means the light risks impacting her sleep, which makes it even more important to get right. Thankfully, though, Lewis has a solution for that, too.
'Use light bulbs that are cool white only for task lighting; otherwise, you’ll create the same chilly impression you would when you open a fridge door. Look for bulbs that are warm white to provide a warm glow,' he explains. 'Also, use dimmer switches; they’re fantastic for creating different feelings in a room.'
For a Hathaway-inspired starting point, we love this light, which is almost identical to the actress's. However, we can recreate the ambiance with any smaller fixture we choose; all that matters is that it's strategically placed, as she has done. Lighting aside, we can tap into the rest of the room with these picks below.
If we do have to contend with bright built-in lights, however, Lewis also has a solution for that. 'No matter how splendid your ceiling pendant light is, don’t assume that this will suffice to light your room. All it's going to do is contain light around it without casting an ounce of ambiance,' he says.
'Put your lamp lighting on a separate circuit to your wall lights or overhead pendant, it’ll enable you to play around with different effects.'
