Bright Ideas for Dark Hallways: Hallway Lighting Guide

Like most homeowners, you probably give a lot of thought to every element of each room in your house—from the paint color to the décor to making sure you’re providing the right amount of lighting based on your needs.

But what about your hallways? As the connection from one room to another (or from one floor to another), hallways are inevitably high-traffic areas. Which means, it’s important to make sure they’re safe, accessible, and assist in the flow of traffic. However, hallways and stairways tend to take a backseat in lighting and design. They’re often dark, shadowy, bland, and difficult to navigate through.

Does any of this sound familiar? Well, don’t worry. Because with some strategic lighting and design choices, you can help transform your dark hallways into well-lit, inviting passageways. Here are some expert tips that can help.

Turn to Lighting

Adding artificial hallway lighting is definitely the secret ingredient to creating safe navigation. But before you go to the store and begin purchasing light bulbs and fixtures, you should start by assessing your current lighting situation. Is there any natural lighting coming in through the windows or adjacent rooms? Are there any hallway light fixtures such as overhead lights or wall sconces already installed? Understanding what you’re working with will help you lay out a foolproof artificial lighting strategy.

Based on your setup, here are lighting solutions that may be worth considering

Add a floor or table lamp

• This is the easiest way to brighten up a hallway. Especially if you add a bulb with enough light to minimize shadows—like LED bulbs or our Ultra Bright LED bulbs. Additionally, when it comes to where you need light the most, plug-in lamps allow much more flexibility than a wall or ceiling fixture.

Install recessed fixtures

• If you don’t have a lot of natural lighting, adding recessed fixtures or other ceiling lights for a hallway is a smart and minimal way to get an even distribution of light throughout the space. For example, our CYNC Wafer Smart LEDs have a chic minimal appearance and offer plenty of additional perks, such as millions of color options and scheduling.

Add wall sconces

• Like recessed fixtures, adding multiple wall sconces can be an effective way to create even light throughout your hallway. And picking up one of our HD LED bulbs can help, too—especially refresh™ HD LED and our best quality of light, reveal® HD+ LED.

Illuminate From the Bottom Up

Sometimes all you need to enhance the safety (and look) of a hallway or stairway is some edge lighting along the floor. For example, by simply adding our Cync Dynamic Effects Light Strips, you can illuminate along your hallway walls to help guide people from room to room more safely and establish a unique vibe for the space.

Our smart light strips come with plenty of additional benefits, including:

• A peel-and-stick backing for easy installation
• Customizable color and brightness levels to create different moods
• A modern aesthetic and so much more.

Plus, by pairing our Light Strips (or any Cync product) to our Cync Motion Sensor, you can automate the lighting in your hallway so it’s always lit when you need it and off when you don’t.

Add LED Wall Lights

Thanks to technology, homeowners don’t have to rely solely on lamps or installed fixtures for lighting. There are so many other creative options that can increase the style and visibility of your hallway.

For example, our Dynamic Effects Smart Hexagon Panels bring a colorful and customizable display to any room. They easily adhere to your wall in any shape or design you want, and they offer millions of color options, music sync, light shows, dimming and brightening, and many more colorful features.

Another easy-to-install wall light option that we offer is our Dynamic Effects Neon-Shape Lights. These bendable, multicolored tube lights can be shaped in any way you want and provide all the features of our full color smart lights—including the full white temperature scale.

Add in Mirrors

Of course, mirrors are a great way to make any room feel more spacious. Hallways are no different. And in addition to enhancing the style, they also help brighten things up by bouncing light throughout the space. So, consider positioning a mirror opposite of your light sources to help maximize the reflection.

Add Greenery

Ok, so of course, plants don’t help spread light. But they reduce stress, boost mood, and improve the air quality of your space. Plus, by simply adding a small table and overhead lamp, you can use our LED Grow Light to provide your plant with nutrients, and yes, even add a little light. Pick up one of our energy efficient grow lights now.

Add a Focal Point

Focal point lighting in a hallway is a lighting technique used to draw attention to certain areas, objects, or architectural features within the space—whether that means highlighting artwork, shelves, or furniture. This approach is a great way to increase the light and the style of your hallway.



Here are a few focal point ideas:

Wall-mounted fixtures

• Adding a strategically placed wall-mounted fixture is a smart way to draw attention to pieces of art, photos, and more. Especially if you pair it with a Cync Full Color Smart Bulb to create dynamic accents with millions of colors, the full white temperature scale, and enhanced dimming capabilities.

Track lighting

• Track lighting is a great choice due to its adjustability. This allows you to not only direct light towards your focal point, but also bounce light in different directions for a brighter space.

What Is the Best Lighting For a Dark Hallway?

So what is the best light fixture for a hallway? Well, it all depends on what kind of natural lighting you have available to you. Once you know that, you can supplement with a number of different fixtures—whether they’re installed in the wall, free-standing, secured to the edge of your floor, or added to your ceiling. However, in our opinion, you can’t go wrong with recessed fixtures in the ceiling—more specifically, our Wafer Smart LED lights. Their slim profiles give you a clean look, in addition to millions of colors, scheduling, and more.

Giving your hallway a well-lit makeover? Share a picture with us on our Facebook or Instagram pages. Also, check out our other blogs to learn tips on how to improve the lighting in your bedroom, a smaller living room space, or the interior of your home overall.