Imagine checking-in on a 5-star hotel room with its intricate designed carpet floor and magnificent ceiling supported by majestic walls and columns; yet illuminated by a single light source which is bright enough, in fact too bright, that it feels like an apple store in the mall. In contrast, imagine checking-in on a cozy room you booked at a 4-star airbnb that you probably be embarassed to take selfies and post on social media because every 4 walls are plain and dull, floor is ordinary tiles made in China and there is a portion you will notice making squeaky noise everytime you step. But you made a concious decision to book this room for the next 3 nights not becuase of it's low price, well of course that's part of it, but rather you loved what you saw on the photos. There are several light sources evenly distributed across the room and none of them are from the ceiling, rather they are coming from LED strip concealed behind the shelves, mirror, and cabinets. A couple of dimable night lamps on each side of the bedside table for ease of reading. I am trying to point out here is the stark contrast of rooms with single light source againts multiple scattered light sources. No matter how aesthetically and sophiticated the interior design is, it all boils down to one important thing, our innate affinity with light trumps everything. 

I have to learn this through my several years in Airbnb hosting, which I wish someone had taught me early on before posting my very first listing online. But I don't regret any of my design decision in the yesteryears since they became a valuable lesson for me at present, and thus have something to say about them today. I'm going to share some key learnings from both mistakes and good decision I've made, and when I say good, I am not patting my own shoulder. It is based on guests reviews and unbiased comments.

First and foremost is the sun. Yes, that hot bright ball of flame in the sky that causes skin cancer through its unforgiving radiation, is an ally in making rooms look natural and calming. Allowing natural light to enter your room, hopefully through a window and not from any crack on the wall or ceiling, is the best way brighten the space. So if you're lucky to have a floor-to-ceiling window, take advantage of that and maximize every inch to allow photons to invade your room. Now if it really gets that hot especially during summer days, what I do is to have 2 layers of curtain, first is a block-out curtain for total darkness, recommended for vampires, and second is a thin white perforrated curtain which is meant to let the light passes through but keeping that scorching temperature out. 

Second is altering the common bulb-receptacle combo ceiling light into (1) track light- if there are specific part of the room you like to put emphasis such as wall art. (2) Pendant light- if you want to make the entire room feels like the art itself. (3) String light- if you're weird enough like me to take risk making theme rooms for aribnb. (spoiler: as it turns out guests loved them)

Third is intensity of each light source. Evey bulb you can buy in the hardware store is measaured in watts, which is meant to inform customers on how energy efficient the bulb is. But I use this as a basis on how weak or strong the light will be on a particular space. It it meant for small bathroom, i choose the warm color 7 to 14 watts, this is recommended for bathrooms that has 2 bulb slots. For kitchen, however, you will need a little stronger than that since you want to make sure you're slicing the carrot and not your finger. Living is same with kitchen but preferrable not coming up from the ceiling. It is best if you have a tall floor lamp, and make it 2 lamps, no matter how small the space. Because having only single floor lamp in living room makes that room not for the living. Ok sorry that's super corny, but you get the idea, it will look shadowy. Lastly the bedroom. As a rule of thumb brightness must always keep to a minimum. Dimable lights are easily and cheaply available in any hardware store. However If you still can't get one, just make sure it is just bright enough for reading but not to awake someone if you need to poop in the middle of the night. Trust me...shit happens.

This is all there is for now since I am in the learning phase. Perhaps I will update this once there's a significant change in my opinion and/or taste.