A tapestry in daylight is a picture. A tapestry lit well at night is an atmosphere. Lighting is what turns a piece of printed fabric into the thing that makes a bedroom feel like yours after dark. It is also easy to get wrong. A tangle of fairy lights draped across the front of a tapestry is the look that made the whole idea seem dated.
Here is how to do it properly: five approaches, the colours that suit different artwork, and how to stay safe.
The principle: light the fabric, don't decorate it
The mistake is treating the lights as a second decoration on top of the first. Strings of bulbs hanging across an image break it up and compete with it. The better approach is to use light to show the tapestry off, the way a gallery lights a painting. The lights should be at the edges, behind, or above. The artwork stays clear.
1. A halo behind
Fix an LED strip to the wall behind the tapestry, a few inches in from each edge, so the light spills out around the sides. The tapestry appears to float in a soft glow, and the strip itself is hidden.
Best for: dark, bold artwork, where the glow makes a strong outline. It is the cleanest, most modern look on this list.
How: stick the strip to the wall, not to the fabric. Hang the tapestry from hooks or a rod so it sits an inch or so off the wall. If it lies flat against the wall, the light can't escape.
2. A line along the top
Run a strip, or a straight row of fairy lights, along the top edge of the tapestry, so the light washes down the surface. This is the simplest method and the one closest to a picture light.
Best for: any tapestry. It works especially well with scenes that have a sky at the top.
How: if the tapestry hangs from a rod, fix the lights to the rod. Otherwise fix them to the wall or ceiling just above. Keep the line straight and level. A drooping row looks careless.
3. A frame of light
Run lights around all four edges, to make a glowing border.
Best for: smaller tapestries, and a bolder, more playful look.
How: keep the corners square and the lines straight. Use clear adhesive clips on the wall, spaced evenly. A neat rectangle looks deliberate. A wobbly one does not.
4. Backlighting through the fabric
Our tapestries are thin polyester, and light placed behind them shines softly through. A spread of fairy lights or a panel of LEDs on the wall behind makes the picture glow from within, a little like a stained-glass window.
Best for: pale or brightly coloured artwork. Dark areas of the print block the light, so a mostly black tapestry won't glow much.
How: spread the lights evenly, or you will see bright spots where each bulb is. Use LED lights only, and keep them from touching the fabric. More on that below.
5. Light from the side
A floor lamp or a wall light aimed across the tapestry, with no string lights at all. It is the most grown-up option and the least effort.
Best for: living rooms, and anyone who has had enough of fairy lights.
Which colour of light?
- Warm white suits almost everything. It is cosy, it flatters skin and it doesn't distort the colours of the print much. It is the right choice for landscapes, forests and night skies.
- Cool white is crisp and modern. It suits blue, icy and monochrome artwork.
- A colour from the artwork. With colour-changing LEDs, pick a colour that is already in the tapestry. Purple light with Purple Pink Wormhole. Blue with Star Valley. Teal or cyan with Cyber Wave Escape. The light then extends the picture onto the wall.
Avoid a colour that is the opposite of the artwork's main colour. Green light on a purple tapestry, or red on a blue one, will make the print look grey and muddy. And avoid lights that cycle through every colour. They are fun for five minutes.
Fairy lights or LED strips?
- Fairy lights are small points of light on a thin wire. They are soft, sparkly and romantic. They suit backlighting and a line along the top.
- LED strips give a continuous line of light. They suit a halo behind and a clean, modern look. Many can change colour and dim.
Whichever you choose, a dimmer or a remote is worth having. Full brightness is rarely what you want at night.
Safety: fabric and electricity
This matters, so it gets its own section.
- Use LED lights only. Old-style incandescent bulbs get hot. LEDs run much cooler.
- Keep lights from resting on the fabric, and never wrap fabric around them. Leave an air gap.
- Never drape a tapestry over a lamp, a bulb or a heater.
- Keep fabric away from candles and any open flame.
- Use lights that carry a recognised safety mark, and don't use any with damaged wires.
- Don't overload a socket or run cables under a rug or a mattress.
- Turn them off when you go out or go to sleep. A timer plug or a smart plug makes that automatic.
- Check your housing rules. Many dorms restrict string lights, and some ban them.
Keeping it tidy
- Hide the cable. Run it down a corner or behind furniture, and fix it with clear clips.
- Hide the plug and battery pack behind the bed or a shelf.
- Use clips, not tape. Small adhesive cable clips hold lights in a straight line and come off cleanly.
- Get the tapestry flat first. Light from the side shows up every crease. See how to get the wrinkles out.
What to avoid
- Lights draped in loops across the front of the image.
- Uneven, sagging lines.
- Several different colours at once.
- Visible cables trailing to a socket across the room.
- Lights so bright that the tapestry is washed out.
Which tapestries suit which lighting
- Night skies and space scenes: warm white along the top, or a halo in blue or violet.
- Neon and city scenes: a halo in a colour from the signs.
- Forests and landscapes: warm white, from above or the side.
- Pale abstracts: backlighting.
For hanging, see how to hang a tapestry without nails. For other uses, see tapestry as a headboard, canopy or room divider. Browse every design in the tapestries collection.