The Block 2026: Rumpus and Laundry Reveals
The rumpus rooms are done, and the teams had a bit more freedom with their lighting this week.
These aren’t task-heavy spaces, so there’s less need to flood the whole room with light. Instead, we saw the teams picking out artwork, adding lower levels of light around the room and thinking about what the space will actually feel like when the TV is on.
There are some good ideas here.
House 1 | Adam and Jolene
Adam and Jolene’s rumpus room has plenty of colour and texture, and they’ve been quite deliberate about where they want your eye to go.
The Lighting: That artwork was never going to disappear into the background, but the Brooklyn bar spotlight makes even more of it. Positioned directly above, its three adjustable heads can be aimed across the piece to bring out different areas of colour and detail.
We like seeing a spotlight used this way. The Brooklyn is relatively compact against the ceiling, so the artwork remains the feature, rather than the fitting competing with it.
Elsewhere, the Made by Mayfair Rhodes table lamp in cherry marble changes the feel completely. Its burgundy stone base looks fantastic against the earthy wall finishes, and the linen shade throws light onto the textured surface behind it.
It also gives Adam and Jolene an alternative to relying on their ceiling lights once they’re actually using the room. In a rumpus room, that matters.
House 4 | Courtney and Sev
Courtney and Sev have kept their rumpus room fairly restrained, with the lighting worked into the architecture rather than making one fitting the main event.
The Lighting: Two Atlas wall brackets in bronze sit either side of the TV area. The light is directed down the wall, with another small wash escaping from the back of each fitting.
It’s a clever spot for them. Around a television, you generally don’t want a bright light source competing with the screen, and the Atlas gives this wall some illumination without doing exactly that.
There’s concealed lighting in the room as well, including above the built-in cabinetry. Having those different sources available means the room doesn’t have to default to bright overhead lighting every time it gets dark.
Courtney and Sev have essentially given themselves options, which is exactly what we want from lighting in a room that will probably spend a lot of its life with the TV on.
House 5 | Rick and Tayla
Rick and Tayla’s room feels quite different again. It’s light and open, with that huge green sofa taking up plenty of visual attention. The lighting doesn’t try to compete with it.
The Lighting: Overhead, they’ve chosen the Apostle DC fan in almond and travertine. The almond finish is subtle against the pale ceiling, but the natural travertine centre plate gives you a reason to look twice.
We love an indoor fan in a living space like this. Rumpus rooms are made to be used, and having plenty of airflow above a big seating area just makes sense. The fact that Apostle looks this good is a bonus.
There’s also a great little detail beside the TV.
Rick and Tayla have hung two Pipete pendants in beige travertine at different heights, bringing the light down into what could easily have been an overlooked corner. Their small scale is important here. Anything much larger would start competing with the television, whereas these feel like they belong exactly where they are. The travertine also gives us a nice connection back to the Apostle overhead without the two fittings needing to match.
Rumpus room lighting gets to be a little different
What we liked about these rooms is that nobody seemed determined to make every corner equally bright.
Adam and Jolene wanted us looking at the art. Courtney and Sev concentrated light around the edges of the room. Rick and Tayla kept things relatively simple overhead and found a small spot beside the TV to have some fun with pendants.
For a room largely dedicated to sitting down and enjoying yourself, that feels about right.