Modern Lighting Ideas: Ways to Create a Well-Lit Home
When it comes to interior design, lighting is one of the key elements. This should come as no surprise because lighting, both natural and artificial, has the power to enhance the aesthetic appeal of a space and create a certain ambience in it. This is precisely why we shouldn’t take choosing lighting solutions for our homes lightly.
My research has led me to the conclusion that LED lighting products are increasingly popular, especially among people whose home décor style is modern and/or minimal. Read on to find out what makes LEDs such a great lighting choice.
The Reign of LEDs
According to a large number of experts, LED lights are now better than ever before. Improved technology has made LED lighting products smaller, brighter, and more energy-efficient. Today’s high-quality LEDs deliver impressive energy savings – around 90 percent compared with incandescent bulbs. In addition to this, LEDs can come in wide-ranging colours and, perhaps more importantly, smaller sizes, thus giving us the amazing opportunity to light our abodes more discreetly and precisely. All of these qualities make LED lights ideal for modern homes.
LED Downlights
When talking about LED lighting downlights must be mentioned. Thanks to the recent advancements, we can now illuminate a room with a series of small LED downlights instead of the larger models of the past. Smaller recessed downlights can help us achieve a cleaner and more minimal look. The ‘less-cluttered ceiling’ look LED downlights create is a highly desirable feature, one that’s suitable for practically every modern room – the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, the bathroom, and even the hallway.
In addition to general lighting, LED lighting downlights can provide task and accent lighting as well. If you feel that you need more light for your reading sessions or want to light up your kitchen counter, then LED downlights might be exactly what you’re looking for. These lighting products are an amazing way to draw attention to your favourite sculpture or painting too. Plus, when paired with a coloured wall surface, LED downlights have the power to create interest.
Many of today’s high-quality LED recessed lighting products are covered by warranty for a period of more than one year (the most common time period is five years). Aside from this, their life span is incredibly long (50,000 hours on average) and they are much more durable than conventional light products. Last but definitely not least, if you want to be able to dim and control your recessed lights, you’ll be glad to learn that plenty of lighting stores offer dimmable LED downlights at affordable prices.
Just like every other product, LED recessed lights have both advantages and disadvantages. The main concern regarding LED recessed lights is the quality of the light they emit. Some people complain that the light LEDs give out isn’t satisfactory and feels low. But, as mentioned above, LED lights have grown in brightness significantly, which means that this problem can be easily overcome with the help of newer LED models.
LED Strips
An LED strip light is a circuit board with surface-mounted LEDs in a variety of colours and levels of brightness. LED strips can be flexible or rigid. The adhesive backing as well as the small size of LED strip lights allow us to hide them inside cabinets, drawers, hanging rods in wardrobes, shelves, and practically any other place we can think of. This is how we can position light where it is needed the most instead of filling a room with a broad wash of light that’s often unpleasant and can cause glare.
These popular LED lighting products can also be used for lighting up under our kitchen drawers and cabinets. LED strip lights are a wonderful accent lighting option, which is why they are often used for drawing attention to fancy kitchen floors, elevating the look of open shelving displays, and illuminating unique architectural features. Furthermore, LED strips can be seen around bathroom mirrors, above and below bathroom cabinetry, on the underside of stair handrails and stair treads, and concealed on living room walls. All of these tricks can help us create the desired atmosphere in a certain space.
Yes, LED strip lighting offers many possibilities, but it isn’t perfect. For example, if an LED needs replacing, it may require the whole set to be replaced instead of only one light bulb. If one or more lights burn out before the rest, the effect can be patchy. Also, the brightness of LED strip lights may become undependable and inconsistent as they degrade over time.
LED Panels
LED panels are a decent lighting option as well. Even though they are considered to be office lighting products, they can be installed in residences too. LED panels are a nice choice for home office spaces, lounge areas, and bedrooms. These lighting products offer the best of both worlds – reduced maintenance and electricity costs and a brighter environment.
Today’s quality LED panels are sleek and elegant, meaning they can complement practically every modern room’s style. They are also ultra thin and lightweight, robust and reliable, and really easy to install. Some LED panels come with multicolour output and suspension, recessed, and surface mounted kits. How great is that? Pretty great, I’d say.
Other Hot LED Lighting Products
LED oyster lights are popular lighting solutions as well. Some of these light fittings provide a 180-degree uniform beam and have a life span of 36,000 hours. They are ideal for installation in living and dining rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms. Easy to install, these lighting products are a wonderful alternative to conventional bulb and fluorescent light fixtures.
LED desk lamps should definitely be high on your to-consider list if you’re searching for lighting solutions for your reading nook. If you’re into ambient lighting, you’ll be glad to learn that there are a lot of aesthetically appealing dimmable LED table lights. With the touch of a button, you can create the desired atmosphere and make sure you have the right amount of light for a comfortable read.
How to Choose the Right LED Lighting Products for Your Home
Every room in your house or apartment is different, i.e. has a unique function. The function of a room is precisely what you should base your lighting choices on.
Since the bedroom is where we (or at least most of us) go when we want to relax and unwind, the atmosphere should be calm and peaceful. Avoiding blue light waves in this room will keep your circadian rhythm from confusing the artificial light with the natural light outside. This is how you’ll make sure your brain’s melatonin production (melatonin is needed for a good night’s sleep) isn’t disrupted.
Cool-white lights that mimic daylight can increase serotonin production, which is why they are perfect for home office spaces. A mix of light sources is what professionals recommend for living rooms. This solution will enable you to adapt to whatever the occasion may be. Dimmable overhead fixtures are a beautiful option for dining areas. They allow for just the right level of brightness at any time of the day.
Since the kitchen is essentially a workspace, putting blue-light emitting bulbs over the counters is the smartest decision. These will keep you alert and awake while prepping breakfast. The bathroom calls for bright lights.
Before buying any products, you should also consider the suggested total brightness level and colour temperature for the room you want to light up.
