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With the Flick of a Switch: Expert Lighting Tips to Transform Your Home Instantly

Empty dining room

There is no question that how you use lighting in your home can make a substantial difference to the look and feel of every room, and the flick of a switch can transform your home in an instant, provided you get your lighting choices right.

From a collection inspired by designers and architects, Bungalow 5 lighting is a good example of what you can use to achieve that desired transformation from a space that is dark and dreary, to somewhere that instantly becomes warm and inviting.

Here is a look at the sort of tips and tricks the design professionals use to get the desired lighting effect that lights up a room, in more ways than one.

The problem with a poorly-lit room

As a starting point, it is worth considering what an impact a poorly-lit room can have.

You could design a space to perfection and use just the right furnishings and color scheme, but all that work could easily go to waste if the chosen accents are properly illuminated and you fail to achieve a harmonious balance of light throughout the entire area.

Your room will probably left feeling rather cold and uninviting if you don’t get your lighting options right, and a few different light bulbs around the room, simply isn’t going to work the magic.

All rooms are different

It is really important to remember that every room in your home is unique in some way or another, with things like aspect, size of the room, and the furnishing you are using, all having an influence on your lighting choices and options.

Many top designers take the approach that you need to let each individual room dictate or at least heavily influence, the lighting options that you are able to use.

You have to take into account the aspect of the room and where and when any natural light is coming into the room, and how it impacts on the look and feel of the space. You want to be aiming for enough ambient lighting throughout the room, so the layout and aspect will help to point where additional lighting options are needed, or perhaps a change of layout is needed to make the most of natural light and the lighting features added.

Keeping with modern trends

There are a number of things that instantly date a house, such as outdated bathroom suites, and the lighting options you have in your home can also be a strong pointer that you haven’t kept up with modern trends.

Light demands in our home have changed at a brisk pace and it is no longer a case of adding a few table lamps and a dimmer. You only have to go around a furniture store showroom or look in a few home magazine, to realize that our changing lifestyles and work patterns, have brought more demands on lighting.

For example, if you are one of the growing number of people who work from home some or all of the time, you really need lighting levels that are closer to 500 lux to work in comfort and enjoy a healthy environment, whereas the average home might offer lighting that is in the 100 lux range, which is fine for general living, but not if you are working.

This is a prime example of how lighting your home to reflect modern living, is important not just to keep up with trends, but because it brings about improvements in how we use our space.

A new way to look at bulbs

If you are looking to make some subtle changes yourself by choosing some different bulbs, remember that it is no longer the right thing to be guided by wattage.

If you have been used to buying incandescent bulbs for years, it can be hard to adopt a different mindset, but modern lighting options mean that brightness is no longer about wattage.

The brightness of a bulb is measured in lumens. So an old 60-watt bulb is more like 800 lumens in the new currency as it were, and applied to LED bulbs, which are fast becoming the default option, and are generally a better quality than their predecessors.

You also need to consider what you might want to call the temperature of a modern bulb.

You will find certain bulbs marked with a kelvin temperature. If you are looking for a cool energizing white light, this will be in the range of about 3500 K, and if you are looking for something that feels calmer and warmer, choose a temperature that offers that option.

Make the most of the lighting options now available and you will soon see and how just what a difference it can make to your home and the way you use it.

Spencer O’Donnell has worked as an interior designer for several years, though has known this was his calling since being a young teenager when he redecorated his bedroom! His articles appear on home and DIY blogs, women’s lifestyle blogs and more.

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