GUIDELINES FOR BETTER LIGHTING
MAKE THE MOST OUT OF LIGHT
Choose the Lighting Focus
Find the center of where the light is needed the most in various rooms and start from there. For example in the dining room a larger chandelier hanging above the dining table is never the wrong choice, in the kitchen good lighting is crucial above the kitchen countertops. It all depends from room to room, think about where the light is more important and start designing your lighting choice from there.
Size of the Chandelier
Lighting should not overpower, nor be not noticeable in the room. The size and quantity of the lighting in the room depends on the type of room and its size. A general guideline for choosing the diameter of a chandelier for a given room is to take the length plus the width of the room in centimeters, and divide it by 10 (Example: room length and width is 3m i.e. 300cm, so (300+300) / 10 = 60cm – the diameter of the chandelier). The diameter of the chandelier for that room may vary around 10-20% from the resulting number and you would still have the perfectly sized chandelier for your home.
Lighting Layers
Different layers of lighting in a room are essential to bring out the best of the design in it. The best balance in practice is to have three different sources of light in each room. Even if it is a small room, you can use lower wattage and smaller lighting in order not to overpower the room with lighting. Of course the most important and dominant layer as discussed previously should be the lighting focus point and the other layers should complement it.
Use Dimmers for Different Atmospheres and Savings
Dimmers are a game changer for creating the perfect room atmosphere for different occasions and of course saves you money on the electricity bill. You may install as many dimmers as you would like, however we would recommend in the rooms you use the most to install dimmers and you will be in total control of the atmosphere for any occasion as well as save quite a lot on the electricity bill.
Unique & Unexpected Lighting
Lighting can be much more than just to light up a room and simple chandeliers or lamps. By using lighting in an unexpected way you may brighten a room in unique ways and bring a personal touch to your design. For example hanging a chandelier above a plant or display piece with the lighting focus point on it, just to give it that spotlight feeling. The combinations are endless, just unleash your creativity and be positively surprised by the end result.
Smart Lighting
In this digital world, more and more things are becoming smart, so why not transition to smart lighting. It is quite simple, energy-efficient and adds so much more variety and different atmospheres depending on the need. Just get a smart bulb, install the control app on your smartphone and connect to it, and from then on, wherever you might be, the lighting control in your home will be in your hands wherever you are. Switching on and off, changing the temperature of lighting, or even color, set different predefined themes of lighting for the whole room, almost everything you can imagine you can do with smart lighting. Last but not least, as everything can be modified from wherever and whenever, you can be energy efficient and save on your electricity bill as well as be eco-friendly.
Use LED Lighting
If you have not yet transitioned to LED lighting, now would be the best time to do that change. LED lights are on the pricey side for the initial investment but are way more efficient than other lights and last a significantly longer time, so you should not worry about changing it any time soon. By changing you will be way more efficient with the energy and with that lower the electricity bill and be cute eco-friendly as you would not make as much garbage as with other lights and they produce much less heat, in order to give the required lighting so it’s a win-win situation in whichever way you look at it. Do not wait and make the change to LED lighting.
Pick the Right Light Color
The light color is measured on the Kelvin (K) scale. The lower the number is, it means that the color is warmer i.e. it appears yellowish, and the higher numbers mean the light is colder, i.e. the light is whiter or bluer. The color of the light makes a crucial difference when choosing what kind of an atmosphere you would like to have in the room. Our recommendations when choosing the light color are the following:
– Living room, Dining Room, Bedroom: 3000-4000K
– Kitchen, Home Office: 4000-6500K
– Entryway, Staircase, Bathroom: 6500K