Lighting in Your Home: How It Will Impact Your Lifestyle

Many don’t quite understand just how important the impact of lighting is on your home and your lifestyle. It tends to be an afterthought but thinking through what kind of lighting your home needs is worth it as it’ll greatly impact your daily life and the lives of your friends and family.

Studies have indicated that lights have a significant impact on our psychological and emotional welfare. It’s more than just electricity brightening the rooms of your house. Lighting can reflect your character and transform a house into a home. If you don’t have the right lighting, you’ll also lose the effect of your beautiful home design.

1. Mood

The lighting of your house, first and foremost, will greatly affect your mood. Research indicates that poor lighting in your home can contribute to negative energy, depression and even vitamin D deficiencies. By contrast, good lighting will keep you and your loved ones in good spirits. Homes with open plan designs receiving lots of natural light can be especially good for keeping your family in a positive mood.

Lighting also affects your sleep cycle, as it can contribute to how alert you are in the morning and how tired you are in the evening. Typically, brighter lights are better for the mornings and dim lights are more appropriate for later in the day after the sun sets. The opposite lighting arrangement may leave your circadian rhythm puzzled, affect how you sleep and drain your energy day-to-day.

2. Atmosphere

Lighting also impacts the atmosphere of your home in a range of ways, including:

• Space – believe it or not, dark rooms feel smaller but brighter rooms feel larger. If your room doesn’t have adequate lighting, it more often than not will feel cramped.
• Tone – Lighting sets the tone of your room, and proper lighting will differ from room to room. If you’ve got a home office, for example, task lighting is most appropriate. It’s different from a laundry which typically will have more fluorescent lighting.
• Shadow – Another important thing to consider is the shade produced by the lights in your home. Without shadow, the atmosphere of your room – including its texture and variation – won’t be highlighted. But having the right lighting and creating shadows in the right places will give your home a powerful effect.

3. Environment

How will your lights impact the natural environment? There are a range of environmentally friendly bulbs that will help you ‘see the light’, so to speak. Some of these options include:

• Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) – these are a highly popular kind of light due to their strength and energy efficiency. Indeed, they can use up to 90 percent less energy than a normal incandescent bulb and can last up to 100,000 hours, making them a great investment. Be prepared, however, to fork out the money for this one – LEDs aren’t cheap.
• Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) – whilst CFLs are less popular than LEDs, they’re still eco-friendly and more efficient than other bulbs. They don’t contain as much mercury as normal lights and also generate a less amount of heat.
• Natural light – there’s no better lightbulb than the sun itself. If you install skylights on your property or choose an open plan home design with lots of windows you’ll get the direct benefit of natural sunlight as opposed to the rays of artificial light.

It’s good to know that you can enjoy your lights while also minimising your carbon footprint.

4. Effect of smart lights

Smart lighting refers to lighting that you can control from a smartphone app, such as through your iOS or Android device. Not only are you able to turn the lighting on and off through the app, but you can also change the brightness of the bulbs and even change their colours if the bulbs have that function. If your smartphone is linked up to a voice-activated assistant like Google Home, you can even control the lighting with your voice! Imagine saying “Light’s On” and magically the lights turn on.

Smart lighting bulbs will typically be LED lights, which uses a lot less power compared with your regular run-of-the-mill incandescent bulbs. One bulb may be around 9.5W, whereas an incandescent bulb may be 60W. Although note that whilst in the long-term you will save on the power bill, installing a smart lighting system can be expensive.

5. Flexibility of use

Consider how easy and flexible different lights are to use – this will impact on your daily convenience. There are plenty of different types of lights you can use around the house which will no doubt add to a much easier lifestyle. For example, consider installing:

• Down lights – these are lights that have been built into a ceiling, lighting the room through a narrow beam. It basically looks like light coming out of the ceiling. They’re great because you can install them anywhere – just make sure there’s enough room on your ceiling to fit the housing. They last a long time, although they are hard to replace if placed in high areas, and you can’t ‘move them around or adjust their angle’ (meaning they aren’t very flexible).
• Track lights – Track lighting refers to a method of lighting whereby fixtures are attached literally on a ‘track device’ that itself contains electrical conductors. It stands in contrast to the ordinary direct route wiring for individual lights. They’re very easy to use and incredibly flexible, as you can change the position of the light fixture to suit the occasion. You can also angle the light wherever you like.
• Standalone lights – Consider the simple benefit of having standalone lights around the house, such as lamps. You can place them anywhere, and that’s useful when you want to change the furniture around your house.

6. Use

How you choose to use your lights will no doubt greatly impact your lifestyle. There are plenty of tips on how to use your lights in the right way such as:

• Brightness – Don’t use too much overhead lighting – you’re not on a stage. It’s fine to use bright lights in your home office where you’re working, or if you’re reading a book. But lighting should not be all imposing – you want the lighting dimmed over dinner or while having a relaxing evening with your loved one. The use of a lamp can change a room from feeling bright and impersonal to cosy and friendly with the flick of a switch.
• Diversity – Don’t just rely on one light source throughout your home. Spice it up a bit. Have a skylight here, some track lighting over there, and a lamp right here. That’ll create an overall better mood and accentuate the effect of your home design.
• Don’t forget the closet – Consider placing downlights into your closet. You don’t want to be in a position where you’re looking for that perfect outfit to wear, but you can’t see anything!
• Light the stairs – For a groovy effect that’s also designed to keep you safe, consider lighting up your stairs – especially for the night-time. You don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night, go downstairs for a midnight snack, only to fall down the stairs because you couldn’t see where you were going!

7. Sensor lights

8. Security lighting

There’s no point living in your dream home if you don’t feel safe. Having security lighting can provide you that peace of mind – the benefit being that if you have an area lit up, the chances of your home being broken into reduces significantly. There’s no darkness to hide in, so trespassers will think twice before intruding onto your property. Consider installing security lighting alongside a comprehensive security system for an even better security effect.

You don’t need to have security lighting that stays on permanently. You can install motion-detection lighting that only lights up when movement is detected in the area that the system is targeting. Your power bills won’t skyrocket, you still get the benefit of protection and – with security lighting – you may even save on home insurance.

9. Garden and driveway lighting

There is also a range of benefits to installing garden and driveway lighting in your home. By giving some light to your outdoor living space, such as your garden, you can:

• Entertain guests outside – outdoor lights in your driveway and garden can provide a great ambiance for a gathering with your friends, family or special someone – or even just by yourself!
• Highlight the great features of your home design – light up what you’re proud of about your new home. Illuminate the paths you like or the garden that you’ve been working hard on. Light up your porch, staircase or fountain – show off everything whilst creating a homely mood.
• Keep safe – Outdoor lighting isn’t only for visual appeal. It’s very practical and will keep you safe at night when wandering around. A light post can brighten up a path so you know where you’re going, and your driveway so you don’t crash into your garage.

Lighting for your Hunter Valley Project Home