How to Elevate the Lighting in Your Home (or future home)
Whether you’re a current home owner and looking to elevate the look and feel of your home, you’re on the house hunt and something just doesn’t feel right walking into a space, or you’re building from the ground up, you may want to consider taking a look at lighting. Lighting is an often undervalued design element that can totally transform a space with just a few simple considerations (and considerations that don’t need to break the bank!). From color temperature to automation & scenes, I’ll walk you through five different lighting ideas that can make your home feel more comfortable and more high end, simply by considering your lighting.
Color Temperature
Kelvins is the unit of measurement used to denote the temperature of light, referencing warmth or coolness. The lower the number, the warmer the temperature, equating to a more yellow light. The higher the number, the cooler the temperature, equating to a more blue light. While there are always exceptions to rules, I generally like to specify 2,700K lighting in homes. Some more modern homes can do well with 3,000K lighting, but anything above this typically feels very stark and sterile. Be aware that mixing color temperatures in a home (specifically in open spaces where two different bulb temperatures can be seen at once) can often feel very disorienting so sticking to a single temperature throughout all your fixtures is important.
Today, many light fixtures come with integrated LED’s, so if you’re purchasing new fixtures, keep an eye out for that temperature as you can’t change the temperature with an easy bulb swap. For existing and new screw in bulb fixtures, stay consistent and always purchase the same color temperature for cohesion throughout your space.
Lighting Levels
In the past, the amount of light emitted from a bulb was synonymous with wattage. However, that’s not really an accurate assessment as wattage is actually a measure of the amount of power consumption a bulb takes. With the advancement of LEDs, power consumption has decreased significantly without affecting the brightness of a bulb. A more accurate assessment of the “brightness” of a bulb, or the amount of light we actually see, comes from looking at lumens. In a bedroom or a living room where the space is more intimate and less task oriented, a lower level of lumens is appropriate whereas in a bathroom or an office, the amount of lumens needed will be higher so that your eyes don’t need to strain as much.
There is a specific calculation to determine the exact amount of lumens a space needs based on square footage, but below is a list of general guidelines you can consider when selecting bulbs and fixtures. Remember, a fixture may have one bulb or many bulbs, so take the total number of bulbs (not just fixtures) into consideration when dividing lumens by the amount of bulbs you have in a space.
Bathroom, Home Office, & Kitchen Work Zones: 6,000 - 8,000 lumens
Dining Room & Kitchen: 3,000 to 4,000 lumens
Living room & Bedrooms: 1,000 to 2,000 lumens
In spaces like living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms where tasks may move between more detail-oriented tasks like reading to more relaxed activities like resting or conversing, I like to incorporate dimmers/dimmable fixtures. That way, the lighting can be adjusted per the activity at hand. Today, you can even get lighting systems that “dim-to-warm” and mimic the sun’s pattern of cooler & brighter during the daytime and warmer & darker during the evenings.
Fixture Selection & Swaps
Fixture selection is huge when it comes to an updated look & feel in your home. Ever heard of a “boob” light? Yeah, unfortunately me too! The good news is, fixture swaps are generally easy to make, even without the help of an electrician. Watching YouTube videos has saved me hundreds to probably thousands of dollars when it comes to swapping light fixtures in our own home instead of calling an electrician (proceed with caution, make sure you’re educated, and don’t ever make an electrical modification that you don’t feel comfortable with…but also you can do it!). This is a great thing to keep in mind if you’re in the home-buying process as simple swaps can totally transform a space. Below are a few lighting sources that I love from more budget-friendly to higher-end options.
Layered Lighting Approach
Layered lighting refers to the strategy of incorporating different types of lighting - ambient, task, and decorative/accent - into a single space. By incorporating all three and bringing light from the ceiling down to an experiential level, you can add interest and depth to your home. Ambient lighting is your general overhead lighting, typically can lights, surface mounted fixtures, or a light cove. This provides soft light that allows a space to function. Your task light can include things like under cabinet lighting or a reading lamp.
Designed with a team while working at Hufft, Photography by Michael Robinson
Decorative and accent lighting would be things like wall sconces or picture lights to highlight art, or a pendant light in a space that adds visual interest. Decorative/accent lighting could even include things like candles or small rechargeable lights incorporated into shelving. This third layer of light really makes a space feel intimate, cozy, and intentional and can be added easily for fairly low cost, especially when considering plug-in or battery-powered options.
Automation & Scenes
Finally, one approach to really enhance the lighting in a home, but may be more applicable to new builds and major renovations, is the addition of automation and scenes. As mentioned above with lighting levels, there are “dim-to-warm” systems that automatically adjust light temperatures and levels throughout the day based on the sun’s natural cycle. These systems may also read the natural light levels in the room and can completely shut off if the sun is bright enough, saving energy and bulb life. Another automatic, energy-saving feature to consider includes motion-sensor lights that turn on and off based on doors or cabinetry opening and closing.
Scenes are another type of automation that can be set up in specific areas of your home. Scenes tend to be most valuable in spaces that have very different uses throughout the day or week. A scene is simply a predetermined set of lighting conditions. For example, in a basement you may have Scene 1, Scene 2, and Scene 3 either on a wall switch or on your phone. Scene 1 is all lights turned on to full capacity for kids doing homework and hanging out. Scene 2 may be 60% dimmed on all fixtures for when you’re hosting a small group that focuses on conversation. Scene 3 may be all lights off except hallways dimmed to 25% for movie night.
To Conclude…
Lighting can make a huge difference in your space and often times doesn’t need to cost a lot of money. By changing the lighting temperature and levels of your bulbs, you can create a more cohesive look. By swapping out old fixtures and adding in second and third layers of lighting, you can enhance the overall aesthetic of your home. Finally, customizing your homes lighting through automation and scenes can create a user-friendly way to utlize light exactly as you need it in your home.