Choosing Lighting around the Home

It’s easy to overlook the importance of effective lighting within our homes, especially during a long Scottish winter and now more so than ever, given how much time most of us are spending at home. And although we’ve now moved back into British Summer Time, our unpredictable weather and requirements for home working mean it’s still crucial to ensure your home is well-lit and bright.

Buyers of new homes enjoy generous quantities of natural daylight courtesy of the Building (Scotland) Regulations, which ensure historic ‘fashions’ for mean little windows are no longer acceptable. And while Cruden Homes goes far beyond these minimum requirements in the design of our spacious, airy homes, we appreciate every home will have some areas which are brighter than others. North-facing rooms receive the most consistent natural lighting while being the darkest, whereas south-facing apartments may (or may not) be flooded with sunshine.

These are our tips for ensuring every room in your home is useably bright at any time of day or year…

Address dark corners

Walk round your home and consider which rooms would benefit from artificial lighting. Uplighters dispel gloom and illuminate wall-mounted art, while dimmable downlighters work best in dining rooms and lounges. Freestanding lamps make brilliant statement pieces, though it’s best to avoid old-fashioned designs with horizontal push-buttons hidden behind their shades. Speaking of which, dark or heavy shades may reduce the amount of light on offer.

Think about practicalities

This involves considering where lighting could make your life easier. Would an adjustable bedside spotlight be helpful for night-time reading? What about a lamp just inside the front door when you come home at night? Kitchens tend to attract crumbs, and LED kickplate bulbs will flag up any need for the hoover. Skirting-level fibre optics can improve safety on staircases by adding classy illumination to each tread.

Invest in full spectrum lighting

If you feel a bit down in late autumn and winter, it could be the absence of serotonin-stimulating sunshine. Full spectrum bulbs encourage our bodies to generate more serotonin. They produce a crisp white light which is much more appealing than the yellow glow of incandescent bulbs. They’re also powerful with evenly dispersed light – ideal for desks and reading nooks. However, you’re generally restricted to large screw-in or bayonet caps.

Use smart lighting

Lamp timers have a reputation for being noisy and unreliable, but the internet has rendered them superfluous. It’s now possible to turn lamps on and off via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, giving you instant voice control from anywhere in the world. This also provides greater security while you’re away, since anyone monitoring your house is likely to assume you’re still there if lights are going on at different times each day.

Choose lighting to complement your property style

If you have a large bay-windowed lounge, a central chandelier might emphasise its sense of spaciousness. In a recessed dining area, spotlights recessed into the ceiling will eliminate shadows without getting in anyone’s way. Modern homes don’t really suit bare bulbs or tasselled lightshades, but they do suit LEDs under kitchen wall units. You can’t have too many lighting options in a kitchen, whereas bathrooms benefit from a few warm white LEDs.

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