Lighting impacts on how a space looks and feels, it can transfer a so-so room into a fabulous living space where you want to spend time. We, as designers and installers of lighting and lighting control, have long understood the power of light and its ability to define, highlight and transform. Well- designed lighting and automated control allows you to creatively enhance decor, space and features in your home, promoting greater productivity and relaxation.

 

What are some of the benefits of Smart lighting?

Set the Tone

Lighting control allows you to combine a variety of light fittings, dimmed to the perfect level to suit the task and show off your home. It is a great solution for multi-functional areas, like open plan kitchen, dining & living spaces, where you undertake lots of different activities - simply press a button and your lighting transforms the space for cooking, dining, relaxing, entertaining’.

 

A Good Night’s Sleep

Believe it or not, you can use smart lighting to improve your sleep. Our brains respond to lower light by releasing melatonin, which a hormone that helps to regulate our sleep cycles. Melatonin starts to increase in the evenings and peaks during the night, before dropping again in the morning.

 

Exposure to bright light in the evening disrupts the natural production of melatonin. To avoid this, you can pre-programme your smart lights to switch to a warm sunlight colour and begin to dim in the evening, thirty minutes before bed. This gradual reduction in brightness will aid the production of melatonin, preparing you for better quality sleep.

 

The opposite can also be done in the mornings, and synced to your alarm, by connecting your phone to your lights. You can then programme your lights to gradually brighten for thirty minutes before your alarm goes off, which will aid in maintaining a consistent sleep-wake cycle.

 

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Seasonal lighting

Your home should be designed around your needs. Lighting control is intuitive, responding to your requirements as they change throughout the day and the time of year. In winter months we need more light, earlier in the day as well as in the afternoon. Smart lighting can be set to change throughout the year, adjusting to the season, controlling natural and generated lighting to complement your living.

 

An Improved Mood

While smart lighting is not clinically tested and proven to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), it can still help in improving your mood, especially during the darker winter months. You can even set them to change with the weather, so your lights can change to a warmer colour and get brighter if it starts to rain.

 

Increased Security

You can make your lights behave as though there was someone home when your house is empty, changing everything from colour to brightness, for every room in the house. You can even control them when you’re not home from anywhere in the world.

 

If your security system is provoked by an intruder, lighting, both inside and externally can be triggered to deter any would-be burglar and thanks to the advances in geo-fencing, we can avoid the continual light up created by wondering animals at night.

 

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Avoid Wall Clutter & Confusion

One of the things that is great about lighting control is that it eliminates the need for complicated planning of switching, which can be a real headache in large open plan living spaces. Automated lighting control enables you to have one switch to control all the lights you desire, and have them clearly labelled so everyone knows what they do and if you change your mind, no problem, they can just be re-programmed!”

 

 

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Save money

Here’s my top tips on how smart lighting control will save you money!

 

1. Use the right amount of light - Dimming your lights by 25% can save you 20% in energy costs
2. Dimming extends the life of your light bulbs
3. Lighting control encourages you to think about the lighting, so you only select the scene that suits that task, so you reduce the likelihood of leaving lights on, using only the lights required.
4. Motion sensors ensure your lights only switch on when someone walks into the room, which can be ideal for toilets, cupboards.
5. An ‘all off’ button at the front door or next to your bed means you never forget to turn the light off
6. All types of light sources can be dimmed, including low energy sources – so you get double savings!
7. Lights sensors can be used to automatically adjust the brightness of the lighting according to how much natural light is available in the room. This is known as daylight harvesting, and the savings can really add up.
8. Every dimmer automatically saves you 4-9% in electricity even when used at the highest lighting level compared to standard on/off switches

 

Have more fun

Fancy a new look in your living room? With smart lighting products such as lamps and LED strip lighting, you can change the colour of your walls and ceilings with lighting, rather than by redecorating. You can also change the ‘decor’ whenever you want, choosing from hundreds of millions of colours and billions of colour combinations!

 

Decorate with light

Of course, sometimes it’s just fun to play around - here’s some fun things you can do with smart lighting control:

• Tell Siri to start the party with a light colour show
• Tell Alexa to go bonkers at midnight on New Year’s Eve
• Match your lighting colour with your birthday decor