Spot lights… Great pieces of functional lighting for numerous settings and tasks. Whether for industrial or commercial use to general home lighting, spotlights are an ideal way to light your space. We’ll look at a few of the best styles of spotlight for home lighting and give some innovative ways to use spots-lighting to the best effect.
First and foremost in almost any lighting scheme the main source of light will be from ceiling lights. Ceiling spotlighting is an ideal way of getting general light as well as light in the particular direction you want, many ceiling spot lights have adjustable spots which will mean even with alteration to your surroundings you can still get the light to where it’s needed. There are many additional benefits to lighting your room with spot lights including the fact they are generally suited to rooms with both higher and lower ceilings given their semi flush fit design. Many are situated on a rose attachment while others are set up as track lighting & cable kits, these are usually the better option for larger rooms providing more individual spot lights and often an adjustable bar. Of course multiple clusters can be just as effective. Spot lights are also a great form of lighting to consider as there are many energy efficient bulbs which can be used in these fittings. LED spot lights give out a great amount of light with only a fraction of the running costs of a halogen or incandescent spotlight bulb. This is hugely beneficial for any situation but even more so in rooms in which lighting is going to be on for long periods of time.
Pluto 6 Light Spotlight Bar
What other options are there for ceiling spotlighting? There are also recessed ceiling spots which are perfect for those with very low ceilings or simply for those who prefer the flat ceiling look. Spotlights that are sunken can be positioned in various patterns, either to blanket the room in an even light or spaced to give pools of light. Whichever way suits your taste and the architecture of the room is great. As they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which roughly translates to ‘it’s your home, do what you think looks good’. If you’d like some suggestions here’s our top 5 tips for recessed spotlights.
- Grid Pattern, still the most popular mount lights one every 1-2 square meters
- Corners Count, If you’re looking to make a smaller room seem large add spotlights to the corners of the room, blurring the boundaries of the room really does help the feeling of space.
- Architectural Focus, if you have a rustic stone wall add a row of spotlight to the ceiling close to the wall. This will wash the wall with light, highlighting the textured details.
- Centre Stage, spotlight the items in your home that you feel should have centre stage. This is a great little tip. Place you favourite object on a table, or a single flower in a vase and mount a spotlight above it. It really does make an everyday object into a star. Choose a narrow beam spotlight bulb to make this really dramatic.
- Light Up, often we spend lots of time making lights come down into the room but a little uplighting provides indirect light, a more diffused light is great for providing ambience. To do this you could mount spotlights on a wall pointing upwards, or a free standing lamp can be as effective.
Often people wish to use spotlights in more functional ways. This see’s spotlights used more prominently in rooms such as the bathroom however bathroom spot lights come in many different
ARIES bathroom spotlight cluster
styles too, be aware these must be properly rated for bathrooms. Special IP rating are used to help people understand which lights are safe for bathrooms IP means how protected the electrical parts are from water and steam. Recessed ceiling spot lights are also available as LED spot lights.
Some of you may require double insulated spotlights if you do not have an earth wire present. This is important so you must check that your chosen spot lights are double insulated (class 2). As we mentioned before one of the best features of spotlights is the ability to adjust the angle in which they face, this is great for task lighting but ceiling spotlighting may not be quite enough – worry not! Wall spot lights are perfect for getting that added concentration of light onto your work surfaces, be it in the kitchen, bedroom or study! Some of these are also individually switched which can be better suited for the purpose. Wall spot lights are normally single or double but there’s nothing to stop you fitting a light with more lights if required. Not only are wall spots great for worktops and desks but they also do a good job of lighting up pictures, ornaments and room features!
It’s not all about bright light, sometimes a subtle low level light is the desired effect for inside a cabinet. Concealed and cabinet lighting offers low wattage and low level spotlights which are enough to highlight the contents of your showcase. Or perhaps you want a little more control over the light level in which case most spotlights are dimmable! Just ensure the bulbs (if using low energy/LED) are also dimmable.
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There are hundreds of spot lights to choose from to light up every room in the house! Feel free to browse through our selection here: All Spot Lights
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