Aug 31, 2013

Spotlights Add Precision and Clarity to a Home's Ambience



Having all the lighting in your home at the same intensity is a recipe for blandness. Spotlights, when correctly used, can have a striking visual effect. The intelligent use of carefully directed light is a sadly overlooked aspect of interior design.

Stop the mundane look

As the daylight fades you have to turn the lights on, of course, but too many people give no thought to the effect of their lighting on the best features of their homes. Having light at all one level throughout the home is unnecessary and means that no attention is being drawn to the best features of your decor. The special bits, the items in your home that you love the most, get the same attention as the most mundane.

Highlight those special pieces
Take a look at the pieces in your home that you think are the most attractive. Perhaps a superb ceramic, or an ornate vintage fireplace or a sensational painting. Are they getting the attention they deserve? Visible lighting spotlights are a perfect way to draw the eye towards those pieces. With subdued lighting in the rest of the room, those special pieces are accentuated by precise spotlighting.

Practical uses
There are practical reasons also for using spotlights. Outside the home, spotlights, especially triggered by movement, are an excellent security measure. They are an excellent choice anywhere that a bright light is needed for a limited area. For instance in the kitchen they can be put underneath the wall cabinets to flood food preparation areas with light. Spotlights are ideal for those areas in the bathroom which need bright lights, above mirrors, sinks or the shower. They have the advantage of being able to be put in flush with the ceiling. They're good in the bedroom for replacing table lamps which can clutter up an area. A well-directed spotlight is perfect for reading in bed.

Which type is right?

So having decided on visible lighting spotlights, what type of lighting should you choose: Incandescent, CFL or LED? The European Union's recent legislation means that incandescent lighting is being phased out. Once all the stocks have been sold there will be no more, so they will have to be replaced with either CFL or LED bulbs. In a CFL (compact fluorescent lamps) electricity runs between electrodes at either end of a tube which contains gases, argon and mercury vapour. The gases react and produce ultraviolet light and heat. The UV light, which is invisible to the human eye, is changed into light we can see when it hits a coating of phosphor on the inside of the bulb. CFLs also produce heat. Compared with incandescents, CFLs use between one-third and one-fifth the electricity and can last up to 15 times longer. They are more expensive, but savings are made because of the longer lifetime.

LED (light-emitting diode lamps) are semiconductors. They produce light when electricity travels through them. They have advantages. They last longer, they're versatile, durable and more efficient. And they emit light in a precise direction, whereas both CFL bulbs and incandescent types give off light in every direction. And they do not produce heat as both the other types do. LEDs are good for all lighting uses and are dimmable. They are able to last up to 50,000 hours. That is about eight times the life of CFLs. With LEDs there is not the problem of disposal suffered by CFLs. They do not have the CFL's mercury content, so can be recycled easily.

Related source : All about LED lighting

Author Bio: 

James Holden is the digital content manager of Visible Lighting and has many years’ experience in the LED Lighting industry. To find out more information on James Holden, you can follow him on Google Plus.

Search Term :

No comments:

  © Blogger template 'A Click Apart' by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP