The Living Room - Better Living Through LED Lighting
Posted by Richard Clarke on 8th Dec 2011
Home is where the heart is and, your lighting is at the very heart of your home, so you’ll definitely want the best for yourself and your family.
LED lighting is the very best on offer, and here’s exactly how you can maximise its potential, so it’ll provide you with exceptional illumination for every room in your home.
The Living Room
It’s where we congregate every evening after a tiring day at work. This is the room in which we sit and talk or watch the telly. This is, for most people, the true heart of our home. Whether you call it a living room, a lounge or a sitting room (you might even call it a parlour), the lighting in this room is all-important, so you’ll really want to get it right.
LED Spotlight Fittings
Perfect for use in the living room are LED spotlight fittings. These stylish fittings come in all shapes, types and sizes, and they’re not just for the ceiling as some people might think. They’ll fit equally well on the wall, and provide you with a bespoke lighting effect that will be unique to your taste.
LED spotlights will afford you a discreet and even lighting spread across your room, giving a feeling of space and depth.
Available in a wide range of different styles, LED spotlight fittings are to be had in singles, triples, quads, 6-way and 8-way varieties, so the lighting requirements of any sized living space can be amply catered for.
Fortunately every type of aforementioned LED spotlight fitting is compatible with the bestselling LED GU10 Bulb, the most popular direct halogen replacement, so the only decision you’ll need to make is which one to purchase to create the effect you’re after.
For spotlight fittings, it’s advisable to go for a bulb with a relatively narrow, focused beam angle, so anything from 38° to 60° would be ideal.
In a choice of colour temperatures that mark this LED bulb as particularly versatile, you’ll be able to tailor the ambience of your living room so it’s just the way you like it.
The vast majority of people choose the warm white (3000K) colour option, as it’s very mellow and relaxing, however, daylight white (4000K) is increasing in popularity as they discover how closely it resembles natural light.
If you have a very minimalistic, modern style of décor in your living area, the cool white (6000K) could be right up your street, given its bright, utilitarian quality.
Another way you’ll be able to influence the ambience of your living space is by using a dimmable bulb in your fitting. Dimmable LED bulbs such as the GU10 LED 27 SMD require a trailing edge dimmer, and they won’t simply enhance the feeling of relaxation, they’ll also save you money on your electricity bill.
The fact that you’ll be able to regulate its brightness using the dimmer, means you’ll have complete control of the electricity you’re consuming.
LED Ceiling Lights
To completely change and enliven the look of your living room, there’s nothing like a funky new ceiling light. Whether you’re in the market for a chandelier type or more of a pendant, there are a number of great choices to complement your choice of décor. From the Shabby ‘n’ Chic 4-Way Bird Cage Chandelier to the flamboyant decadence of the Tennyson 4-Tier Ceiling Light, you’ll find a style to suit your personality.
LED Reading Lamps
If you’re in the mood for a bit of ‘you’ time, and enjoy relaxing with a good book or the newspaper, you might have a reading lamp. If so, there are LEDs that will be perfect replacements for your existing incandescent bulbs.
The E14 Omni-LED Clear Golf Ball bulb with its 360° all-round beam angle will produce a wide light spread that will allow you to read, and its Edison Screw fitting measuring 14mm should work well with most types of reading lamp.
For more light intensity, there’s the E14 R50 LED Reflector Bulb, which produces 380 lumens of brightness for just 4.5 watts of power.
Whenever you’re choosing a bulb, it’s best to be aware of the type of fitting you’ll require. After all, there’s nothing worse than shopping for a bulb and then realising it’s not compatible with your light, and there are such a bewildering array of them that it’s easy to do just that.
The Omni-LED Clear Golf Ball bulbs, for example, are also available with B22 and E27 fittings, so it’s advisable to check before you purchase one or the other.
Amazing Replacements
Whichever LED bulb you choose for your living room, they all have three things in common:
- They’re all extremely energy-efficient. On average, an LED bulb is 90% more energy-efficient than the incandescent bulb it replaces. This means that if you install just 5 x 3W LEDs in your living room, to replace 5 x 35W incandescent bulbs, you’ll save an enormous £64.24 over the course of a year (based on 8 hours’ use per day and assuming the cost of electricity to be 13.75 pence per kW/h);
- They all have a massively extended life-expectancy. Yes, at 50,000 hours, you can expect your LED light bulb to still be going strong in 17.12 years’ time, as opposed to the 1200 hours of an incandescent bulb. This means far fewer replacements and much less time spent shopping around for them;
- They’re all environmentally-friendly. Manufactured from 100% recyclable materials and containing no poisonous Mercury, LEDs have superb green credentials in comparison to the bulbs they replace. This is great news, especially in the living room; the very heart of your home.
If you’d like a chat about LED lighting for your home, why not give our team of experts a call on 0116 321 4120?
You can also check out our superb LED lighting products on our website.
Or, if you’d prefer, you can send us an e-mail enquiry to cs@wled.co.uk.