In winter when days are short and often overcast, lighting your home is as much about mood as it is about illuminating your rooms. Embracing the time of year and working with it is much more relaxing and effective than trying to artificially recreate brighter days.
There are plenty of ways to light up your home during winter including adding warmer bulbs, additional lamps, candles and storm lanterns which also work to enhance your decor. Changing lamp shades, letting more natural light in and working with smart lighting will enhance the feeling of a natural transition to this darker time of year.
Increase the temperature
Warm light bulbs are the quickest way to improve the lighting in your home during winter. This season of the year is about being indoors and staying cosy. By using bulbs that are between 2,700 – 3000 Kelvin you can create an instantly warmer-feeling home.
Kelvins are how light temperature is measured, the higher the number the cooler or more blue the light, while the lower the number the warmer or more orange the light will be. The colour and temperature of light affect our mood. Warmer colours make us feel more calm and relaxed which makes them perfect for winter.
Light up dark corners
Put lamps in any dark corners or unlit areas of your home to increase the level of light during winter. These could be floor lamps or table lamps and should enhance the existing lighting layers in the space.
Portable table lamps allow you to light up parts of your home previously unlit due to a lack of electrical sockets. These lamps can be placed anywhere that you want and you can pick them up and take them with you anywhere in the house.
Weather the storm
Storm lanterns are hugely popular as decorative items for holding pillar candles but they can also be very practical in winter. Not only can you light up various parts of your home with a cosy glow but you’ll also be prepared for power outages during bad weather or heavy snowfall.
Forget having to scramble around for torches or using your mobile phone to find your way around in the dark, just pick up your storm lantern. Storm lanterns are a safe way of burning candles by protecting them from being knocked over and encasing the naked flame.
Layer your lighting
The key to good lighting in your home is to have different layers including pendants, wall lights and floor or table lamps. Some areas of your home such as the kitchen need to be very well lit so you may consider installing LED downlighting which will provide excellent overhead lighting.
In other rooms, you can alter the ambience in winter by using lamps and wall lights more than overhead pendants to create a cosier atmosphere. Having different light layers gives you more options for different times of the day as well as changing the mood of the room. To give the room some style, why not think about using antique lighting to make a statement. You can go onto websites such as www.antiquesboutique.com to see what they have available and how it can fit in to your overall decor.
Swap your lampshades
Warmer colours and textures on your lampshades will help to create a more snug ambience in your home. Rather than buying new lamps just invest in some new shades in richer colours and deeper hues such as orange, red or dark green.
The lampshade material will also enhance the mood of the season with velvet being a popular choice for this time of year.
Throw back the curtains
Although daylight is limited in winter you can look at ways to increase the natural light coming into your home. Increasing the amount of light in your home will improve your mood by increasing levels of serotonin in your body.
If you have heavy winter curtains use tiebacks to allow more light in and prevent them from obscuring too much of the window. You can also add some mirrors to reflect the natural light and enhance its effect. Keep your windows clean to allow maximum light in.
Be smart with lights
Smart home lighting is a great way to brighten up your home during the darker days of winter. There are plenty of smart bulbs, light strips and other fixtures that can be controlled from your phone through your Wi-Fi connection.
Not only can you turn the lights on and off but you can change their colour, set them to dim at a particular time or even link them to your TV to react to whatever you’re watching. Smart lights are compatible with smart speakers as well as your phone and will react to voice commands from both.
Fake it with faux candles
Candles are a wonderful home accessory and create a wonderful ambience, particularly in winter but there are risks associated with naked flames. A great alternative is to have flame-effect LED candles.
These battery-operated lighting accessories mimic real candles with a flickering effect but are safer around small children, the elderly and pets.
We hope that we have given you some inspiration on how to light up your home this winter. Don’t forget you can mix and match many of these ideas to introduce lots of light and cosiness into your home at this time of year.
Meg is an author at Cinnamon Hollow. She writes on a variety of topics sharing tips and ideas for daily life.