Bedside Lights – getting bedside lighting right
Lighting in bedrooms is so important. It’s important to get the lighting right for going to sleep, to help us sleep better and also for waking up. Sleep is such an important factor in our lives, it impacts our health and our mental well being. Getting your bedside lights right can help with this.
Lighting levels and feel
Getting the levels right can be tricky. You need enough for reading but low enough to get us ready for sleep. And not too bright to be a huge shock when switching on in the morning. Different lights will give different lighting levels even with the same watt bulb. But a rough guide is no more than 5W LED (or 40W for traditional).
Make sure you have the right colour temperature bulbs. Warmer (yellow) lighting is best for bedrooms, especially for bedside lighting. White, “daylight” bulbs can hinder the production of melatonin. Choose warm bulbs (2700K). You also don’t want the shock of bright white light first thing in the morning either!
Smart bulbs are now available where the colour temperature (warm to cool) can be varied.
As a general guide a bedroom requires 10-20 lumens per square foot, or 100 – 200 lumens per square metre.
Controlling lighting
Ensure you can control your bedside lighting from your main room switch as well as a switch by your bed. But what if you don’t have these wired in and running new cables doesn’t sound that appealing? Try smart bulbs controlled by Alexa or Google. These start from around £10 per bulb. Problem solved.
Dimmers are a great addition to make the lighting work for you throughout the day. But make sure you have dimmable LED bulbs. Non-dimmable LEDs don’t work very well with standard dimmer switches.
A change of light bulb, ensuring you have a dimmer and being able to control your lighting from next to your bed. This may be all your need to make your bedside lights work for you.
Lighting Styles
Lighting in bedrooms can sometimes be a bit of an afterthought. But bedroom lighting can be a chance to do something a bit different, to make a statement. A beside light is perfect for relaxing and reading at night. You can turn off an over-head spotlight. Read on to help with choosing your bedside lights.
So what are the options for a bedside table?
Wall lights and pendant lights are good options for a smaller bedroom. Leaving more room on your bedside table or meaning you don’t have to have a bedside table if space is at a premium. Pendant lights are perfect for getting the light as you want it. You can choose the height of the light and the position with ease. Low hanging pendant lights create a soft relaxing glow, perfect for night time. To make a statement you could hang a cluster of three pendant lights next to your bed.
Table lamps generally work in a larger bedroom where it won’t compromise space on bedside tables. If you have the space a large table lamp either side of the bed can make a real statement and add symmetry to the room. A table lamp should take up about a third of your bedside table.
An advantage of table lamps is you can plug them in and go, there is no hard wiring. This also makes them easy to swap out and change if required.
Take a look at our lighting and start planning your bedside lighting.
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