Lights are either on or off, right?
Wrong! Smart lighting isn’t just the difference between being able to navigate a room safely and tripping over furniture; smart lighting adds another facet to our living space; it creates atmosphere. Here’s how to use smart lighting to build an intuitive and functional living space.
The crucial element (see what we did there?) is the warmth and colour of the light. Warmth is measured in Kelvins, with a warm light coming in at around 2200, and colder lights, such as those used in workspaces, registering around 6500. If your living space is multi-functional, for example, an office in the daytime and a place to relax in the evening, it stands to reason that your lighting sources also need to be multi-functional, allowing you to be productive at both work and relaxation!
The simplest way to achieve this is by setting up smart lighting with warmth variables, allowing you to slide from cold to warm and back again. You can even set up scenes, such as work and evening, enabling you to control the light settings with a phrase rather than having to open an app and manually set the light setting. Alternatively, you could set up up-lighting or lamps with warmer colours for the evening, while using a cooler overhead light in the day. These can be set on timers or routines, or to switch on when you enter a room, or again to respond to a pre-programmed phrase via your chosen smart assistant.
And no, smart lighting’s destiny isn’t solely to help you see; it can also create a mood (try bulbs with multiple colours, or even programmable panels), or make you room feel bigger or cosier (an LED strip highlighting a wall for the former; a small light on a bookshelf for the latter). Play around with what creates the atmosphere most suited to your tastes; you’ll be lighting up your life in no time!
