The Right Light at Home
There’s a saying, “doctor knows best.” Well, he’s not a medical doctor, but Randall Whitehead, The Lighting Doctor, can make the best of your home lighting. Acclaimed as an industry expert, the international lighting consultant is also the author of books on the subject, the latest being the 2nd edition of Residential Lighting, A Practical Guide. Whitehead shares his insights on the latest in residential lighting for your luxury home.
Photo courtesy of Debra Janes
• Wireless controls for lighting made easy with your phone.
“Homeowners are now able to purchase simple plug-and-play lighting controls that can be operated remotely by smart phone. An example is the Caseta Wireless made by Lutron. Components include devices that plug into receptacles in which then table lamps and floor lamps are plugged into them. There is also a small box called a “bridge” which sends a signal between your smart phone and the plug-in devices. There is a free app from Lutron that lets you set up the system. There are also wireless remote controls included, when you don’t happen to have your phone with you.”
Photo courtesy of Debra Janes
• Warm dim technology in LEDs allows the ability to get warmer in color when dimmed.
“One of the initial drawbacks to LEDs (light emitting diodes) was that when they were dimmed they became less intense, but maintained the same color. All our lives we have been use to incandescent lighting, which gets warmer and warmer in color when dimmed. What is now available are decorative fixtures, along with linear LED strips and light bulbs that have built in warm-dim technology. So you can have the look and feel of incandescent light, while saving energy and getting products that last a really long time, up to 17 years.
Photo courtesy of Debra Janes
• Warmer colored LEDs can look like dimmed incandescent or candlelight.
“There are lightbulbs available in warmer colors, including 2400° Kelvin and 2200° Kelvin. So now, you can pick a deliciously warm color and it stays that way no matter whether the lights are full brightness or dimmed down to a glow. There are even old-fashioned looking “Edison” bulbs that are actually LEDs.”
• LEDs are the way to go.
“What has greatly improved since LEDs were originally introduced, is the color quality of the light. All LEDs start out as a blue white light, but they can be filtered to create many colors…including a very warm incandescent quality of light. When you’re looking for LED bulbs, be aware of three things: color temperature, color rendering index and lumen output.
Photo courtesy of Debra Janes
Color Temperature- “All lights emit a hue of illumination. This is measured in degrees Kelvin. For example, daylight is 5000° Kelvin and incandescent light is 2700° Kelvin. Dimmed incandescent is 2400° Kelvin and candlelight is 2200° Kelvin; so the higher the number, the whiter (cooler) the light becomes. Check out what the color temperature is to make sure that you’re getting a warm incandescent quality of light or whatever color works for you.”
Color Rendering Index (CRI) - “This compares the quality of light to incandescent. Incandescent has a CRI of 100. People want to pick a product that's closest to 100. Much of the LEDs on the market are in the 80 to 85 CRI range. This tends to flatten out colors. Look for an LED product that has a CRI rating of 90 to 98.
Lumen (lm) output-“This tells you how much light you will be getting from a light source, a 40 W incandescent bulb produces 500 lm, a 9 W fluorescent produces 500 lm, and depending on the manufacturer a 9.5 W to a 12.8 W LED can produce 489 to 575 lm.”
Photo courtesy of Debra Janes
• Read the label.
“LED lighting now comes with a Lighting Facts label on the box that gives you all of this information, including a little thermometer-like icon the tells you where in the color temperature range a particular product sits. It's like the same kind of information label that you would have a box of cereal that tells you such things as calories, vitamins, sugar content, etc. The addition of this label is voluntary on the part of the manufacturers, so not all LED products will have it. Some will have the label, but selectively leave off the CRI, because it is 80 or under.”
These lighting tips can help make your home ideally illuminated.
Also check out Debra Janes's 7 bedroom 7 bath luxury listing whose lighting bespeaks grandeur: 10 Via Aragon
