LED lighting is currently available in a wide variety of home and industrial products, and the list is growing every year. The rapid development of LED technology means better products and more of those products sold at more affordable prices. An LED bulb can last more than 50,000 hours compared to 1,200 hours with incandescent bulbs. With 25 bulbs in your home you could be saving well over $6,000 in electricity a year. Therefore, more and more homeowners are investing in LED products and for great reason … here are some of our favorite tips:

 

♦Because LED lights emit less heat than incandescent bulbs they are ideally suited for showcasing wall art.
♦For nighttime reading use a 50-watt to a 60-watt equivalent bulb.
♦Use a bulb with a bright white color temperature for your kitchen or use them to highlight under cabinets and kick panels. Make sure pendant lights have a 30- to 36-inch clearance above countertops and tables. (see some examples below from varies sites)

 

♦Decorative LED lighting placed behind an entertainment center can add ambiance to a room.
♦LED tape lights can be cut to fit any application.
♦Position sconces beside a bathroom mirror. Choose 20-watt to 25-watt equivalent bulbs. (See below from some of our recent projects.)

♦Keep the light in your office no brighter than your computer screen to prevent eye fatigue.
♦Use LED bulbs to saturate the area behind a headboard with a warm glow.

The Next Level: Tuning Your White Light

In addition to simply replacing bulbs with LED bulb technology,  it seems the days of standard dimmable fixtures are going fast. Lighting is adapting to more than a pretty lamp and/or a canned ceiling fixture properly placed. Soon it will be about “tunable white light and colored LED lighting engineered to promote health and wellness, evoke ambiance, and even put our circadian rhythms back on track,” says an article by Electronic House. “The latest technology allows you to adjust the lighting color and temperature at the touch of a button to emulate a variety of conditions. The lighting scenes featured were chosen based on significant research by USA Lighting to include: circadian, soft day, soft night, energize, sunlight, and relax. Tunable white settings included warm, sunrise, natural and early A.M.” This will make what designers and homeowners can achieve with design so much more far reaching in the future. Learn more here. This intuitive lighting which bridges the gap between beautiful fixtures and amazing control is just the beginning.