Posted on September 21, 2021 by Miller and Smith Blog Team
There’s always something in a room that puts that finishing touch on its decor.
It might be a rug that ties the room together, or maybe it’s the arrangement of the furniture.
But there’s one thing needed—no matter how perfectly a room is ornamented—for it to really shine: light.
Without light, all your decorating and art triumphs are invisible. Your furniture pieces are just stubbed toes waiting to happen!
We joke, but you know what we mean. Though all of our Miller & Smith homes sparkle with lots of natural light beaming in through their large, low-Energy windows, artificial illumination is key for showing off everything you love about your home.
Here are 5 new lighting trends to make your Miller & Smith home glow:
Lighting doesn’t always have to be seen to be experienced. In fact, hiding the source of a room’s lighting is a very trendy method! Many Miller & Smith homes already offer recessed and under-counter lighting. These techniques are especially desirable because they don’t interrupt the lines and finishes of your kitchens, ceilings, or anywhere else!
You can take your hidden lighting game to the next level by using bias lighting with your televisions. Bias lighting installs behind (and is sometimes powered by) your television. Adding a glow of light behind your TV not only looks cool, but also prevents eye strain. And if you want something truly unique, turn your next-level bias lighting up to 11 by installing one with sync capability. This lets the bias system analyze the colors on your TV and adjust the color of the lighting to “extend” the action outside of your TV for a truly cutting-edge entertainment experience.
Smart light bulbs are as fun as they are functional! They are “smart” in that they can be controlled by an app or by your favorite voice assistant. Talking and turning on lights (just like Star Trek and countless other sci-fi shows) really feels like you are living in the future. Often, smart bulbs also offer the ability to dim bulbs without installing any dimmer switches or fixtures.
But voice control and dimmability are only two of the highlights (pun intended) of smart bulbs. You are also often able to adjust the color and, more importantly, color temperature of the bulbs. Color is easy enough to understand, but color temperature is a characteristic of light that seems to be able to affect mood. While totally a personal choice, warmer color temperatures (closer to natural candlelight) can make the dining room and owner’s suite in your Miller & Smith home feel cozier, while colder temps (closer to sunlight) can make your spacious kitchen a gleaming place to cook up all sorts of delicious meals.
Everyone knows the shape of a light bulb, but LED technology means light bulbs no longer have to be light-bulb shaped! LED bulbs are a new lighting trends that are not only much more energy efficient than their incandescent ancestors, but they don’t have the same constraints on their form factor. LED bulbs can be shaped into illuminating works of art in a variety of futuristic and retro-looking configurations.
You can even get them very retro looking with what’s called Edison or filament bulbs. These bulbs are constructed using LED “filaments” (i.e., the part that would heat up and produce light in an incandescent bulb) that take any light source on an imaginary trip back through time. With filament bulbs and LED bulbs in unusual forms, the bulbs themselves become works of art and focal points for your living space. You might even want to use them without lamp shades!
The popcorn’s popped, Saturday-night movie selected, and everyone has gathered in the recreation room of your Miller & Smith home. There’s just one thing left before clicking play on the remote: dimming the lights! But, sometimes you want to be able to control the brightness of a room without worrying about fiddling with an app or talking to an omnipresent voice assistant.
For these rooms, you’ll need a little more hardware. But for most it will only mean checking that you have dimmer switches installed. And, since you’ll be using LED bulbs specially made to be dimmable, your brightness-controlled lighting will be extremely energy efficient. Dimmable lights make sure the brightness of your space matches any mood—including movie night.
Cleanliness has become more important than ever before, and now your lighting can help super-clean your rooms! Based on their industrial counterparts, LED bulbs for residential use have been created that can also emit UVC wavelengths. Without getting too technical, UVC light is used to destroy harmful micro-organisms, such as bacteria and viruses.
Though gaining in popularity, UVC LED bulbs must be used very carefully. Direct exposure to UVC light is harmful to people and animals, so rooms have to be completely empty before use. Also, UVC needs to figuratively bathe a room for a certain amount of time to be effective. In the right location (garages, bathrooms, mudrooms, kitchens, etc.), UVC LED lights can be used to fully disinfect a space (including the air) with science and light.
These new lighting trends capitalize on technology to bring more personality and control into your home spaces. Most of them are very easy to install (just screw in a light bulb) and will make your dazzling Miller & Smith home shine even brighter!