Lighting can be used to completely reinvent a house, transforming it into a cosy family home or a lively entertainment area, whatever the current need may be. Controls allow for lights to be dimmed or turned off altogether at the touch of a button – your clients don’t even need to be in the same country, let alone the same room. Combining this with an astronomical clock or a light sensor can ensure that lighting is always at the right level for that time of day, ensuring that energy will not be wasted.

All rooms need a source of light so this needs to be considered before decorating as considerations will have to be paid to where the lights will go; if cables need to be installed, and how each light will complement each other and interact with the different surfaces and fabrics within the room.

The visible parts of a home technology solution, such as switch and socket faceplates, can be incorporated into the interior design of a home, matching the decor. Integration companies can even set the stand by screen on control touch panels to match the wallpaper behind it, allowing for a completely seamless installation.

Creating ambience

Lighting is one of the best tools for creating a mood and ambience. Ambient lighting refers to the general illumination of a room and is a broad category that encompasses a wide range of luminaire types, such as up or downlights. Ambient lighting appears from all directions with no obvious source, as opposed to directional or focal lighting that has a fixed target. In a bedroom for example, it is important to set the right ambience and create a series of different moods, for example reading, sleeping or watching TV.

In the mornings, curtains or blinds open and the bedroom is flooded with natural light but at the end of a busy day, there is nothing that helps your clients relax more than the calming influence of a subtly lit bedroom. To achieve this, dimming and pre-set lighting scenes for mornings and evenings are both elements worth considering.

Scene setting and colour temperature

Home decors can’t be changed every day, but different lighting scenes can change the feel of a room from hour-to-hour. In the living room, a range of different lighting pre-sets for different areas and scenarios may be required: low lighting for watching television, spotlights for reading and enough light to fill the space when having friends over. Decorative lighting in these spaces may be chosen – such as chandeliers or wall sconces, designed to appear as if they illuminate the whole room, when in reality, general and task lighting is providing most of the light.

One of the most important things that link good lighting control with interior design is colour temperature. Sources that produce a cool (white/blue) light are said to have high colour temperature, compared to sources which have a warm (white/yellow) light, these are said to have a low colour temperature. Knowing how these differing temperatures affect colour will help to decide when and where to use them.

Using warm coloured temperatures will make reds and peaches look better, whereas blues and greens will look better under a cool temperature.

Safe houses

Another way of utilising lighting is through integrating it with a security system. This way, you can give the impression that your client’s home is occupied whilst they are away. Before going on holiday, clients can set their automation system to record which lights they turn on and when over the course of a week. Then, when they leave, they can set their lighting to ‘holiday mode’. The lights will switch on and off as they would when they are home, giving the illusion that their property is occupied.

Preserving energy

Being smart with controlling your client’s home is a big factor in designing their home. LED continues to be a popular choice when choosing residential lighting. They are easy to control, as they can be dimmed when natural light is available, or switched off in unoccupied spaces. More of us are becoming more mindful of the investment in energy-efficient controlled solutions and the technology that is now there to realise both energy and financial savings across the life of a property.

A much better quality of light can now be achieved with varying colour temperatures with LED over traditional light sources. Using lighting control can also reduce the amount of energy that is wasted by lighting unoccupied spaces as well as being able to create decorative and interesting lighting scenes that change throughout the day.

When LED controls are integrated with sensory controls, your clients can create a daylight harvesting solution that automatically optimises light levels throughout the day with no adverse impact on the comfort of users within the room. This means that the lights will be automatically switched off or reduced to around 10% brightness when there is plenty of daylight, or when there is nobody present in that particular room.