2023

9 Surprising Ways to Glow Up Your Home Exterior (Literally)

by admin · Apr 11, 2024

Most neighborhoods look the same when you drive at night. Because no matter what makes homes unique during the day, they almost all only use a porch light or two at night. But your home doesn’t have to lose its character and statement features just because the sun went down!

You may be surprised that there are at least nine ways to light your home’s exterior. We’ll dive into expert tips to unlock the unexpected for your evening curb appeal and outdoor activities. From increasing safety to creating drama to inspiring luxury, mix and match these lighting methods to customize an unforgettable “evening look.”

1. Accent Lighting

Accent lighting uses light to draw attention to a feature of your home or garden. In fact, any of the following eight lighting techniques can be used as accent lighting! For example, try using a spotlight to show off a flagpole, up-lighting on a few trees to increase their impact, or silhouette shrubbery for subtle mystery.

A tip from the experts: Trying to figure out what to accent on your home exterior? Make a list of your favorite things about your front yard (or what you’d like to add to your yard).

2. Down-lighting

Want to increase visibility for outdoor activities? Try down-lighting! This lighting technique positions the light source up high with a shade that concentrates the light towards the ground. The bright light makes evening play safer and keeps the party going after sundown.

A tip from the experts: Trees are a great place to nestle down-lighting sources with finesse.

3. Highlighting

You’ve likely seen yards in a fancy neighborhood that look like their trees are glowing somehow. They’re probably being highlighted! By shining a spotlight or two from the base of a tree or other feature, the light will reflect only off the object. This concentrated glow makes the object look like it is lit from the inside!

A tip from the experts: Highlight is a simple way to immediately make your home look upscale and luxurious.

4. Moonlighting

Are you looking for more magic and romance in your outdoor space? Then try out moonlighting! Like down-lighting, moonlighting uses a high-up light source to concentrate light downwards. However, this method uses more subtle sources and dimmer light– mimicking the softness and mystery of a full moon!

A tip from the experts: Moonlighting is most effective in backyards and wooded areas, where the soft light can trickle down through the leaves.

5. Silhouetting

Silhouetting is the opposite of highlighting, but its effect is equally dramatic. Instead of lighting the feature itself, you can use the light source behind a tree and the wall. This will shine the light on the wall and cast the tree or other features into shadow. So you’ll get the soft shape of your feature, giving impact in a subtle way.

A tip from the experts: Make sure to angle the light towards the wall to create the greatest effect!

6. Shadowing

Want to spread the beautiful pattern of your tree leaves against your home? Then shadowing is the perfect technique for you! Shadowing combines highlighting with silhouetting for a completely new effect.

Like silhouetting, you’ll position your light source towards a wall behind the tree. But, like highlighting, you’ll put the light in front of your tree. As a result, you’ll cast a dramatic shadow of your tree against your home while clearly illuminating the trunk.

A tip from the experts: This works best with tall, leafy trees for an enchanting summer evening. The bare branches will look stunning in the winter too!

7. Path-lighting

Upgrade the magic and safety of your front walk or garden path with path-lighting! Solar lights are easy to install and come in endless designs and colors. Not only will path lights make your home safer, but you’ll get to enjoy your plants and landscaping around the clock.

A tip from the experts: Space your path lights 5 to 10 feet apart, depending on the lamp’s brightness.

8. Up-lighting

Want to add drama with a contoured view of your home? Up-lighting uses spotlights to throw light upwards on your home exterior. You’ll work with the natural layers of your home to create interest and luxury. Even in a cookie-cutter development neighborhood, your home will stand apart!

A tip from the experts: Try staggering these lights along the ground level and roofline to maximize the impact of your home’s features.

9. Wall-washing

Our final lighting tip brings us to wall-washing. This method uses focused ambient lighting to cast even light across an entire wall. Instead of the dramatic shadowing created by up-lighting, you’ll get a clear picture of the garden or home wall without harsh light.

A tip from the experts: The key to great wall-washing is placing the light source at a wide enough angle. Hide the source in low foliage for added mystery.

Need Help?

Proper lighting is essential to a fully functioning home– but it can be challenging to nail balanced brightness, great fixtures, and a budget! Contact the experts at Galleria Lighting for advice on your project!

5 Ways to Make Smart Lights Work for You

by admin · Apr 4, 2024

Everyone wants a home that helps them keep up with chores, improve health, and save money. And many smart home features do just that! But many homeowners aren’t using the time- and money-saving tech available simply because they can’t keep up with all the new features.

Smart lighting is a particularly powerful part of your smart home. Your home’s lighting subtly affects the mood, health, and cost of running your home. So it’s essential to take inventory of your current home lighting– then optimize for your family’s unique needs.

We’ve created this post to help you get the most out of smart lighting! Smart lighting saves you time and money while making your home safer and more enjoyable. We’ll walk you through five surprising ways smart lighting impacts your home, so you know exactly how to upgrade your smart home.

1. Access Your Lights from Anywhere

Using smart lights will integrate into your smart home assistant apps. While AI and voice activation are great tools, you can have much greater control of your lights from the app. For example, if you’re away from home, you can tell which bulbs are on and control them from your phone.

Sick of getting comfortable on the couch only to realize you forgot to turn on the light? Already upstairs and remember that the living room lamp is still on?

Your smart home assistant becomes your new “clapper” switch with a much wider range of accessibility. Simply tell Alexa or Google Home to turn off or on the light bulb by name (you can custom program the name of each of your lights by location or phrase). You can also change the temperature or color of your bulbs from your phone, so you can customize your lights without getting up.

2. Automate Home Habits with AI Smart Assistants

Smart lighting works with your home assistant’s AI to learn your family’s needs and schedule. That means Alexa can automatically turn on lights at your usual time to come home. Likewise, Google Home can dim the lights at night to help you and your kids get ready to rest.

Your home assistant is designed to ask you if you’d like its help with the lights and will automatically learn your habits based on the information from the software in your smart lighting accessories. Not only do these features help your home come alive to meet your unique needs, but they can also save you money on your electricity bill.

3. Increase Home Security through Automation

Many people worry about home security while away on vacations or extended work trips. But, unfortunately, it’s easy for criminals to case out homes that are dark day and night for a week or two and assume that you aren’t home.

Smart lights can continue their habits while you are gone, or you can customize them to turn on in new patterns while you are away. This added layer of protection will keep your home from sticking out as an easy target.

4. Highly Customizable Lighting

Smart lighting can be adjusted and customized in so many different ways. For example, the same smart bulb over a kitchen table can be bright for homework, dim for an intimate dinner, or green for a birthday party. And this level of customization is more than just a fancy party trick– the quality of lighting in your home has a massive impact on how you feel while you’re there.

Being able to change the lights to match your mood is an incredible tool previous generations could never have imagined!

Bias Lighting

You can also use smart lighting to reduce the strain on your eyes. For example, adding LEDs to the back of your TV or computer screen can give your eyes a break by creating bias lighting.

Bias Lighting helps to diffuse the color and brightness, so gaming and movie nights are easier on your eyes. Bias lighting also improves the visual contrast of your images – so your image quality will improve without having to drop money on an upgrade at the electronics store!

While just a soft white glow can help immensely, you can also get fancy with smart bias lighting, which changes color live with the images on the screen.

5. Work with Natural Light Rhythms for Better Health

Color-changing features can also mimic natural light patterns for a healthier home. Many modern homes overuse blue light– light that shines bright in similar frequencies to the sun’s light.

Blue light, like sunlight, keeps your brain alert and focused. When the sun sets outside, the natural world goes from blue to red light (like sunsets and firelight), finally fading to darkness. The gradual shift from blue light to dark allows your brain to shut down and prepare for rest.

Unfortunately, our modern world removes the red light phase of our natural light cycle. We keep blue lights on far too late into the evening and then simply go from bright blue light to darkness. This overexposure to blue light has led many people to have trouble falling and staying asleep.

Studies connect poor sleep with increased depression and anxiety, poor work performance, and increased weight and heart risks.

Many smartphones have a “night mode,” turning the screen a warmer color around sunset. You can set up smart lighting in the same way! We recommend scheduling a color shift, so your lighting sets around the same time every day. Bringing back this natural transition to your family’s schedule can improve everyone’s sleep!

Need Help Creating Your Smart Home?

Top Tips to Lighting Every Room of Your Home

by admin · Mar 28, 2024

Many homeowners fall into the trap of relying on paint and mirrors to lighten up a room. While these are tricks that work, they’re just bandaid fixes that ultimately limit your design options. One of the best ways to make your house a home is to have great lighting in each room. And just as every room has a different function, and they all have their own lighting needs.

Don’t worry, it’s not as complicated as it sounds! Getting the best lighting set up is almost always a simple undertaking, and this is something that can be done on any budget.

Set aside some time to do a tour of your home, looking specifically for places where your lighting just isn’t doing you any favors. To help you out, we created a checklist you can use to find what’s missing.

Front Exterior
Entry
Living Room
Kitchen
Dining
Bathrooms
Office
Bedroom
Backyard

Front Exterior

The front of your house carries a lot of weight. It’s what you drive up to, what your friends and family see first, and plays a big role in your relationship with your neighbors. It also is the first line of defense against intruders. If your curb appeal is lacking, look for these things:

A well-lit door: What’s better than coming home to warm, golden light washing over your front door? If your exterior feels dim or dingy, you’d be surprised at how dramatic a transformation you’ll get when you replace the fixtures by your door.
Sidewalk lights: Keep you and your visitors safe with sidewalk lights leading to and from your home. They also add a little fairy light magic to your home!
Motion sensor flood light: Any motion sensing light is a great way to increase your home’s safety. Flood lights are an added bonus, as sudden bright light usually scares off intruders – whether human or pest.

Entryway

Crossing the threshold is an important moment. When you walk through the door, you’re looking for a place to relax and be yourself after work, running errands, or shuffling the kids to activities. Your entryway sets the tone for your home for you and your for your guests – don’t skip out on the lighting in here!

Buffet table catch-all: Use a lamp on a buffet table to make it easier to take off shoes after a late night. Small space? Use reflective finishes to add some extra light.
Smart lighting for smooth entry: Smart bulbs can be set to a schedule to keep your entryway ready at all times. Some can even turn on automatically when you arrive, or respond to voice commands when your hands are full.
Wall/Ceiling Lights: If your entryway feels to dim or too harsh, try swapping out the bulbs in your fixtures with LEDs with a different lumen count (measures brightness) or a different light “temperature”. (Warm/soft white bulbs make you feel cozy and comfortable, and bright/daylight bulbs will make you feel alert.) Some smart bulbs can even switch back and forth with the help of a small remote or a smart home hub.

Living Room

Your living room is the hub for comfy entertaining and family relaxing. You need it to be well-lit but still cozy. Consider these:.

Ditch boring fixtures: You living room is a great place to choose more decorative fixtures. Find something that speaks to your soul and swap it out. It’ll instantly boost your mood every time you walk into the room!

Mood lighting: Nail mood lighting by making sure you have light coming from more than just a single overhead light. Lamps and sconces shine a quiet, cozy light when the main light is off – perfect for a relaxing evening at home.

Media lighting: Movie nights are core memories – but staring at a screen in a dark room is hard on your eyes. For the film aficionados and gamers alike, we recommend either backlighting your TV with an LED strip light or keeping a couple of dim lamps around.

Kitchen

Your kitchen is the heart of the home, used for both focused work and for entertaining. That means you need to pay close attention to light layering so you can quickly flip from one function to another.

- Task lighting: Bright lights are necessary for safe cooking! Light your countertops with island pendants and LEDs under cabinets lights to improve your accuracy while dicing and sauteing.
- Dimmable lights: Late night snack turned heartfelt conversation with cocoa? Install dimmable lights so you can create a space for more intimate moments that’s away from harsh lighting.

Light up your cabinets: Want to make your cabinets look high-end without high-end work? Use LED strip lights inside glass-fronted cabinets for a curated look, or put LED pucks on top of the cabinets to reflect light upwards and make the room feel bigger.

Dining Room

Have you ever noticed that most restaurants are pretty dark? That’s because people talk more, eat slower, and stay longer in a relaxed atmosphere. Recreating this ambiance in your home is sure to make your meals more enjoyable.

Comfy Cozy: Use warm bulbs in your fixtures to create a cozy vibe. Look for bulbs that say “soft white” or that are less than 3000K. If it’s in the budget, swap out that flush mount light with a chandelier or pendants light-filtering shades to wash your space with soft, warm light.
Try candles: Adding candles is a quick and easy way to soften the space and increase the feeling of closeness. For apartment dwellers or those with young children, battery-powered candles are a great flameless alternative.
Keep it separate: If your dining room is close to your kitchen, turn off the kitchen lights once you’re ready to eat so that your dining table is the center of attention.

Bathrooms

Bathrooms play multiple roles, so they need to have clever lighting. On the one hand, they are “get ready central,” where true light is critical to having great makeup and a clean shave. But, on the other hand, they are also a relaxation hub, where harsh lights won’t help.

Bright lights for mirrors: Replacing the light above your mirror is a fast and simple project that will make a huge impact on both the functionality and overall appearance of your bathroom. Use bright, cool lights for the best makeup application and cleanest shave.
Warm light for relaxation: Use warm light over tubs or showers to help you relax in the water after a long week. No lights over the tub? A warm night-light or set of LED candles will give you the same feeling!
Use multiple light switches: You can easily custom control the lights for each activity.

Home Office

Spending a lot time in the home office these days? Your office lighting impacts the quality of your work, so take a minute to assess what you need to do your best.

Update your overhead lighting: Get rid of that builder-grade light and put in a cool chandelier or pendant to jumpstart your creativity.
Modern deks lamps: Make sure you have plenty of light for your workspace with a great lamp. If you’re on video calls often, try shining the light on the wall in front of you rather than directly on your face – it’ll bounce back and give a softer light that’s easier on your eyes.
Create a designated recharge area: Set aside a corner in your office to take a few breaks during the day. Get a comfy chair and soft lighting so your brain can rest and recharge between meetings.

Bedrooms

Your bedroom is your place to relax, unwind, and get a full night’s rest. However, the lighting in your room will significantly impact your ability to shut off your brain and get deep into that REM sleep.

Prepare for rest: Blue light (like the light from daylight LEDs and from phone or TV screens) will keep your brain awake, so avoid blue light sources for 1-2 hours before bed. Use soft, warm light bulbs only in your room!
Be careful with tech: We’re strong believers in mood lighting – but those tiny LED lights on power cables, alarm clocks, speakers, etc. are not it. Remove what you can, and cover the rest with dimming stickers.
Lighting you feel: Focus on how you feel. Swap out old fixtures or lamps that you don’t love with something that you’ll enjoy seeing every night. Too warm? Replace your overhead light with a ceiling fan so you can rest comfortably.

Pro tip: It’s okay to use brighter, whiter lights in your closet so you have a place to check the true colors of your outfit before you head out for the day.

Backyard

Once you’ve walked through each room, don’t forget to check your outdoor space! Whether it’s a big suburban yard or a small 5th floor balcony, it should be a great place to spend long summer nights while keeping you and your family safe.

Bring the magic: Fairy lights or string lights feel like a luxury, but they’re actually really affordable and easy to hang. They’ll bring a little bit of magic to your nights whether it’s an evening party with friends or a backyard campout with the kids.
Proper lighting for activities: Make sure your yard has adequate lighting for all of the ways you use it. Install flood lights in active areas like basketball hoops. Put in a row of solar path lights along walkways.
Exterior lights: If your patio is too dim, it might be an easier fix than you realize. Replace that tiny, old wall sconce light with a modern fixture. If you need lots of light – opt for a fixture with multiple bulbs and/or clear glass.

Don’t Stress It

Great lighting is an essential part of a well-designed and a fully functioning home – but it can be challenging to nail balanced brightness, great fixtures, and a budget! The biggest thing to remember, TL;DR of it all is that you need to have multiple sources of light in each room. Lamps and smart bulbs are your friend!

If you want some help getting it right, contact the experts at Galleria Lighting for advice on your project! Lighting is what we do – so we’re not going to toss you the closest box off a shelf and say “have at it!” If you’re not happy with your home’s lighting, we’ll help you find what’s right for you.

How Lighting Affects Your Health

by admin · Mar 21, 2024

How to Improve Your Sleep by Improving Your Lights

Sleep has massive importance on your ability to perform at your best every day, but it’s one of the most overlooked aspects of health. If you’ve ever spent the night caring for an infant every hour or finishing a paper in the wee hours of the morning, you’ve experienced firsthand the effects of sleep deprivation. Focusing becomes next-to-impossible, and getting through the day awake can be a challenge.

Improving your sleep is key to having a better mood, better cognitive functioning, and overall improved health. According to the Sleep Foundation, “light is the most important external factor affecting sleep.” Everyone knows it’s easier to sleep when it’s dark, but the link between lighting and sleep goes deeper than that. By learning more about this link, you can learn how to create an environment that will give you the sleep you’ve been dreaming of.

The Effects of Sleep (and Sleep Deprivation)

Before we discuss changing your lighting to help your sleep hygiene, let’s talk about why sleep is so important to your overall health. When you sleep consistently, you can “think more clearly, have quicker reflexes, and focus better” (NIH). The National Institute of Health says, “sleep…affects growth and stress hormones, our immune system, appetite, breathing, blood pressure and cardiovascular health.” Part of caring for yourself includes improving your sleep.

When you don’t get consistent and continuous sleep (7-8 hours per night for adults), your health suffers. Some of the more obvious effects of sleep deprivation include a worse mood, impaired cognitive functions, and a shorter attention span. But, did you know that not getting quality sleep can also increase your risk of hypertension, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes? While you sleep, your body performs important functions. If you have trouble sleeping consistently without waking up, it’s time to think about your lights.

Circadian Rhythms

Light and sleep are two sides of the same coin. Light regulates your body’s circadian rhythm – your internal clock that tells your body when to sleep and wake. When light enters your eye, your brain processes information about the light and senses the time of day. Then, a signal is sent from your brain to your body to regulate organs and other systems in your body. (Sleep Foundation)

If you lived in a world where you were exposed to natural light only, your circadian rhythm would align with sunrise and sunset. However, since we live in a modern world where bright lights are available at the flick of a switch, you need to be more intentional about selecting the lights you expose yourself to, especially in the evenings. The lights you’re using may be affecting you more than you realize!

Melatonin

Light also affects the production of melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone your body makes naturally to help you regulate your circadian rhythm. It makes you feel drowsy and promotes quality sleep. The pineal gland in your brain (pictured above) initiates the production of melatonin in response to darkness. When you’re exposed to light, melatonin production slows down or stops. For some people, synthetic melatonin may be recommended or prescribed, but improving sleep hygiene should always be your first step toward healthier sleep. (Sleep Foundation)

Light and Sleep Hygiene

While we want you to sleep well no matter what, your body’s circadian rhythm can be a little sensitive. To account for that fact, you’ll need to manipulate your environment a little. Circadian rhythms are particularly sensitive to light two hours before bed and one hour after waking up. During these times, adjusting your lighting is imperative.

If you have bright household or bedroom lights, dimming them two hours before bed will prepare your body for better sleep. Increasing your light in the morning will keep you alert during the day. Getting dimmable lights is one way to control your lights’ brightness. Using several light sources (lamps, overhead lighting, etc.) is also an option. If dimmable overhead lights don’t work for you, find a dimmable bedside lamp instead! In the morning, turn on the brightest lights in your room and bathroom while you get ready to help yourself wake up. (CDC)

Light Color Effects on Sleep

The color of light you choose at different times of the day will also impact your circadian rhythm and night sleep. According to the CDC, blue and white lights make the biggest difference on your circadian rhythm, especially during the sensitive period at night.

Blue and Bright White Light

White light contains blue light. Common sources of this light are the sun, LED lights, and digital screens. Exposure to white light can help to improve your mood and keep you feeling more alert and focused. During the day, using white light to wake up and to stay productive is a great idea.

If you’re having trouble sleeping, it’s best to avoid blue and white light sources at night. Yes, that means you really shouldn’t be scrolling on your phone in bed – you might think it’s helping you to unwind, but that light is actively disrupting your circadian rhythm. Some phones have a “night mode” that you can enable that will warm up the temperature of the light, which helps a little, but you’re better off reading a book with a warm, dimmed light.

Yellow, Red, and Orange Light

Warm Light, seen as yellow, orange, or red, comes from places like a fireplace or an edison bulb. LED bulbs can also be purchased that give off this type of light – they’re often called “warm white” or “soft white.” Yellow and orange lights have very little effect on your internal clock, so picking these colors for your room shouldn’t interfere with the sleep you’re dreaming of. Red light is the only color that has no effect on your circadian rhythm.

Get Better Sleep with Smart Lighting Choices

Changing your environment to promote better sleep can be as simple as switching out a few light bulbs. Pay attention to which kinds of light you have in your home, especially in the places you spend time at night. If you spend your evenings in the living room under bright white bulbs, that could be impacting the sleep you’re getting.

Fortunately, switching out the color of your light bulbs is a relatively easy fix for most fixtures. To give yourself the best lighting for a good night’s sleep, we recommend choosing warm white bulbs for your bedroom and bedside tables, and for the rooms you use in the evenings, such as the dining room, den, or living room.

Rooms where you need to focus, like the kitchen or your office, often have bright white lighting. Minimize your time in these places, or look at adding lamps or under-cabinet lighting that can allow you to use the room with a warmer, less bright light.

The multi-use spaces in your home where you need to focus during the day and relax at night can be the hardest. Lamps and/or dimmer switches in these areas are a must for good sleep hygiene. Another option would be to install color-changing bulbs that can take you from bright white to soft white throughout the day. Color-changing bulbs usually require you to change the color manually with a remote. If you’re willing to spring for smart bulbs, many can be programmed to change throughout the day or on command.

We know that fixing your lighting environment won’t magically take away all of the things that keep you up at night. But we can guarantee that making smart lighting choices at home will help you to go from early-morning alertness to late-night drowsiness without your light bulbs messing up your internal clock.

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Choosing the right lighting is important for your health. If you need help optimizing your home’s lighting for a good night’s sleep, give the lighting experts at Galleria Lighting a call, or stop by our showroom to chat in person! We’d love to help. Sweet dreams!

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*Disclaimer: Lighting, while important, won’t replace expert health care. If you have concerns about your sleep, please remember to make an appointment with your doctor.

Step-by-Step Guide to Home Lighting Renovation

by admin · Mar 14, 2024

How to Plan, Prioritize, Budget, and Make it Happen

Updating the lighting in your home is one of the quickest ways to give your house a facelift. It’s easy to accidentally overspend on your house’s lighting if you don’t have the right information, but not to worry! With a few pro tips and some help from Galleria Lighting, your home will feel brighter and look better – without breaking the bank.

1. Make a Plan

Before you start tearing lights out, pull up a chair and make a solid plan. When you’re on a budget, prioritizing which spaces need the most love is key. Look in each room and make sure all your spaces have multiple lighting sources to eliminate shadows and illuminate workspaces.

Once you’ve done that, think about lighting focal points. Where do you want your lights to make the biggest impact? A few places to consider starting are: above the dining room table, in the living room, and in the bedrooms.

Pro tip: Make a list of all the fixtures you want in order of importance–it will come in handy later!

2. Evaluate Your Budget

Do your research and be realistic about your needs and wants. Knowing how much you can spend and being an informed buyer will help you make the most of your money and avoid overspending.

Take a look at your budget and decide on two numbers – the amount you’d like to spend, and the highest amount you’re willing to spend. Then, put together some ballpark estimates for the fixtures you want.

When you walk into the showroom prepared, you can put your money where it matters most! It’ll also help us to know what price range you’re looking at to match you with the perfect fixture!

Pro tip: Don’t forget to include the costs of professional installation and light bulbs in your estimate!

3. Prioritize Your Needs

If you’re renovating on a budget, ask yourself: Which light fixtures will make the biggest difference in my house? Remember that list of fixtures you made earlier? Pull it out and prepare to rearrange it.

Prioritize fixtures that give off ambient, or full-room, light. Once you have those at the top of the list, move on to task lighting. Any workspaces will need additional lighting above them (kitchen counters, bathroom vanities, desks, etc.).

If you still have room in your budget, consider adding accent lighting to features in your home you want to highlight. Moving from general to specific will help you narrow your focus to what really matters, and light your house without running low on change.

4. Pick Your Fixtures

It’s easy to get sticker shock when you start looking at light fixtures. When you’re choosing lights for your renovation, you have two options: you can get a cheap fixture that will work for now, or you can get a quality fixture that will work for years.

While there is a time and a place for inexpensive fixtures, just remember that buying lights that will stand the test of time will actually save you money in the long run.

You also need to keep in mind how often you want to redecorate. Trendy fixtures will look outdated much faster than classic styles. If you don’t want to be repeating this process again in 5 years, get a classic, quality fixture that won’t need to be replaced when the fads change.

Pro Tip: Selling your old fixtures online can give you a little extra to put towards your next lighting purchase.

5. Remember the Bulbs

While LED lights cost a little more up front, they use at least 75% less energy, and they last up to 25 times longer than traditional light bulbs. To be sure you’ll see savings on your electrical bill, look for bulbs with the Energy Star rating logo on the packaging.

Don’t make the mistake of buying bulbs that you’ll just have to replace in a few months! Be sure to work LED bulbs into your budget–we promise it’ll pay off!

6. Do It Yourself

One major cost of updating lighting is installation. In many cases, a handy homeowner with the help of a few Youtube tutorials can save money by doing it themselves. You may also consider installing some lights yourself and having others professionally installed–dropping a heavy chandelier would put a dent in your budget (and your floor)!

However, if you’re going to go this route, researching and implementing all the safety precautions is non-negotiable. Being well-educated can save you from causing a fire, burns, or other safety hazards.

If you’re unsure about doing it yourself, no worries. Just make sure to factor the professional help you need into your overall budget!

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Updating and replacing lighting on a budget can feel like a daunting task, but with these tips and our expertise, you can’t go wrong! The step-by-step guide we made will help you have amazing lighting without feeling financially strapped.

If you get stuck on any of these steps, give us a call and we’d love to chat about solutions.

How Many Light Bulbs Do You Need? Understanding Lumens

by admin · Mar 7, 2024

Are you updating your light bulbs, but not sure how bright you need them? Or how many bulbs your room needs?

You’re not alone in the confusion. It can be difficult reading the package in the hardware store and understanding what the bulb will do for your home.

This post will briefly touch on how lumens work and then guide you on how to make sure you have the right light for each room in your house.

What Are Lumens?

With major innovations in lighting over the past twenty years, bulbs have become much more efficient. That’s great news for your electric bill and the environment! But a side effect is that watts are no longer a good measurement for brightness.

Watts measure the amount of energy used by the bulb. When all bulbs were incandescent, this also indicated brightness– the higher the watts, the more energy used, the brighter the bulb.

But with more efficient bulbs, like halogens and LEDs, much less power is used while still producing bright light. So a 40 watt incandescent light gives off the same light as an 8 watt LED!

So how will shoppers know that an 8 watt LED will replace their 40 watt incandescent? Instead of measuring power use, lumens measure brightness. Now no matter the energy efficiency, you can compare bulbs apples to apples.

How Many Lumens Do I Need?

So how many lumens do you need for your space? To calculate the right lumen range, you need to know the square feet of the space and the proper foot candles for the area.

The square footage of your room will help you know how much light you need– the bigger the space, the more light you need. To find out your square footage, simply measure the length and width of the room, then multiply those two numbers.

For example, if your room is 10 feet by 12 feet, your room is 120 square feet (10×12=120).

“Foot candle” is a less familiar term, but it means the brightness of a light source from one foot away. The target foot candle range will depend on the activity of the room. For workspaces like kitchens and offices you’ll want more light (more foot candles), and for bedrooms and dining rooms you’ll want less light (fewer foot candles).

Once you have the square feet of your room and the target foot candles, then you can determine how many lumens you need. Simply multiply your square feet by the desired foot candles!

Let’s say that your bedroom is 120 square feet. Multiply 120 by 10 for the low end and by 20 for the high end of the target zone.

120 x 10 = 1200

120 X 20 = 2400

Now you know that you need between 1200 and 2400 lumens for your bedroom!

Simple Cheat Sheet

If you don’t want to worry about foot candles, here’s a chart with a general estimate of how many lumens you need per square foot per area of your home. Remember, these calculations help determine the total light a room needs. But you’ll often concentrate light above tables, countertops, or a desk.

So if your living room is 15 feet by 20 feet, your total square footage is 300 (15 x 20 = 300). Then multiply that by the recommended 10 lumens to get a minimum of 3,000 lumens for your living room (300 x 10= 3,000).

How Many Bulbs Do I Need?

It may seem overwhelming to need a few thousand lumens for your room. Don’t worry– you will still use relatively few bulbs to get all the light you need. For reference, an 8 w LED bulb will give off about 450 lumens of light.

With just a few bulbs, you’ll have all your lighting covered. Put three in the ceiling fan, add a lamp with one bulb, and you’re done!

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2023 Interior Design Trend: Creating a Cozy House that Feels Like Home

by admin · Feb 29, 2024

It’s 2023 and this is your wake-up call! Your home needs you – it’s ready for a refresh! This year, we’re all looking for a respite from the stress that always seems to work its way in. Designing a comfortable home will make you feel the extra happiness and productivity you’ve been in desperate need of. These 3 expert tips will make your home a haven you’ll be itching to get back to at the end of the day!

1. Choose a Soft Color Palette

It’s no secret that colors have a huge effect on your mood and the feel of a room. These rooms knock the color palette out of the park without sacrificing personal style or comfort. Achieving a soft color palette doesn’t have to be difficult – go with neutrals, a pop of color, or choose a monochromatic color scheme and you’re set!

Neutrals

A neutral color palette seems like an obvious choice when you’re going for comfort, but it can be tough to pull off – without color, other elements like texture or shapes will have to do the heavy lifting.

The heavyweight champions here are definitely the plants! Adding some green to an otherwise neutral-heavy space brings some life and vibrance without destroying the tranquility you desperately need. Finishing this look with a variety of textures and shapes from the hard wood edges to the pair of round tables to the woven area rug makes this space feel comfortable, creative, and cozy.

This neutral bedroom incorporates beige and white with black accents to ground the space. The night stands with pendants hanging above elevate the space, giving you lighting and a gorgeous focal point! We love how this space feels lived-in without looking cluttery. With neutral tones, the soft textures of the rug and blankets are what make this room feel comfortable and cozy.

Picking a neutral color palette for this sitting area really make the shapes shine. We love how arches are carried throughout the design from the furniture to the architecture. This chair looks like a cloud and with the gorgeous light above it, anyone sitting here would feel like they’re in the heavens!

Pop of Color

A cozy home doesn’t have to be colorless! If neutrals don’t speak to you, try mixing them with a pop of color. It’ll give your room some excitement, but not so much that it’ll feel busy or chaotic.

This living room took a bold color and ran with it. The navy blue is a stunning contrast to this cozy tan leather couch. If we could copy and paste this look into our homes, we would! The neutrals pop against the accent wall and we couldn’t be more obsessed.

These red velvet pillows and drapes contrast with the neutral room and bring in some cozy texture. The bright colors spice up what might otherwise feel like a bland living room.

Monochromatic

Choosing a monochromatic color scheme is a 2023 trend we love. It’s bold, but still soft. In a true monochromatic space, there isn’t extra visual stimuli for your brain to process. This gives your brain a sense of peace and calm you may not feel in a room with more going on in terms of color. These rooms use a simple color palette and the effect is cozy with a touch of elegance.

Green is one of the most soothing colors. It can bring a sense of peace and harmony to your home. This couch and wall combo is no exception! Choosing to pair them with beautiful browns makes this sitting room look like it was plucked straight from nature, then given a facelift.

This kitchen uses the monochromatic color scheme to make it look bigger than it is. We especially love that extra wood cabinet with accent lighting both for functionality to store more and for decorative purposes. The calming blues make this a space you’d want to do some stress-baking in!

2. Add Soft Textures

Texture is a vital tool in an expert’s tool belt, especially when comfort is your end-goal. A space can be gorgeous, but if it feels like a place your grandma will yell at you for touching anything in, it won’t really feel comfortable. Texture is what takes a space from formal and austere to a beautiful, cozy space you can actually live in.

There’s no question this bedroom is gorgeous, but it also feels like a space you could spend time in without completely messing it up. The intentionally unkempt linens on this corner of the bed add simulated texture that makes it feel like home. We also love the green velvet accent pillow and floor pillows for an extra cozy touch! A lamp and pendant allows you to have dimmer or brighter lighting to accommodate your changing needs.

There is no world where a chunky-knit blanket and lots of pillows won’t scream comfort. The touches of fur on the rug and the side bench give it an extra dose of coziness. Anyone would love to curl up and hibernate here all winter! Light a few candles in the lanterns and switch on the pendant for the perfect reading spot at night.

This feminine bedroom is a corner of paradise! The colors are soft and gorgeous, but the textures are what really make this space magical. The velvet headboard brings delicate softness to the space. The textured pouf and cane-detailed night stand here are working overtime – and they should get paid for it! They bring elements of texture and give some seating and storage space. The blanket and soft rug are the finishing touches that would have anyone making excuses to retreat here for peace and quiet.

3. Soften Your Lighting

Harsh lighting is the opposite of comfortable! It’ll leave you with a headache and can actually make it harder for you to sleep at night. To bring in some much-needed comfort, you’ll need to soften up your lighting. In a room with soft lighting, the transition from light to dark is gradual and easy on the eyes. Avoid harsh shadows and balance your lights out using these three tips and your eyes and mood will thank you!

Dimmable Lighting

Switching to dimmable lights is a relatively simple way to soften your lights and make your lighting customizable. This cozy room is the perfect place to recharge your batteries. Dim the lights 2 hours before bed to help yourself sleep better, then brighten them in the morning to jump start your mood and your day!

Layer Your Lights

Layering your lighting is a fool-proof way to give you adjustable light. Every room in your house should have at least a few light sources to make it feel more comfortable and eliminate any dark corners. Adding a few lamps across a room and some pendants will give you flexibility to have more or less light depending on your need and mood.

Accent Lighting

Accent lights are the finishing touches that make a room feel complete. They’re the piping on top of the icing on the cake! Adding them makes a room instantly feel warmer and more comfortable. Plus, they soften up your lighting by eliminating harsh shadows in areas that might otherwise go overlooked. Put sconces on an empty wall, strip lighting under cabinets like in this kitchen, or pendants above conversation areas. A room with warm, balanced lighting is a guaranteed ticket to having the relaxing ambiance you need for comfort.

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Listen, it’s 2023 and it’s time you started living your life in comfort! Choosing to design a cozy home is about more than just aesthetics. It’s about overall wellness! You deserve to live in a home you love, so it’s time to get started. With a little inspiration, the expert tips above, and help from Galleria Lighting you’ll be set! Give us a call and we’ll help you soften your lighting and give your home the extra relaxing boost it needs.