5 Lighting Trends for Your Edinburgh Home

Main image courtesy of Collingwood Lighting

5 Lighting Trends for Your Edinburgh Home

Lighting is probably the most important factor in creating the right mood for your Edinburgh home. The correct balance of ambient, task and accent lighting will make the difference between a warm and welcoming hygge home, or a cold and clinical space. The lights you choose can also create a colour contrast at different points and add shade and tone for dramatic effect. With these points in mind, here are 5 lighting trends from Edinburgh builder and period home restoration company Mackenzie Hughes, to illuminate your life whether you live in a Georgian property in the city centre or a detached home on the outskirts of Scotland’s capital city.

Organic materials

Modern living places great demands upon us. Shiny technology is all around from the smartphones in our pockets to the vehicles we drive. It often feels like being on a carousel that isn’t slowing down and it’s good to put the brakes on now and again and get back to nature. A walk in the woods on a rainy day or a stroll along the beach taking in the smell of the sea can restore the soul, but we can also achieve a sense of balance by bringing more natural and organic materials into the home which includes choosing organic materials for our lighting. Wood, marble and stone lighting with perhaps soft fabric shades can lend a calming, more grounded aesthetic to your room which is a refreshing counterpoint to a hi-tech whirlwind lifestyle. The jute lampshade shown is a perfect example and is available from pooky.com.

Industrial chic

In contrast to the organic material trend for lighting we have industrial chic; most often associated with warehouse-to-home conversions. Exposed brickwork and pipes are the order of the day, but you don’t have to live in a converted warehouse to add industrial chic to your choice of lighting. Edison-style filament bulbs and steel lights will still be as popular this year, but the finishes will more chic, softer and refined. The images shown below are from home-designing.com.

More prominent wall lighting

In the past, wall lights were often put in place to simply highlight an objet d’art with the lights themselves a much lesser feature. This year however, wall lights will become bigger, bolder and works of art in themselves. Their purpose will still be to add accent lighting to key areas in the home, but they will no longer be the poorer cousin. The examples shown are from restoration projects by Mackenzie Hughes.

Smart lighting

Smart Home technology will continue its unfettered rise in popularity this year. Everything from home security systems and kitchen appliances to robot vacuum cleaners will be further developed to make our lives even easier. Another area to benefit from the Smart Home revolution is lighting. There is a wide range of lighting products on the market which can be controlled via an app or simple voice commands. We can now change the colour of ambient lighting to suit the mood in each room and our current activity. For example, with a Phillips Hue Play HDMI Sync box we can match the lights illuminating the wall behind our TV to the programme we’re watching. If this seems like a step too far and an unnecessary expense the Phillips Hue smart lighting system has a more practical side to it which can help promote wellbeing. Now you can set the lights in your bedroom to mimic daylight which helps you waken up more naturally and refreshed. The lights in the study can help you concentrate and change colour when you’ve finished working for the day. The image shown below is from the Phillips Hue website where you can find out more.

LED lighting

LED is the lighting success story of recent times and shows no signs of losing momentum as we look for ways to become more eco-friendly. LED lights emit no heat so are perfect for illuminating our prized works of art, and the bulbs can last for many years which not only saves us money, it can cut carbon emissions too. LED can be used in both commercial and residential properties can change colour and are dimmable for the ultimate in task and ambient lighting. The images below are courtesy of Collingwood Lighting.

For details of new lighting products on the market or for advice on lighting your home contact Mackenzie Hughes Edinburgh.