Even in Australia, our winter months can get dark, dull, and depressing. We spend a lot of time thinking about how to stay warm, trying to stay warm, and how to keep our homes looking warm and cosy. One of the easiest ways to make your home feel warmer during winter is to adjust your indoor lighting. Don’t underestimate the power of changing your lighting. Even small changes can improve the mood in your home, and there are many little ways you can also save on your energy bill. Today we are going to discuss 8 lighting tips to make your home feel warmer during winter.
1. Use Accent Lighting
Accent lighting is a great way to focus light on a corner, small area, or even a piece of artwork or furniture. You can also do this with floor lamps, table lamps, and spotlights. This not only helps improve the lighting in your home, it can also give a sense of a space being cosy and warm with light, without needing to turn on overhead lighting. Downlights, like those from Martec, are a great example of accent lighting. They can be easily added to your home, to light up gloomy corners and spaces.
2. Heat Lamps
Heat lamps are a fantastic way to not only light up your bathroom and create a cosy ambience, but also to keep your bathroom warm. This is ideal as bathrooms are some of the coldest rooms in the house during winter. So, when you wake up in the morning, or when going to shower at night before bed, you want a relaxing, warm bathroom space. Bathroom heat lamps not only provide light, but also instant heat. At Martec our 3-in-1 bathroom heating range comes in three different configurations so you get the best out of your heater. This includes 1 central heat lamp, 2 heat lamps, or 4 heat lamp configurations.
3. Use a Dimmer Switch
A quick and easy way to lower lighting levels and create a feeling of warmth in your space is a dimmer switch. Being able to dim your lights gives you the best of both worlds. You can have bright light when you need it, and then you can turn the light down to create a warm and cosy atmosphere. With just a flick of a switch you can turn a bright and functional space to a cosy and mellow one. Martec has a range of dimmer switches to help you transform your space.
4. Light Up Entryways
An important part of creating a warm and welcoming home is lighting up your entryway. With the evenings getting darker, earlier, we all need a welcoming light when coming home. Outdoor lighting can create the perfect, welcoming feeling in the evening. And they can enhance your safety. There is nothing worse than getting out of the car and trying to juggle your keys and bags in the dark, while navigating trip hazards. It also prevents unsavoury characters hanging around your house, which adds another layer of security. Martec offers a full range of exterior lighting products with features like switchable colour temperature, ingress protection ratings, and different wattages to suit any outdoor applications. They come with built-in PIR or Microwave Motion sensors to provide you with security and safety.
5. Change Your Ceiling Fan Settings
Did you know your ceiling fan isn’t just for warm months? Your ceiling fan can be your best friend in winter as well.
During summer, your ceiling fan blades turn counterclockwise to create a wind chill factor. This helps to keep you cool. However, in winter, you can use the reverse switch on your fan to change things up. As warm air is generated by your heating, it will naturally rise to the ceiling and the cooler air will sinks. By turning the reverse cycle on your ceiling fan, you can use your ceiling fan to push the warm air back down to a comfortable level. This also saves you on heating costs.
You can then combine your ceiling fan with lighting and a dimmer switch to create the perfect atmosphere in your home. Martec ceiling fans come with light and no light options to suit your home needs. By combining your lighting and ceiling fan, you save space and still create the perfect winter ambience. Martec ceiling fans come with dimmer and/or light delay options to best suit you and your space. They are LED and CFL compatible, which means you can choose the lighting style you want!
6. Dining and Entertainment Lighting
As Australians, there’s nothing we love better than entertaining, especially outside. And the winter months shouldn’t put a dampener on your social life! If you normally eat your dinner or entertain alfresco, or you use natural light in your dining room, it is time to consider a winter lighting plan. The right exterior lighting can create a bright, welcoming space if you still want to entertain outdoors – and you can pair them with a nice outdoor heater to keep everyone warm on chilly nights.
In dining rooms, you can replace your bulbs with LED lights, like those from Martec, that are switchable between wattage and temperature, as well as coming with dimming options. This allows you to create the right atmosphere for your dinner parties, or brighten the room if it is being used as an ad-hoc study space. Our exterior lighting is also perfect for illuminating your dinner parties, as well as showcasing your stunning landscaping.
Looking to increase the overall illumination in your home, to make up for all the lost daylight in winter? Explore the range of lighting options and LED downlights, today, from Martec. We have
lighting options to suit all homes and exteriors.