Winter days can be overwhelmingly dark and dim. Make sure your winter months are filled with endless warmth by upgrading your lighting at home. With more innovative and accommodating lighting, you’ll find that you can transform your house into a cozy fortress. Try the following four lighting ideas in your home this winter:
Try Light-Diffusing Lamp Shades
If you’d like to create a golden glow throughout your home, try installing light-diffusing lamp shades. These shades help to scatter light around a room, creating an ethereal glow that will warm the worst of your winter days. For lampshades that enhance this glow the most, choose semi-opaque fabrics like cotton or linen.
Choose LED String Lights
The winter brings with it a reason to get creative with string lights. If you’re planning on decorating for the upcoming season with string lights, be sure to choose the LED kind. This way, your lighting display will use less energy while creating a brilliant display throughout and around your home.
Photo by Christmas Lights, Etc
As the holiday season wraps up, consider keeping your lights up a bit longer. With some creative design, your string lights can become a year-long decoration that brightens your home.
Upgrade Your Outdoor Lighting
It’s easy for any home to appear cold and dark during the gray winter months. Make sure your home is as warm and inviting as possible by upgrading your home’s exterior lights. Consider drilling mounts for hanging lanterns or other types of wall-mounted lighting outside to give your home an overwhelming glow.
Photo by Projects General Construction, Inc
As you consider other fixtures to add to your outdoor lighting, don’t forget to keep the front porch and pathway to your home well lit. With outdoor LED lights, you’ll be able to illuminate your property as you add to the overall ambiance around your home.
Install SAD Lamps
Winter can lead to gloomier days that affect one’s mood. Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, is a seasonal disorder that causes depressive feelings during the fall and winter. With minimal access to sunlight during this time of year, it’s easy for anyone can be affected by this disorder.
Help protect against SAD by installing SAD lamps throughout the home. The artificial lighting that these lamps use mimics that of the sun, helping to reduce the symptoms of SAD.
The lighting you use in and around your home can make your winter much more enjoyable during this time of the year. Be sure to keep these lighting suggestions in mind as winter approaches.
Author Bio
Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan