Lighting Design Tips: 10 Great Uses For LED Lighting

LED lights have advanced massively over the last decade or so. They’re now small, yet mighty powerful and longer lasting - we’ve written about the major benefits of LEDs before.

But here, we’re focusing on ways LED linear strip lights can be used to transform the look and feel of your home. Read on to discover 10 great uses for LED lighting.

1.    Shelf lighting

Adding LED lights below your shelves creates an elegant effect to make your cabinets stand out. It can help with making everyday pieces such as glass wear shine, and can even add drama to framed images and other artwork pieces.

Shelf lighting also adds a layer of accent lighting to help diversify your lighting scheme and requires no additional space for fixtures.

2.    Kitchen counter lighting

For those avid cooks, LED linear strip lights can be used to really make your kitchen glow. Add LED linear strip lights below your cabinets to ensure maximum visibility when prepping food, or even use the tip mentioned above to brighten the interior of your cabinets.

What more? LED linear strip lights provide an even spread of light as opposed to widely spaced luminaires. This can help reduce shadows, making both recipe reading and testing the colour for readiness of foods easier.

3.    Bathroom vanity lighting

Bathroom design tends to aim for a clean, crisp and cool look. Fortunately, LED lighting can provide exactly that.

With an even and pure glow, strips of LED help to reduce or eliminate shadows on the face. This improves day-to-day tasks such as shaving or applying makeup. Using LED linear strip lights above and below, or to the sides of your mirror/medicine cabinet sees best results. They can also be integrated with a mirror, projecting direct lights onto your face.

4.    Shower lighting

Often overlooked, shower lighting is an extremely important part of your bathroom lighting scheme. For some, the shower is more than just a place to clean and get energised. It can be a place for grooming too.

A simple LED strip inside your shower cove, along with ceiling recessed LED spotlights can offer a natural, diffused light for your showering activities.

Remember to make sure your bathroom and shower lights have the correct IP rating. For showers, IP65 is recommended.

5.    Wall washer lighting

Where the finish of your walls may be interesting, LED linear strip lights can be used to emphasize and highlight any textures/detail. For example, use LED wall washers to showcase your tiled kitchen splashback, a pebbled surface in your bathroom, or even the stone walls surrounding your house. The possibilities are almost endless.

Notice how the tiled texture is highlighted below.

6.    Circular fixtures

You may be surprised, LED linear strip lights aren’t limited to straight lines. In fact, they can be flexible and used to create many shapes, with circles being favoured.

Circular fixtures are extremely popular, especially for overhead dining room lighting. Take a look at the example below – a modern and stylish LED lighting execution using Occhio fixtures.

7.    Staircase lighting

Lighting design isn’t just about stylish looks, safety is a major factor too. Well-lit stairs are less likely to cause accidents, and LED lights provide a perfect glow without taking up much space.

Even better, LED lights last extremely long and won’t overload your electricity bill either. This allows you to leave your staircase lighting on during the night for safe, low-level lighting.

8.    Wardrobe lighting

For those with the luxury of a walk-in wardrobe, LED linear strip lights can make your storage space feel high-end and fashionable - almost like a boutique display. It will also help you pick out the correct clothes, which can help speed up your morning routine on a busy day.

You could put it this way, lighting your wardrobe is a great way to avoid grabbing odd socks in the morning.

9.    Kitchen island lighting

LED linear strip lights can be used to enhance your kitchen in many ways. But when it comes to your kitchen island specifically, there are two reasons why long, minimalist LED features work so well.

• Kitchen islands are typically long and fairly narrow. So, LED linear strip lights can be made to follow the entire length of the island without intruding into sight lines. This creates an open look, great for a modern space.
• Long LED fixtures are known to cast an even light throughout. This eliminates the patchy or shadowy light that some ceiling fixtures suffer from – a great way to improve the task lighting in your kitchen.

LED lights also work well underneath your kitchen cabinets. This simple lighting trick has increased in popularity in recent years, as LED lighting can be fitted to almost any shape or in any location. LED under cabinet lighting is extremely useful in kitchens as it can highlight frequently-used areas such as sinks, food preparations areas and hobs. 

10. Swimming pool lighting

LED linear strip lights can be installed to give your pool a vibrant and playful feel, projecting light through water from above and below. With the colour changing capabilities that most LED lamps have, you can take advantage of lighting controls for maximum flexibility. Take a look at this in action with an award-winning project of ours below.

Looking for LED lighting design?

At Hampshire light, we have over 20 years’ experience providing superior lighting schemes for homes and businesses throughout Hampshire. If you’re looking to bring exceptional LED lighting into your space, contact us today to arrange your complimentary virtual design consultation