One of the big trends at the moment is the use of track or rail lighting. This easy to install, versatile and contemporary lighting solution is becoming widely used in all areas of the home. This month we shine the spotlight on this versatile form of downlighting.
Often in living rooms and bedrooms, we would suggest using uplighting, wall lights, table or standard lamps to soften lighting and give flexibility and a variety of light sources.
It's true that overhead lighting or downlighting can be quite harsh, but one of our clients has been demonstrating a great way of using downlighting to your best advantage.
Our client, an actor, who works in the theatre, is used to having lighting on rails that can be focused on different areas of the stage as required.
She has cleverly translated this idea to her living spaces to great effect, allowing her to focus on specific task areas, ornaments and pieces of furniture.
The advantages of this, is that the lighting is entirely flexible and can be moved around and re-focused according to what’s going in your room. This is already well used in functional rooms like the kitchen.
And while it’s not really used so much in the rest of the house, it can be a really good way of focusing on different task areas in living rooms, bedrooms, dressing rooms and home offices.
Got a lovely new painting you want to highlight? Direct your spots in its direction.
Want to take light away from a cosy corner? Just direct the spots away from this area.
Need more light on your desk area? No problem.
Fancy a change of layout? You can entirely reconfigure your room’s layout and simply re-direct your lights to suit.
Image credit: Paulmann
Main Advantages:
Design and direction flexibility
You don't have to
Easier to change bulbs than recessed fixed spotlights
Mix and match with different light sources - e.g. combining with pendant lighting over dining areas
Use to define different zones
Dimmable
Ability to choose rail lengths to suit the space
You can buy all different types, styles, colours and sizes of lighting rails to suit your needs; some that also include pendant luminaires in the configuration.
There are many different manufacturers of these lighting rails, ranging from expensive to very affordable. Google "rail lighting" or "track lighting" and you'll come across many brands, from the world-renowned Paulmann (https://en.paulmann.com/) to the globally accessible, IKEA.
Image Credits:
thelightbulb.co.uk (feature image)