The traditional method of lighting a room – a single central pendant light hanging from the ceiling – typically makes for a very stark lighting scheme with little atmosphere.
Melissa Davidson from The Lighting Warehouse says, “There are many ways of creating atmosphere using carefully planned lighting systems, but one of the most cost-effective and efficient ways is to plan your lighting around the use of spotlights.
“While spotlights are great for highlighting various features in a given space, they are also great for providing effective illumination for an entire room.”Davidson says that spotlights can be used for task lighting, where they serve to illuminate a desk or working surface; mood lighting, where they highlight certain focal features such as architectural features, artwork or plants; and general lighting, to provide overall lighting to any space.
“The multi-directional globes can be angled to reduce unwanted shadows or to highlight a particularly dark part of a room that receives little or no light,” she adds.
It’s important to coordinate the choice of spotlights to suit the design and décor of a building or a particular space and spotlights are available in a multitude of styles and fittings.
About choosing the right globes, Davidson says, “In the past we used 12V halogen dichroic globes that needed a transformer, which made these globes relatively expensive, but today, GU10 globes are much more affordable and, as they are 240V units, they do not require a separate transformer.”
She points to four types of GU10 globes.
Davidson emphasises that spotlights are very versatile light fittings. “Because they can be angled in different directions, they are especially suitable to activity-intense areas, such as kitchens,” she says.
“Glare can be eliminated by using spots to illuminate specific objects indirectly. Light reflects off an object at the same angle that the light rays strike it, so you can eliminate glare by ensuring that the reflected light does not shine upward at eye level,” she explains.
Spotlights can also be used to increase the level of illumination in a room – and make it look bigger – by washing the walls with light. “By running spotlight tracks across the shorter sides of a room, you will make the room seem wider. If you want the room to appear narrower, the spotlight tracks should be placed on the longer walls.”
As well as retailing to the public, The Lighting Warehouse offers an advisory service to architects, lighting engineers and interior designers, to assist with lighting selection.
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