The best lighting for every room in your home.

By emily.bailey

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

long upstairs hallway in family home with white walls and black door hardware

Follow this guide to lighting to make your home feel more welcoming, peaceful and secure.

Not all lighting is created equally. Just think about how differently you feel in the dressing room of a clothing store versus outside in the sunshine. On the same token, each area of your home needs different kinds of lighting based on what kind of mood you want to create and how you use the space. Follow this guide to lighting to make your home feel more welcoming, peaceful and secure.

Soft lighting in the bedroom

We’ve all heard how blue lighting affects our sleep. It’s why they tell us to avoid looking at our phones and computer and television screens when we’re winding down for bed. Not surprisingly, the brightness and color temperature of your room’s lights can also affect how quickly you fall asleep.

For the bedroom, experts recommend lower lumens, or brightness. Depending on the size of your room, wall color and, to a certain extent, personal preference, a range of 2,000 to 4,000 lumens is ideal for bedrooms. To put that into some context, 800 lumens is equivalent to 60 watts. That 2,000 to 4,000 range is less than what’s recommended for bathrooms and kitchens, but more than most living rooms.

To counterbalance insomnia-inducing blue light, choose soft white bulbs. This color temperature range emits a warm and yellow glow, often creating a cozy effect. When you want your bedroom – or any other room in your home, for that matter – to feel like a sanctuary, soft white is the way to go.

Bright lighting in the garage

On the flip side of soft bedroom lighting is bright white bulbs in the garage. The color range here is between white and blue, perfect for work spaces where you need more energy and focus. The same generally goes for kitchen and home office lighting.

Dimmable lighting in the dining room

We love dimmable lighting for its versatility. Need more light to do homework at the dining room table? Turn it up. Want something more relaxing for an intimate meal a few hours later? Just dial it down. At a time when multifunctional spaces are practically a necessity, dimmable lighting can help trick your mind into thinking you’ve walked into an entirely different room.

You’ll need two things to be able to adjust your lights – a dimmer switch and a dimmable light bulb, which can vary slightly by fixture. For a bit of extra sophistication, try a connected switch like the Leviton Decora WiFi Dimmer. It connects directly to your WiFi, no hub required, and works with LED, incandescent and magnetic low voltage (MLV) bulbs. You can also pair it with your Schlage Encode™ Smart WiFi Deadbolt. More on that in a minute.

Motion-activated lights outside

A well-lit home can give your security a much-needed boost. Outdoor lighting can deter potential thieves by illuminating dark corners where they would hide and by literally shining a light on them when they approach your doors or windows.

When choosing exterior lighting for your home, consider motion-activated lights or sensors. Mount them to a garage, near the back deck or pool, or any corner that could be tempting to someone trying to fly under the radar unnoticed. These days, you can adjust the sensitivity of most motion sensors so that they aren’t flipping on and off with each passing car or raccoon out for a stroll. It will likely take some trial and error, but the effort will be worth the peace of mind you gain in your security.

Smart lighting in the entryway

To be honest, you can’t really go wrong with putting smart lighting anywhere in your house, but we chose the entryway for two reasons. First, the foyer is one of the most overlooked areas during remodels and design upgrades. We think it’s time they got a little love. Second, a well-lit entryway might be exactly what you need to improve your home’s security and safety.

All too often, we come into the house with our hands full at the end of the day. The ice cream is melting in your grocery bags, the kids have dropped their backpacks and sports gear right inside the door, the dog is darting around under your feet (those little black pugs are like snorting ninjas), and in the dark, you don’t see any of it.

With smart lighting, you don’t have to worry about who might be lurking behind the closed the door, stumble on tripping hazards or try to hit the switch with your elbow. Program your smart light to turn on at a certain time, like at dusk or by 7 p.m. if that’s when you normally get home, or use an app to light things up before you even get out of the car. Even better, try an integration like the Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Deadbolt and compatible Leviton lighting. By pairing these smart devices and controlling events through the My Leviton App, you can create a routine so that entering your access code at the lock automatically triggers designated lights to come on. Imagine just how much more welcome and comfortable you’ll feel before you even set foot in the house.

Looking for another way to improve your home’s security with indoor lighting? Try the Leviton Away Mode with your Schlage Encode lock. This feature triggers a routine so that when you lock your door on the way out, Leviton lighting will randomly turn on and off throughout the day to make your home look occupied, another great way to deter burglars.

Find more ways to make your home feel more welcoming and improve your security at the Schlage blog. You can also learn about other devices compatible with the Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Deadbolt on our Works With page.