5 Budget Busting Lighting Ideas to Transform your Home

Looking for ways to finish that renovation, or give your home a refresh, without it costing you the earth?  It can be as simple as changing, or adding, the right lighting!  Lighting is a cost effective way of making your spaces come to life, or bring a fresh feel to your home!

Here, we give you 5 simple and cost effective ideas that will transform your home without breaking the budget! And, most of them, you can do yourself!

1. Add a lamp or two

Lamps are often an under appreciated option, and too often, associated with specific task lighting.  Lamps, however, have this unique design ability to transform spaces without too much work.  In fact, they could be considered the ultimate in DIY options!

What makes lamps the perfect lighting solution?

• They are a cost effective way of injecting personality and life into a space;
• They are portable, so you can mix, match, or rearrange as often as you like to create a different feel or mood;
• They are an energy saving solution.  Instead of turning all your overhead lights on for simple tasks, just switch on your lamp for focused illumination that can also create mood;
• They allow you to enhance your current lighting scheme by adding a layer of light; and
• They are literally plug and go, DIY without the DIY!
• They are a 2 for 1 option, adding light, and offering an added design element.  Think your hall table or living room side board.  A well placed table lamp will add height and depth to some of the often forgotten spaces in your home.
• They are perfect for defining spaces in your home. Think subtle lighting in the living room as you wind down for the day, as opposed to bright task lighting in the kitchen.
• Lamps are perfect for upcycling. Give an old lamp new life by replacing the shade!
• The choices of type, style and design are endless! In fact, they are one of the few options where you can mix and match lamp bases and shades to create something that is perfect for your space, and reflects your unique style.

Some of our most versatile lamp bases include:

2. Add colour and depth with strip lighting

Another great budget saving DIY option is strip lighting. Inexpensive, and generally customisable to your needs and space, it is a simple lighting choice with big impact. And, more often than not, it is also DIY.

See our blog post 6 Decorating Ideas for LED Strip Lighting to get inspired with strip lighting in your home.

3. Add whimsy with string lighting

Who doesn’t love string lighting?!  It’s inexpensive, it’s DIY, and it really can change the mood and ambience of a space.  And, they’re perfect for indoor and outdoor use!

4. Go solar

Don’t forget your outdoor spaces! Lighting really is the difference between an outdoor space you enjoy being in and one you will love being in! It also allows to enjoy those spaces for more hours of the day.

Our best solution for transforming your outdoor spaces without too much expense? Solar lights! They really do tick a whole load of boxes, including:

• Generally solar will cost you less in initial outlay.
• It is the ultimate in energy saving.
• It is low maintenance.
• It gives you the ability to make changes to your outdoor lighting plan without the fuss or added expense. Need to shine a light somewhere different for an event? Easy, pick it up and put it where you need it! Don’t like the final placement of your lights? Easy, move them around until you are happy with them!
• Most solar lights are DIY.

Some of the options from our solar range include:

5. Choose downlights

LED downlights offer an efficient and long-lasting option to a lot of general lighting applications. What are some of the advantages of LED downlights? Well, there are quite a few, including:

• The upfront cost of downlights is relatively inexpensive.
• LED downlights are an energy efficient option, saving you on those energy bills. In fact, they can use up to 70% less energy than more traditional forms of lighting.
• LED downlights have a long lifespan. No more constantly replacing light bulbs!
• They provide a simple, unobtrusive solution to ambient, or general, lighting in your home. Do away with those old bulky light fittings, and give your home a cleaner, more modern feel instantly.
• They offer choice in terms of colour temperature that will improve the appearance and purpose of any room, and many, offer tri-colour solutions, meaning you can select your colour temperature on installation by simply flicking a switch on the downlight itself.
• There are also different styles. You can choose from recessed or surface mounted, for instance, and even whether your downlight is fixed, or tilted as is the case in gimbal downlights. Some LED downlights even offer options for changing your face plate, and using different finishes to either blend into the ceiling, or make a bold statement.

To read more about LED downlights in a little more depth, download our eGuide Your Ultimate LED Downlight Buying Guide. It is everything you need to know about LED downlights all in one place!

For more budget friendly lighting ideas, contact the lighting experts at Rovert Lighting & Electrical.