How to Light Your Home Office
Our Guide to Home Office Lighting
Our 5 key points
1. Natural Light
2. Task Lighting
3. Layers of Light
4. Increasing Productivity
5. Controlling Light
The home office, as a whole, has never been so relevant. The current Covid-19 pandemic has seen the biggest shift in the working environment, ever! Home offices have had to spring up in the most unlikely of settings and neglected studies are now the hub of productivity in the home. Video meetings and conference calls have allowed us all to have a nosey at our colleagues houses, while artificial lighting allows us to see them and them to see what they are doing. How important is it that we light our home office well? Very!
Millions of pounds are invested in research around lighting in traditional offices and we, at Lightsource, feel that your home office lighting is just as important, albeit, on a smaller scale. If you like anything you see in this blog, click the images for more details on each product.
Many of us have gone from working in traditional offices to more like below in a blink of an eye and the chances are, the below picture will be the ‘new norm.’ Even if you have always worked from home, there is something in this blog for you!
Here are some of the most important benefits of good lighting in an office setting and some simple and clever ways that you can replicate this in your own home. Whether it is a cosy corner of your kitchen or a grand home library, we don’t want to leave you in the dark at this challenging time.
1. Natural Light
Believe it or not, natural light is the most important type of light in an office, however, a combination of natural and artificial are ideal. Even in the best lit room, you will need some kind of artificial lighting, depending on what tasks are being carried out. If you do not have a suitable space with a good source of natural light, you can make the most of our tips and tricks to follow, however, you should aim to position your desk in an area with an abundance of natural light with some sort of blind to easily eradicate those unwanted periods of glare. If you are struggling with shadows or glare, try moving your desk position.
How Important is Natural Light?
According to almost every study conducted, a good source of natural light in the office will;
- Boost productivity.
- Reduce fatigue and promote better sleep patterns.
- You will be happier! Sunlight triggers the release of Serotonin.
The Harvard Business Review found that a good source of natural light was more important to employees than fitness centres, cafeterias and on site childcare. If you are interested in learning more about the importance of natural light in your office, take a look at these articles and journals;
2. Make Tasks Easier with Good Lighting
It is no secret that you need more light for some tasks than others. In addition, you may need a different type of light for one task over another. It is important to identify your primary tasks in your home office space as it is safe to say that the majority of people are not going to install multi-thousand pound lighting systems in their study, so, let’s have a look at some examples.
he ANTONIO articulated desk lamp by Thomas O’Brien works perfectly in this well lit home work space. Notice the natural light source that is perpendicular to the desk?
Light level is measured using a metric called Lux. A topic we will delve into in detail in a separate blog. For now, all you need to know is that on a clear, sunny day, the lux level outside will be around 10,000. On an overcast day, 1000. For simple, general office work, a lux level of 250 and above is required. Classrooms require a minimum of 300 lux in all areas. Computer work areas should have 500 lux. Detailed drawing work requires at least 1500 lux, however, if you are producing detailed drawings or performing other detailed tasks for a prolonged period of time, you may need up to 5000 lux. In theory, this is great, but what does it mean in reality?
General Office Work or Home Classroom – You will want to illuminate your workspace to keep yourself or kids engaged and awake. Have a look at this example, the Bicoca by Marset, is a portable, dimmable table lamp that comes in a range of beautiful colours, perfect for a makeshift school desk or kitchen table home office. It’s also great for outdoor use!
Computer Station – It is rare to see a computer desk in an office without some kind of desk lamp and your home workstation should not be any different. We supply a huge range of desk lamps to illuminate your notes and keyboard. My personal preference is for a lamp that can bend and twist to be appropriate for any task at my desk, the minimal Kelvin by Flos does just that. It will dim and you can change colour temperature to suit the time of day. It also comes with a clamp variant, which is very handy if you’re short on space at your desk.
Drawing Desk – A dimmable lamp is definitely recommended if you are creating detailed drawings or plans from home. You may also wish to consider a lamp with a colour temperature closer to that of natural lighting – from 4000k to 6000k. Here at Lightsource we love the design of the Linealight Dresscode desk lamp – available in multiple finishes with the highest quality LED lightsource. It comes with interchangeable filters to allow even greater control of the light emmited. Speak to us about specialist colour temperature light fittings.
3. Layers of light
Unless you work in the design industry or have a keen interest in interior design, you may not have heard of ‘layers of light’ before now, however, you will have come across them and probably have layered lights in your own home! Does your kitchen have a ceiling light, pendants over an island or under cupboard lighting? If so, these are layers of light, just as a ceiling lamp and table lamp in the living room are also layers of light.
Let’s touch on three key layers for your home office.
1. General Light
A beautiful chandelier such as the Ziyi by Visual Comfort, can inspire creativity and provide ample general light. It can also be controlled with a simple dimmer switch if you use the correct bulbs.
Simple recessed down lighting or a flush mounted fitting can set off a modern home office while providing a great source of general light.
2.Focused Task Lighting
Focused task lighting is just that, light that can be or is focused towards an area that you carry out a specific task. The large majority of desk lamps are adjustable in some way, making it easy for you to point light in exactly the right direction or to exactly the right spot. Task lighting does not have to be desk lamps, if you are short on space or need every inch of your work space, have a look at these options that attach to your wall or clamp to your desk.
3.Ambient light
You can create beautiful ambient light with the likes of the Aromas Funn table lamp. Its opaque white diffuser allows a warm white glow over 360 degrees.
4. Productivity
As previously mentioned, good lighting in your workspace will increase your productivity by increasing your overall mood, promoting a healthy sleep pattern and reducing fatigue. Aside from these primary benefits, you may also feel inspired by some of the beautiful designs by some of the world’s top designers. Whether it is colour, shape, material or overall design, we are certain you will find a lamp that you love in our stocklist.
5. Control
As touched on in the layers of light section, control over light is very important. Whether it is installing blinds in your workspace to reduce glare on your computer screen, or installing an automated lighting system in your home office, control can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. Some desk lamps will come with built in control for dimming or even changing the colour of light emitted. These are perfect for detailed tasks or multi-functional work spaces. We recommend having a dimmable source of light in every room, this could mean a cool new ceiling light and simple wall dimming switch, changing your existing bulbs to dimmable LED bulbs or going the whole hog and installing a fully controllable digital system. We will have detailed blog posts about the control of light and our exclusive partnership with Lutron in the future.
Please do not hesitate to contact a member of our sales team about controllable light sources, or indeed any of the topics covered in this blog.
sales@thelightsource.co.uk +44 (0) 2890 666 615
