These lighting tips are part of a sponsored post for MXM and Philips. I received product and further compensation but, as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
I adore this time of year. I love the Christmas concerts and parties, I love the sweet treats delivered by neighbors, and I love opening my home up to friends and family and creating a warm, inviting place to relax, visit, and enjoy the season.
Lighting plays a huge role in creating a warm and inviting space. At this time of year, I love to plug in the Christmas tree and let the white lights glow and reflect off ornaments …
… and I love to light the fireplace and a few candles. It just instantly feels cozy and draws everyone into the room.
But when I’m entertaining, other sources of light are important. After all, I want my guests to be able to see what they’re eating and drinking and be able to see the face of the person next to them.
This season, I completed two simple projects that completely transformed the lighting in my family room. First, I replaced all of my light bulbs with Philips LED lights. These bulbs have a long life, significant energy savings, and contain no mercury. My favorite feature is that they’re dimmable.
Which brings me to my second transformation. I installed two dimmer switches in my family room: one to control the flood light over my fireplace, and one to control the lights on my ceiling fan. I absolutely hate bright ceiling lights so being able to dim them to a cozy level makes me so happy! And installing a dimmer switch is a really simple DIY. My husband has installed many dimmer switches in our house but I installed these two myself {my Dad guided me through it} and it was a quick and easy project that had a huge impact.
Those two simple steps have added such warmth to our family room. The flood light over the mantel {which we rarely used} can now be dimmed to a comfortable level …
… highlighting the decor on the mantel and giving a little support to the candelight.
This holiday season I added a lot of silver and sparkle to our mantel and the reflection of the light creates a festive mood …
… as it bounces off silver ornaments and bowls.
And adding dimmable lights to the chandelier means I’m now using that light, lowering it to a warm and inviting level that adds ambiance rather than glare to the room.
And one more Philips light bulb in a wall sconce over the couch adds enough light for reading or knitting or simply curling up to relax in that cozy spot.
Changing the lighting in a room is one of the simplest ways to truly transform a space and create a warm and inviting environment.
This holiday season, Philips wants you to make your holiday shine with the right lighting! Enter the Philips Bright Ideas Sweepstakes for a chance to win a $3000 lighting makeover that includes a design consultation, Philips bulbs and fixtures. Follow Philips on Pinterest, create your own home lighting and design board, pin your lighting inspiration, and share your information and board URL. Easy, right? Get pinning!
What room would you love to transform this holiday season?
Lighting can really make a huge difference! What a fabulous home you have created. Those lights look amazing and dimmable…super cool! I agree that just the right amount of lighting can make it so much more cozy!
I was just looking at the lights in my house and thinking I needed to change out the bulbs to a whiter light! Bulbs can make such a difference!
Well, it is the most wonderful time of the year — and the ambiance of the lights plays a large part in that around the home. {wink} Thanks for sharing. xo
I have the worst lighting ever at my house and am totally clueless about what to do. Thanks for the tips…I really think I need to implement these ideas!
Lighting is so important! I swapped out some of the bulbs and shades in one of my rooms and it made a huge difference. I love what you did with your room ~ perfection!
love the pics and the ambiance.
Lighting is a big deal to me – and I use and love these lightbulbs!
Great pics! You’ve captured the mood and the warmth. Happy Holidays!
Wow I love all your lighting ideas! It’s something that is so important but I have to admit I don’t think much about it… now I will!
I live in a pretty dark basement apartment so I’m all about lighting, and the canned lights aren’t always enough! Thanks for the great ideas!
With those new lights, your room looks so cozy!
I have never tried these but would love better lighting in my house! Thanks Randi!
I love dimmers. We should totally instal one in our living room somewhere. I’ve seriously always been a fan!
Gorgeous! The lighting makes all the difference. BTW, your tree is FAB!
I’ve been thinking about switching to LEDs, because one of the complications I have with my lupus is photosensitivity, and the Fluorescent bulbs aren’t good for me. I know you like that they can be dimmed, but is the light good with them? Is it better than the fluorescents, which I hate?
I can’t stand fluorescents either … that glaring light really gets to me. The LED’s truly have a really nice light. It’s not glaring and it’s actually quite warm, something I wasn’t expecting. Being able to adjust the brightness adds to that warmth as well. I’m completely impressed with them!
Your home looks lovely and so festive. I love how you’ve used lighting to really create a mood!
Oooh your room looks so cozy! The lighting really does make a difference! I love the warm glow, rather then the harsh bright white. Incandescents are now banned in Canada, but I hate the mercury in the others…so I have to look into some of these! Thanks for the info 🙂
I so agree with you – lighting can really make the space. I love dimmers – good for you for doing it on your own! Now come over to my house and do mine!
I’ve had adding dimmer switches on my to-do list for ages… they make such a difference!
Really great tips! Your Holiday decorated living room looks soooo cozy!
What a beautiful warm glow, very very inviting!
Beautiful! I’m sure it was a little tricky to truly capture how beautiful the lights looked…great job!!
I love the ambiance you now have in your living room, Randi! Our overhead fan light is SO harsh in ours. A dimmer would be perfect!
Love the beautiful soft glow!
Gorgeous pictures!!! The lighting is just perfect
Great ideas and great photos to show all of the different types of lights!
Dimmers make such a big difference! Thanks for all of your great tips!
Your home is beautiful! You’re right – lighting makes all the difference. Thanks for sharing the great tips.