Lighting Ideas For Your Office

When it comes to working in an office, whether it's a home office or a cubicle farm, your workspace's lighting can affect your productivity. Your desk and chair set-up in the office are essential, but you have to take care of your eyes (and health!) too. Office lighting can hugely impact your health. Having a well-lit office combined with a comfortable working environment is vital, especially since you are bound to spend a considerable chunk of your everyday life in your office.

Any poor lighting-- overlighting and dim lighting-- can reduce your energy, dampen your morale, and ultimately impair your ability to work effectively. Overly harsh lighting can be draining for your eyes and can trigger migraines and headaches, while dim lighting is also just as bad by causing eye strain and headaches. And more importantly, a dark office is just so depressing. That's why you must ensure your office is well-lit.

When we talk about office lighting, most people would think of old and washed-out lights. Fortunately, this is no longer the case today because you'll find different lighting options for a functional yet stylish office space. To lighten things up a bit, we are giving you simple steps and lighting ideas to help you have a well-lit workspace, whether at home or in a corporate environment. 

Simple Steps to Lighting Your Workspace

1. Take Notice of Your Natural Light

Look around you-- the sun is already providing natural light inside your workspace. Do you see your window giving you plenty of natural light every day? If that's the case, we advise you to move your desk as soon as possible and take advantage of all the beautiful natural light the sun offers. All you have to do is to let in some natural sunlight. Besides, natural light is always friendlier to your eyes, so consider putting your desk right beside your window.

2. Take On the Overhead Situation

When you have overhead lighting, we're telling you now that it isn't exactly the most excellent office lighting source (and we surely don't recommend it to be the only source)-- but it can help fill in the places that other sources of light seem to miss. With today's latest trend, switch out your old and boring overhead lighting with something even better!

3. Incorporate Tried and True Task Light

Nothing beats the oldie but goodie classic desk lamp that is key to bringing everything into focus. However, desk lighting alone can quickly give you eye strain, so make sure that you also have other light sources. The best way to use a task light is to pair it with natural light. That way, you won't have to keep relying on the desk lamp alone whenever it is avoidable.

4. Add An Ambient and Corrective Light

When you're staring at your computer for eight long hours or more, you're bound to experience eye strain, which can be a severe problem. To help soften the harsh light coming from your overhead or task lighting, throw a little ambient light into the mix. 

Office Lighting Ideas

Besides doing the above-mentioned simple steps to lighting your office, we also compiled some trendy office lighting ideas that you can incorporate into your office. Here are some of them:

1. Recessed Lighting

If you want to have plenty of overhead lighting in your office without including large fixtures appearing as a significant design statement, you might want to consider recessed lighting. Recessed lighting includes bulbs recessed into the ceiling, so they don't hang down or take too much of your space. 

2. Desk Lamps

If you're looking for lighting solutions for individual workspaces or home offices, you can consider traditional desk lamps a perfect solution. Desk lamps provide targeted light and usually serve best as supplemental lighting. They also come in a wide variety of styles that you can choose from to match them to your company's style and look.

3. Track Lighting

This lighting kind is an overhead lighting solution that provides a little more style than traditional recessed lighting or fluorescent lights. It includes a bar with several bulbs positioned along with it. If you want a minimalist, modern, or industrial office style, this solution will be perfect for you.

4. Indirect Lighting

IIf you want to create a unique look or provide supplemental light in common areas or corridors, indirect lighting is undoubtedly the way to go. This kind of lighting also helps in creating a visually compelling focal point. 

5. Pendant Lamps

These lamps hang down from the ceiling to provide direct light and visual interest. These are usually best-suited for areas over desks or conference tables because they turn relatively low and get in your way when turned in other commercial spaces.

6. Wall Sconces

This kind of light is mounted directly to walls to provide direct or supplemental sunlight. For home offices or small spaces, this option is particularly well-suited. Moreover, there are plenty of traditional and vintage-inspired options available and modern versions extending from the wall to provide light to our desk spaces. 

7. Task Lighting

Task lights provide a specific light source in the exact area you need to perform work, usually over a desk. Task lighting is perfect in delivering targeted light to one particular location, such as a mounted lighting source beneath a shelf placed over a workspace.

8. Floor Lamps

For a desk or a sitting area, floor lamps are suitable for providing light over the said areas. They also serve as a unique decor element and are usually ideal for small spaces or supplemental light sources.

9. Under-Cabinet Lighting

The under-cabinet is common in home kitchens, but it can also work in office kitchens under shelves in office spaces. 

10. Natural Light

Natural light can play a role in improving your office's look, and you don't necessarily have to invest in an actual light fixture. You can install large windows or skylights to let natural light into your office. 

11. Color Pendants

When it comes to collaborative workspaces that will add extra energy and vibrancy to the work atmosphere, color pendants are a fantastic idea. They help create an optimal environment perfect for employees' sharing of creative ideas and solutions for projects. You can try combining large, oversized, colored pendants for a fun, high-energy feel, or a pop-of-color with smaller charms for adding an accent and liveliness to your office space for modern offices. 

12. Oversized suspensions

Adding a giant light fixture to the room will automatically make the place feel more comfortable. If you have an open office where ceilings are high with a lot of overhead space, suspensions and large pendants are the perfect solutions to fill out the open area while also warming up the place. 

13. Accent and Decorative Lighting

Today, many home offices feature lighting, diffused throughout the space, and task lighting on the workstations. You can also improve your office ambiance by accessorizing other light types in your office, like accent and decorative lighting. Access lightings such as mantel or picture lights draw attention to objects or other room elements, while decorative lights like wall sconces provide direct visual appeal.

14. A Statement Lamp

Just because it's an office doesn't mean you always have to play safe when deciding your office lighting. Forget dull corporate styles and splash out on a unique desk lamp with an unusual color or shape. By doing this, you are making the space as your own, and you will feel even more comfortable staying in the same area. 

15. Light Control System

With today's technology, a light control system helps save energy efficiently by optimizing each office use area. By adding a light saving system, you will make the most out of your new lighting in terms of performance ability and energy capabilities. This system will benefit more areas like corridors, toilets, and meeting rooms that employees often use. Also, by adding occupancy control sensors, you will be able to ensure that the areas are well-lit when in use and switch off lights when not needed. 

Wrapping Up Thoughts

When it comes to lighting up your office, there are so many options that you can select from. Our last piece of advice is that you don't have to settle for a "one size, fits all" approach to lighting. You must do your research and look for efficient, stylish, and creative office solutions and create just the right amount and kind of illumination for your workspace. After all, choosing the perfect lighting is an integral part of styling your office. Decide on the correct light bulbs or find places in your offices that simulate natural light.

Lastly, don't be afraid to experiment. You don't have to abide by the traditional and bland lighting ideas. With the latest trends emerging, your crazy and unique ideas have a place in the construction industry. However, don't go too all-out and forget that lighting improvement is not just for style but also more work efficiency and productivity.

Is your construction company doing a renovation project right now? If the answer is yes, you might want to check out our blog to help you out with your current project. You can read more on Budget Friendly Solutions to Any Upgrade or Renovation. Hopefully, the blog can give you some valuable information for the project.