5 Ways Lighting Upgrades Can Increase Your Home’s Value
While it may not be immediately apparent, one of the most cost effective strategies to increase your home’s value is through simple and efficient lighting upgrades. Whether you decide to update your home’s existing interior lighting or exterior lighting, there’s plenty of options and a lot to consider. In fact, the difference between before and after home lighting upgrades can be pretty dramatic. To make it easier for you, here are the 5 most valuable areas for you to consider home lighting upgrades in your house this year.
5 Ways Lighting Upgrades Can Increase Home Value
Let’s take a look at the five most valuable ways for you to instantly increase your house’s sale value in the near future.
1. Exterior Lighting
Hearing “home lighting upgrades”, many homeowners likely think of the inside (bathrooms and kitchens, for instance). Right now, however, we want to focus on something that might be less obvious: exterior lighting upgrades.
One feature of outdoor lighting is its ability to highlight your landscaping, driveway, paths, fire pits, fountains, fencing, and other outdoor areas. If your home has an outdoor patio, a deck, a pool, or a grill area, these can be decked out (pun intended) with beautiful lighting fixtures. These make the area both stand out and provide more overall visibility.
Even when you consider your home’s location and overall design/style, there are endless options for exterior lighting updates. With some simple additions and finishes, the “curb appeal” of your home can skyrocket almost instantly.
2. Kitchen Lighting
The kitchen is often the heart of the home. With some lighting upgrades, you can make that space even more beautifully designed and inviting.
For starters, the kitchen typically has three different sets of lighting: general, task, and accent. Each one of these can be updated according to your preferences and budget to get a great new look.
If you have an island, consider updating your more general recessed lighting by installing new hanging lights. To highlight a unique backsplash, add LED lighting upgrades as an accent under your cabinets for a dramatic finish. For the family chef, a series of well-placed task lights over the stove/grill area can make all the difference.
When looking to move into a new home, buyers are likely to notice the touches that these new lighting upgrades offer to the kitchen experience. In other words, don’t let your cabinet upgrades and new marble countertops take all the limelight.
3. Bathroom Lighting
The bathroom is another space that optimal lighting can create a relaxing spa-like atmosphere. For one thing, if your bathroom currently has simple overhead lighting, you might choose to install wall-mounted fixtures instead, in order to add value and a dash of warmth.
One spot that’s often neglected: the bathroom mirror. Many homes’ bathroom mirrors would benefit from some side-lighting. This type of lighting helps to minimize shadows and adds a bit of glamour to the space at the same time.
To add to the spa feeling, consider opting for dimmable bulbs over the bathtub. These can create an incredibly relaxing environment that’s bound to attract attention from homebuyers.
4. Entryway Lighting
Though it’s not a place you spend a ton of time, entryways and foyers have a unique position in the home, which bold, upgraded lighting can highlight. While some rooms in the house may not call for, or even support, eccentricity, the entryway is the exception.
For example, you might love chandeliers but have no place in your home that seems like a great fit. That’s where entryways can stand out and show a little life. The same is true of sconces and pendants that include bolder fixture designs.
Given a little time and attention, the entryway can become one of your home’s most exciting features, and homebuyers (who will likely enter by the front door) are very likely to take notice.
5. Living Room Lighting
Like the kitchen, living rooms are a space that utilize multiple types of lighting. In addition to the task and accent lighting of the kitchen, they also make use of ambient lights to create an overall feeling of comfort, leisure, and relaxation.
If you’re looking to upgrade your living room light situation, a particularly helpful strategy is what’s known as “light layering”. With light layering, you first take into consideration the primary use of the room, and then you layer the lights in such a way to make these activities easier and more enjoyable.
For your family, you might use the living room mainly for watching TV together. Other families may use the living room as a reading or study room. For the socialites among us, the living room can become the best spot in the house to entertain.
Whichever one (or two) best describes your household, you can use that information to layer the lights accordingly. If you’re a TV-watching home (like most!), then you can layer the lights with dimmable bulbs in the ceiling for customizable ambience and to reduce eye strain. You might add a few table lamps for a little extra task lighting at night, and perhaps some small accent lights near the baseboards (anything too big might be distracting from the television).
Whatever strategy best suits your needs, layered lighting in the living room can be a huge bonus for your family, as well as for those considering purchasing your home in the future.
Highlight Your Home with New Lighting
While a home offers many opportunities for upgrades and updating, few are as simple and timeless as lighting and lighting fixtures. Whether you decide to upgrade your home’s exterior lighting or interior lighting, there are countless options to consider. When you do, call Rytec Electric and we’ll install your new lighting properly in no time.