A Bright Idea: 8 Advantages of Using Linear Lights

The right lighting scheme can make your home design a success or a bust.

Using linear lights is one way to ensure it has the x-factor. These lighting fixtures are so versatile, they’ve even been used to highlight the stunning architecture of the Whanganui City Bridge, showing there's really no limit to what you can do with luminous strip lighting.

It may not be the light source that draws the most attention, but linear lighting adds a dose of drama and flair to your lighting scheme.

If you're new to home lighting and renovation, you may be wondering about linear lights, and why they've become the next trend in interiors.

Linear lighting typically comes in the form of a 'strip' of LED lights. As the name suggests, it's a line of lights. A linear lighting design allows you to accent your home or business with a continuous line of lighting.

This means more flexibility in your lighting scheme. Linear lighting is great for accents, lighting long bookcases, and illuminating shelves and cabinets full of exotic objets d'art. It also allows you to create dramatic illumination, and light up certain hard-to-reach nooks and crannies.

Let's examine some of the advantages and benefits of linear lighting.

Task or work lighting is one of the more practical benefits of using LED linear lighting.

Linear pendant lights make an excellent addition to a kitchen, for instance, where they can illuminate areas for cutting and food preparation. The beauty of linear lighting in this instance is that it provides a more diffused light over a greater area, unlike a spotlight.

Of course, there are many areas other than kitchens where linear lights can be used. Washrooms, work areas, make-up stations, reading nooks, and many other places in the home can benefit from linear lighting.

What better use for linear lighting strips than illuminating shelves of all kinds?

The truth is, the judicious use of LED linear lights around bookshelves and other shelving adds a touch of depth and drama to your home. Your imagination is really the only limit to what you can do. As an example, hidden light strips within shelving units can help books or curios to 'pop' out of the background.

Recessed downlighting is just one way that LED linear lighting can really enhance your home lighting scheme.

Related Read: 5 kitchen lighting trends to watch in 2021

If you're still saddled with a one-dimensional understanding of lighting, you need to broaden your horizons.

The modern lighting aesthetic incorporates the use of multiple and juxtaposed layers of light to induce really dramatic effects. Integrating linear lighting in this fashion is an excellent use of the versatility of this form of illumination.

One way to do this is to accent a kitchen, perhaps with low-level linear light strips installed along the projecting underside of a kitchen island's counter. Finish the design with the use of attractive pendant lights, and you have a kitchen lighting scheme that will be the envy of the neighbourhood.

One of the primary benefits of linear lighting is that it allows for greater flexibility in the design and usage of ceiling lighting.

Rather than clunky chandeliers, linear ceiling lights make for a great addition to your home lighting scheme. They spread a more diffused and ambient light that doesn’t have the harsher glare of spotlights or other more conventional light sources.

Another advantage of linear lighting is that you can get very creative with your designs.

Wash lighting is lighting that creates a “wash” of light across a space or surface. You can use linear lights throughout your home to create wash lighting.

One way to do this is to integrate linear light strips into floor or ceiling coves, to provide soft and pleasing washes of light across the floor or ceiling.

With all the advances in smart technology, and through the use of different circuits, linear LED lights can work very well with scene and mood lighting.

This is a great way to change up the lighting scheme in the same space over the course of a day. Or, better yet, to change lighting patterns for different purposes—such as a dinner party or a morning get-together.

Mood settings like this can even be operated remotely through smart devices or programmed for automatic operation.

Linear lighting is a great way to highlight select features in your home.

It’s a method of creating interest and generating a little atmosphere in living spaces. Because of the versatile shape and nature of linear lighting, these strips are perfect for feature lighting.

Hallways, living areas, stairways—these are all places that can benefit from a little extra colour and mood lighting. Don't be shy—let your imagination run wild and explore all the creativity that linear lights afford.

Finally, we have to observe that LED linear lighting comes with the additional advantage of being easy to install, and requiring very little maintenance.

How long do Linear LED lights last in years?

LED linear lights last much longer than fluorescent lights, up to 13 years in some cases, which means you'll spend less time changing out new bulbs or replacing lights. They will also help you save on energy costs over the long term. It's the perfect combination of lighting versatility and energy efficiency.

Linear lights are the perfect way to accent any home with a dramatic and eye-catching lighting scheme. We've included just a few of the more obvious advantages of using linear lighting—there are so many more!

If you're looking for more ideas for integrating linear lights into your home design, go ahead and join Archipro, New Zealand's largest design and architecture community. We'll put you in contact with the nation's best lighting and interiors professionals