Enhancing Your Bedroom with Bedside Wall Lights
A bedroom pendant light is a great primary source of lighting, but will struggle to illuminate tasks you’re doing in bed. For example, when reading in bed the page will typically be facing away from the pendant and be close to the edge of the room. Bedside lighting fills this gap, providing a nearer source of light and at the right angle to illuminate a page. It also serves as accent lighting, illuminating the space in the bedroom where the eye is naturally drawn – the area around the bed itself.
Bedside Wall Light FAQ
Key Features for Bedside Wall Lights
There are no hard and fast rules for choosing wall-mounted bedside reading lights, but there are a few features you may wish to pay attention to when choosing which lights to buy.
You will almost certainly appreciate being able to turn these lights on and off without actually getting out of bed. For that reason, you will likely want to choose switched wall lights for mounting beside your bed.
You may want to choose adjustable wall lights, especially if you read or perform other tasks in bed frequently. This will allow you to position the light exactly where you need it, and adjust according to your position in bed or they type of task.
How Bright Should Bedside Lighting Be?
This depends on exactly what you want the lighting to achieve. If you mostly want it to serve as task lighting, such as for reading in bed, you won’t need it to be very bright. In this case the light only needs to provide effective lighting for a limited radius, so brighter lights may seem excessive and create harsh glare through the rest of the room.
On the other hand, if you want your bedside lights to provide reasonably effective lighting throughout the room, but with the convenience of being able to turn them on and off from the bed, you will need more light output. If you want it to fulfil both these purposes at different times, you can either use a brighter light for both purposes, or use a dimmable light so you can adjust the light level according to purpose.
Of course, the brightness is decided by the bulb rather than the light itself. However, if you want a brighter light you should check that the light is suitable for the wattage you require, and if you want to use a dimmer you should make sure to purchase a dimmable bulb.
Are There Alternatives to Wall Lights for Bedside Lighting?
While many people prefer wall lights for bedside use, they can come with drawbacks. Most significantly, if there are not existing lights to replace, they require professional installation by a competent electrician, and you may prefer to avoid the disruption. You can get around this with our range of rechargeable wall lights, which require no mains connection and can be installed with only basic DIY skills. However, there are also alternatives which are not wall lights at all.
One of the easiest alternatives is a rechargeable table lamp. These require no installation of any kind – just place them on a bedside table or nightstand and you are good to go. They are therefore massively simpler, but the disadvantage is they generally offer less effective and flexible placement for effective task lighting.
Some people also prefer to hang small bedside pendant lights
instead of wall-mounted ones. This is primarily an aesthetic alternative, though depending on your home they can offer easier and less disruptive installation options. For example, if the existing wiring for your bedroom lighting is easily accessible in the loft, installation will usually be fairly quick and will not involve damaging your existing décor as would be the case if the electrician had to chase out your walls to run cables. However, this does generally mean sacrificing the convenience of turning them on and off without leaving your bed, as fitting a dedicated switch beside your bed will still require running cables through your walls.
