Inexpensive Lighting Gadgets that give Your Home a High End Look

While decor shopping, I’m always on the lookout for high-impact home solutions that won’t break the budget.  Whether you are decorating to live or staging to sell, these lighting products will give a wow-factor you didn’t realize your home was missing!

Lighting design is one of the most overlooked and under-utilized tools by DIY decorators.  While this topic is too extensive to cover in a blog post, here are a few quick solutions you can implement right away that add both style and function to your home.

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^{Photo taken while touring Drees Homes Builder Model}

1. Above and Under Cabinet Lighting

These battery and remote operated LED puck lights are one of my favorite decorating tools.  Anyone can install them, and for operation you can push them on and off manually (great for a quick countertop light), but even better, you can control them individually (or collectively) with a remote!  

My favorite place to use them is above kitchen cabinets - the illumination helps your ceiling feel taller and fills in dark shadows during the day - which is great when staging your home to sell - and gives soft ambient glow in the evenings, perfect for everyday use. 

For comparison, notice how dark the shadows are above these beautiful cabinets. Adding cabinet lights on top would help the ceilings look taller and keep the kitchen light and bright.

Especially when you have an open floorplan, on family movie nights you want soft light for visibility that won’t add glare to your tv screen.  Above cabinet lighting is a great solution for an nearby ambient glow.  

After getting a large quote from an electrician to hardwire kitchen cabinet lights, I went looking for alternate solutions and these were it!

When using above the cabinets, no installation is necessary, you can just set them there!  Then if you want to move them around later, you can.  Just be sure the ‘wireless’ symbol is facing toward you so the remote works - learned that lesson!

For under cabinet lights, they provide adhesive and a screw for installation. 

^{Photo taken while touring Southgate Homes builder model}

These puck lights are also a great solution for small closets that lack a light source, on top of bookcases in home offices, and even inside a child’s playhouse.

They have a 50% dim setting or use at 100% for brighter light.  And you can put them on a timer for auto-off.

Bonus tip: For home staging, these are great lights to hide around a room to fill dark shadow areas before taking your listing photos! 

2.  Nightlight Outlet Cover 

These nightlight outlet covers are perfect for hallway or entry illumination. If you don’t want to invest in adding hardwired lights or sconces, swap out these nightlight covers to replace your existing electrical outlet covers. Then you have soft ambient lighting down your hallway!

They have a dusk-to-dawn feature where they automatically come on at dusk, stay on all night, and auto turn-off in the morning. No unsightly, bulky nightlight and you can keep both of your plugs available. 

And they are easy to install - remove your current cover and replace with your new one - its just a single screw!  

Great to install near dark entry doorways or staircases too. We placed one by our backdoor to the garage so we can easily see when we come in at night.

Add them to your home media room for a movie theatre feel. Put in bathrooms for middle-of-the-night trips when you don’t want to use the glaring overhead light.

Helpful for guests who don’t know their way around, or allowing you to sneak past your toddlers room without waking them with bright hallway light.

3.  Battery Operated Light Bulb

These battery lightbulbs or this pack of battery lightbulbs are a great addition to your home as well. They provide a power source for up to 5 hours when the electricity goes out and are rechargeable. You can use them like a normal bulb in a light fixture, or walk around with them like a flashlight!

In home staging and decorating, these are a great solution for cord-free lighting. If you have an unsightly cord placement or need a lamp where no outlet exists, these LED rechargeable bulbs are your solution!

Lamps are one of the easiest go-to decor solutions to help your home feel warm and welcoming. Just notice how many background lamps are in your favorite show or movie when the main character’s home is shown! Set designers know lamps immediately add interest and homey-feel to a space. 

Many times we don’t have convenient outlets nearby, like an end table in the middle of a living room. These bulbs are the perfect solution if you want to add a reading lamp or ‘pockets of light’ throughout a room.

4.  Solar Powered Outdoor Lights

These Solar LED accent lights are a perfect addition to any exterior. They illuminate steps, pathways, fence lines, and decks to prevent tripping hazards and create a pretty glow to your yard. They automatically turn on at night, and are off by morning. Plus, no hardwiring or electrician necessary!

I recommend the ‘warm’ color light, as it is more pleasing for residential use. The ‘white’ light option is typically used in commercial properties.

While they have screws included for hanging, this exterior mounting tape is an even easier way to install them, on a variety of surfaces. I used the tape to mount them to our stone retaining wall (tip: double-layer the tape if you have very uneven stone), and to the top of our wood fence posts to give our yard a soft glow.

If in-ground lights are better for your yard, these solar ground lights are a good solution.  They can illuminate trees and landscaping, up-light the house or backyard fence. You will want to be sure they are not placed in the path of the lawnmower.

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