ISO: Bright lighting for kid's bedroom that does not require electrician

March 6, 2022 6:02 AM

My son's room is dim. please help me find lighting that will meet the following needs: a) Plug it in and that's it for installation. b) Bright light. Like ideally figure equivalent to 2 100W bulbs. c) Can be placed/attached ideally on top of a shelf (like this, but actually bright lights, not picture lights) or less ideally in a kallax nook. d) Dimmable would be nice e) I need some sort of hack to ideally turn it on from a wall switch. Bonus if I can turn it on/off from two wall switches. e) Need I say: cheaper is better.

Oh, and it needs to be available in Canada, but I suppose you can let me worry about that part. The alternative will be to install potlights which will probably get pricey.

posted by If only I had a penguin... to Shopping (10 answers total)

Do the wall switches connect to an outlet near to where you want to place the lamp? If not, you need a wireless switch and receiver. (You stick the wireless switch to the wall with sticky stuff. It transmits to the receiver, which the lamp is plugged into.)
posted by xo at 7:19 AM on March 6, 2022

Response by poster: XO: No...there is a switch control outlet but it's on the wrong side of the room. Thank you, "wireless switch receiver" was the keyword I needed, but there don't seem to be any plug-based (i.e. just a plug you plug in and then plug in the lighting) ones that are dimmable. I'm assuming there's a technical reason that's not possible? Dimmer's have to be hard-wired?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:38 AM on March 6, 2022

You could use LEDs with wireless remote controls
posted by bluefrog at 8:05 AM on March 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

They make remote switches with built in dimmers for around $25USD. You just have to make sure the bulb in the lamp is a dimmable bulb.
posted by xo at 8:08 AM on March 6, 2022

For cheapest, I'd do this with a remote-controlled outlet with two remotes and whatever lamp pleases you, but if you want extremely cheap and extremely bright go for clamp lamps that can go up to 150w or cheap T5 plant lights if you want to bounce that off the ceiling - I use these in my office for growing microgreens and seed-starting and they are so bright I sewed curtains to go around the shelf.

You can probably make the clamp lamps dimmable but not the T5s.

There are cheap and cheapish home automation options that are more flexible, but you'd need an app or a surveillance puck to manage that and I'm going to assume you don't want to go that route on purpose.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:42 AM on March 6, 2022

My first thought was a LED torchiere. Comes with a remote control, is stepless dimmable, and all that. It can even be adjusted to different colors, and the head is tiltable.

If it MUST fit on top of shelf(ves) then my second thought are these dimmable video fill lights. Comes in set of 2, can be adjusted individually, powered by USB ports. No remote control on these, just the control buttons on the cable itself. They do have a version with a remote, but it costs twice as much.
posted by kschang at 10:33 AM on March 6, 2022

They are expensive and will require you to buy a bridge and dimmer separately, but these Philip's light bars comw close to meeting all your other requirements. All in the price would probably be $250.
posted by phil at 1:07 PM on March 6, 2022

I just got nanoleaf shapes for my daughter (pricey, around $200) that are plugged into the wall and are fantastic. I am going to get more in other rooms they are so good.
posted by saucysault at 1:27 PM on March 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

We got something like these remote control plugs which allowed us to plug in three devices, each to separate outlets and then control them with a single button on the remote (all on and off at once) although you also have each on a separate button. We then put a small plastic holder on the wall so the remote would always be in the same spot. (Lift out, press button, return to holder, never put down anywhere else.) You also have two different remotes programed to the same outlet so you can control things from two different spots.
posted by metahawk at 2:22 PM on March 6, 2022

It seems like you have two reasonable options - LED light panels (not cheap, but will provide good all round light rather than direct) or LED strips (cheap, flexible, but may need to use a few to get the light level you're looking for).

I would consider the LED light strips to be your best option. Cheap, put them anywhere, plug-n-play, dimmable, remote operation (stick the remote on the wall wherever you want to control it if you prefer). They put out quite a lot of light and, depending on how old your son is, give a lot of options for cool lighting effects he might like.
posted by dg at 5:14 PM on March 6, 2022