Smart lights can do a lot more than dim and change colors. And they don’t have to look like ordinary bulbs anymore. 

As we’ve spent more time at home during the pandemic, many of us have sought out new lights to improve the background in our Zoom calls or project the right vibe for our family movie nights. Switching up your lighting is also one of the easiest ways to make your abode smarter and more personalized to your tastes.

“Your home became a place of entertaining, relaxing and working. And each of those requires different light settings to make it pleasant,” said George Yianni, the head of technology for Signify’s Philips Hue business.

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Since the first smart lights became available a decade ago, engineers have figured out how to transform traditional-looking bulbs into modular LED panels, bendable tubes and electronic plants. 

If you are hoping to improve your home’s ambience through lighting, it doesn’t matter if the interior is modern or old school, home-decorating experts say.

“If you’ve got a home full of antiques, lights that wash them in the sunset can add an updated flare,” said Toni Sabatino, a New York-based interior designer with her own design business. “If you’re into Andy Warhol artwork and neon signs, there are ways to hint at that too.”

The trick is to know how you would like the light to function. Is it an accent, meant to complement the background, or is it a conversation piece? Lights with strong shapes work best for offices and kids’ rooms, Ms. Sabatino said, whereas lights in more plantlike shapes and wood finishes are often preferred for living areas.

If you are new to smart lighting, entryways with white walls are one place to start, says Mikel Welch, a New York-based designer at his own firm.

“Everyone loves the restaurants and hotels where neon lights greet you in the entryway,” he said. “You can bring that to your hallway at home.” 

Over the past year, companies have introduced a variety of new lights to help you achieve that look—and switch up the rest of your space too. Here are some of the latest.

Fluora

Not everyone can keep houseplants alive. For those of you with brown thumbs, Fluora presents an alternative—lifelike, whimsical LEDs in the form of high-tech plants. The leaf-shaped lights flicker, almost like they have attracted fireflies. 

The Fluora LED houseplant is controlled with an app.

Photo: color+light

The lights, made by Oakland, Calif.-based color+light, are bright enough to illuminate a room at night, but they require a lot of manual setup. To use the 4-foot-tall artificial plant, you must attach 18 individual leaves to corresponding stems, and connect each of the stems to sockets in the flowerpot base. Setting up the plantlike lamp is a lot like putting together a piece of IKEA furniture.

But once you turn it on, you can use the Fluora app to control the leaves’ colors, set lighting animations such as swirling and twinkling, and adjust the speed and direction of those effects. Color+light sold out of Fluora in the first two weeks it became available in April, but it will restock later this summer. 

You can preorder Fluora for $499. A mini version, which will cost about $199, is planned for later this year. 

Nanoleaf Lines

In October, Toronto-based Nanoleaf introduced an updated version of its modular lighting panels: new backlit bars that can connect together in designs stretching from your wall onto your ceiling. A Nanoleaf Line is 11 inches long and links with others using hexagon-shaped joints. 

Nanoleaf Lines—backlit, LED wall lights—can be arranged in numerous designs.

Photo: Nanoleaf

The built-in microphone listens for ambient sounds and reacts with rhythmic pulses of light. When you are playing music, the modules can react and illuminate your room like futuristic strobe lights. 

Using the iPhone and Android phone app or your voice, you can transform the vibe from a tranquil candlelit dinner into a pulsing nightclub. You can rely on the Nanoleaf preset scenes or create your own.

Nanoleaf’s products work with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple’s HomeKit and Samsung’s SmartThings.

The Lines starter kit—which includes nine Lines, along with mounting plates, controllers and other pieces you need to set them up—costs $200. Each three additional Lines costs $70.

Philips Hue Gradient Signe

In September, Philips Hue updated its Signe floor lamps with new lighting-color options. The original Signe lights would only display one color. Now you can blend multiple colors of light into gradient scenes, mimicking the city of Paris at night or the calming Honolulu sunset in the evening. 

The Philips Hue Gradient Signe table lamp blends multiple colors of light in a single fixture.

Photo: SIGNIFY

The $220 table-lamp version is minimalist enough to place on a range of surfaces in a room. The floor-lamp variant, which costs $330, is currently sold out but should be restocked soon, the Netherlands-based company said. 

Twinkly Flex

You can make your own neon sign with the $100 Twinkly Flex from Milan-based Ledworks. The LED light strip is wrapped in flexible tubing that you can bend into a variety of shapes. Fancy a heart on your living room wall? A cactus above your desk? Done. 

The Twinkly Flex bends to create glowing, adjustable designs on your wall.

Photo: TWINKLY

The light is 6.5-feet long and can attach to your wall (or ceiling) using plastic clips and adhesive. Be careful, though: The included adhesive strips are strong enough to peel the paint off your walls. (They damaged mine.) 

You can’t connect multiple Twinkly Flex tubes together for a longer design. But you can buy additional Twinkly Flexes and group them together using the app. Instead of one cactus on your wall, you can have a field of them displaying the same effect.

Twinkly Flex works with Google Home, Apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa.

Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels

You can blend one light-themed room into the next with Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels. The hexagonal panels link together using flexible cables that enable you to wrap them around the corners of a room. 

Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels are plastic hexagons that display multiple color scenes.

Photo: GOVEE

Setting the panels up and deciding on your arrangement can be complicated. Getting started on the Govee app requires you to digitally plot out where each shape will be placed. The app will calibrate the arrangement and, once you have placed them on the wall, tell you if they are installed properly.

Hong Kong-based Govee’s lights work with Alexa and Google Assistant, so you can use your voice to control the lighting effects. 

The base lighting configuration costs $170 and includes seven panels. The hexagonal lights are similar to a competing product from Nanoleaf.

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Write to Dalvin Brown at dalvin.brown@wsj.com