Lighting Tips & Articles
Basic Types of Lighting
General types of lighting and how they impact your design ideas and over mood within a room.
Bathroom Lighting
The benefits of direct and indirect lighting for applying makeup or shaving.
Bedroom Lighting
General illumination guidelines to using accent lighting in order to highlight artwork or anything of special interest.
Dining Room Lighting
Selecting a proper chandelier and using medallions for dramatic effects.
Foyer, stairs and hallway lighting
General illumination tips on how to achieve bright light using decorative and not boring and utilitarian style lighting.
Home office lighting
Brighten up that desk with bright and attractive table and desk lamps.
Kid's Room Lighting & Dorm Room Lighting
Tips on how to eliminate eye strain and select proper lighting for reading and studying.
Kitchen Lighting
Proper kitchen lighting should consist of general room illumination to direct task lighting over an island workspace and especially under the cabinet lighting for preparing food!
Living Room
How to enjoy a family room with general overhead lighting accompanied by wall sconces and accent lighting for dramatic grazing effects on colored walls.
Outdoor
Select proper outdoor lanterns for bright illumination and an added level of security and simultaneously accent your garden with path lighting, accent lighting and uplighting on your home's facade for dramatic and beautiful effects.
Basic Types of Lighting
Lighting can turn an ordinary home, into an extraordinary home. When planning your lighting, look at the activities that take place in each room, the ambiance you want to create and the decorative items you want to emphasize.
By combining different types of lighting fixtures that reflect your taste and lifestyle, you can add drama to a room, make a small room look more open and a large room appear more intimate.
There are three types of lighting that work together to illuminate your home.
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General lighting
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Task lighting
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Accent lighting
General Lighting replaces daylight. It provides an area with overall brightness for a variety of activities including entertaining, watching television, working on hobbies and bookkeeping. It can be accomplished with chandeliers, ceiling fixtures, wall sconces, recessed lighting, track lighting and with lanterns positioned outside your home.
Task Lighting help you perform specific household tasks such as reading, cooking, writing, or playing games. It can be provided by recessed lighting, track lighting, pendant lighting, floor lamps, table lamps and desk lamps.
Accent Lighting adds excitement to a room by creating visual interest. It can be used to spotlight paintings, sculptures, plants or to highlight the texture of a wall, drapery or outdoor landscaping. This usually is provided by track lighting, recessed lighting or wall-mounted fixtures.
Lighting can enhance the way your home looks and feels. Whether your style is traditional, contemporary or somewhere in between, combining all three basic types of lighting will help you set a mood, perform tasks more easily and feel safer and more comfortable in your home.
Bathroom Lighting
Lighting is an inexpensive way to make your bathroom shine. When coordinating bathroom lighting, combine fashion with function to make your fixtures emit ample amounts of light.
Good mirror lighting, like that provided by warm fluorescent vertical wall sconces will provide the even facial illumination necessary for eliminating dark circles and shadows. Vanity lights must be bright enough so you can see to shave or apply make-up, yet soft enough to compliment facial features. To reduce glare, install theatrical lighting strips with frosted bulbs around your mirror.
In small bathrooms, mirror lights will illuminate the entire room, but in larger bathrooms, an additional ceiling fixture is needed for general lighting. A recessed infrared heat lamp will give you added warmth on chilly mornings.
Tub and shower enclosures can be adequately lighted by placing an enclosed recessed down light in the ceiling. These down lights are also recommended over whirlpool baths or in saunas.
Bedroom Lighting
Whether you have a small bedroom or master suite, you probably use your room for more than sleeping. While the bed remains the focal point, the room space might be shared with a television, workout equipment, a computer or a sitting area. To illuminate its many sides, bedrooms must have enough light to focus on a particular area as well as fill the corners and edges.
Ceiling fixtures, chandeliers, fan lights, recessed downlights, or wall sconces can provide the general lighting you need to dress and see into drawers and closets.
Swing arm wall lamps or pendant lights on one or both sides of the bed can provide adequate lighting for reading.
To illuminate your closet, use a recessed or surface mounted linear closet light. For a special touch, use decorative accent lamps on dressers and bureaus.
A strong dose of ambiance is also important in the bedroom. You may want to install dimmers on lights for altering effect. Softer or colored light bulbs can also change a room’s mood.
Dining Room Lighting
Today's dining rooms reflect our changing lifestyles. Once used solely for daily dining, this room has become more multi-purpose. During the week, the dining room is used as a work zone for homework and crafts. On the weekends and special occasions it becomes a gathering place for parties and meals. In the flick of a switch, the dining room can be transformed from functional to fashionable.
A chandelier is the focal point of the dining room and should express your own personal style, while still satisfying general lighting needs. When the light is dimmed, a soft, glowing atmosphere similar to candlelight is created. If equipped with a down light, the chandelier provides task lighting for the table and accent lighting for a centerpiece.
Recessed or track lighting provides general lighting, while enabling you to highlight prized possessions throughout the room. A ring of four recessed down lights around the dining table supplements the light from the chandelier, while providing accent lighting for your tableware. The pure white light of low-voltage fixtures with tungsten-halogen bulbs will make your crystal and silverware sparkle.
A buffet or sideboard can be flanked with wall sconces on either side. Choose fixtures that complement the style of your chandelier. Displayed objects can be accented with recessed downlights installed in the ceiling above.
A china cabinet, breakfront, hutch, or wall niche can become a showplace for your prized collectibles by installing strips of low-voltage mini-lights under the shelves.
Three important dining room lighting tips:
Foyer, Stairwell & Hallway Lighting
In order to welcome your guests and ensure safety, you'll need high-quality general lighting in your foyer. Your hallway should be illuminated every eight to 10 feet for safety; stairs should be lit from the top to bottom to prevent accidents, with switches at both ends.
If you have a large foyer with a high ceiling, a decorative chandelier can be an attractive focal point. If your foyer is smaller, you can use a smaller mini chandelier or you can mount a light fixture semi-flush or flush to the ceiling. Foyer chandeliers are usually taller than wider.
Wall sconces are ideal solutions for foyers, stairways, and halls of all sizes. Place matching sconces on each side of a decorative mirror.
You can also place an accent lamp on a console table and hang a mirror above the table to bounce light back into the room. If hall and foyer fixtures don't provide enough light for the entire stairway, you can install a pendant, small chandelier, or ceiling mounted fixture above the top step.
Home Office Lighting
When lighting a home office, you will want to create a comfortable environment that is free of harsh contrasts and distracting glare. You will need task lighting for reading, writing, and computer work, and general lighting for the surrounding area. You may also want to include accent lighting for prized possessions.
Two large ceiling fixtures, containing energy-efficient fluorescent tubes, will provide a lot of well-diffused general lighting, while eliminating shadows on the desk. Place the fixtures over head and to the right and left of the desk so the light comes over the shoulder. Lighting placed in front of a desk will cause reflections.
Credenzas can be illuminated with slim under cabinet fixtures containing low voltage and very bright xenon bulbs for crisp, white lighting. Mount as close to the front of the cabinet as possible to avoid glare reflecting off the work surface.
Photos, awards, artwork or a plant can be highlighted with track lighting.
An adjustable table lamp will provide additional light to the desk and keyboard areas. Position the lamp so it is not reflected in the computer screen.
Kid’s Room Lighting & Dorm Room Lighting
As you prepare for your kids to go back to school, it is a great time to re-do the lighting in their room. Whether they live at home or heading off to college, here are some quick tips that can make a big difference in the way your student studies.
Top 5 Lighting Tips for Students:
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Choose glare-free desk lighting to prevent eye strain and fatigue.
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Use an adjustable desk lamp to provide additional light to the desk and keyboard. Position the lamp so it will not reflect on the computer screen.
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If you’re right-handed, position the light to your left hand side, and vice versa to avoid hand shadows across your book or notebook.
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Use clip-on lighting and floor lamps for general room lighting.
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Choose halogen or fluorescent bulbs to better illuminate your reading material.
In addition to proper lighting for long nights of reading and doing homework, a table fan can provide a handy cooling system around heat producing laptops.
Kitchen Lighting
Whether you're preparing meals, reading the newspaper or hanging out with family or friends, the kitchen is a constant place of activity that require sufficient lighting to accomplish everyday tasks and provide a comfortable setting.
Because kitchens are in use from the time you get up in the morning, until you go to sleep at night, you can't always rely on natural lighting. Decorative island lighting mounted in the center of a work space or above an island will provide a sufficient amount of general light and task lighting when you need it most.
For busy work areas such as the sink and stove, install track lighting or down lights mounted off the cabinets to give you extra brightness as you wash dishes or get ready for a meal.
Decorative pendants with dimmers provide ample lighting for dining or entertaining. When used with a dimmer, these ceiling-hung fixtures will provide adequate task lighting for homework and hobbies.
Mounting mini-pendants above the work surface is an ideal way to light up a breakfast bar or counter dinettes.
The use of under cabinet lighting helps prevent shadows on the countertops, while adding critical light to the workspace. Fluorescent under cabinet fixtures are also a cost-efficient lighting source.
Living Room and Family Room Lighting
When determining your lighting plan for a living room or family room, you need to think about the kind of activities that take place there on a daily basis. For entertaining and watching television, general lighting is needed. You'll want task lighting for reading and accent lighting to highlight art and architectural features. Dimmers are ideal because they allow you to design the lighting to suit each mood and activity.
Fireplaces made of brick or stone can be emphasized with recessed downlights installed in the ceiling over the mantle. Wall sconces on each side of the fireplace are a nice addition that draws attention to the fireplace area, while providing general lighting for the living room.
Reading requires task lighting that comes from behind the reader's shoulder. This can be accomplished by placing a floor lamp either at the right or the left of the reading chair. The bottom of the shade should be located at eye level to avoid glare.
Paintings can be highlighted with low-voltage, tungsten-halogen picture lights. These frame-mounted lights spread a beam of bright, white light across the face of the painting.
Bars can be lighted from above with recessed or track fixtures, or with miniature pendants that float over the bar. Television, video games, and computers require low-level general lighting that does not wash out the screen's image nor reflect into the viewer's eyes. Miniature track lighting can be installed under shelves to provide both general and accent lighting. Choose from accent spots, mini-lights, and compact or linear fluorescent light sources.
Outdoor Lighting
Outdoor lighting enhances the beauty of your property and makes your home safer and more secure. It is an investment that pays off in the value it adds to your home.
A well-lighted front entrance enables you to greet guests and identify visitors. Wall lanterns on each side of the door will give your home a warm, welcoming look, while assuring the safety of those who enter. Under a porch or other overhang, you can use recessed, chain-hung, or close-to-ceiling fixtures.
For the safety and security of family members using the garage at night, you can install a wall fixture on the face of the garage.
Steps, paths, and driveways should be illuminated to make sure family members and guests are able to move about easily and safely after dark. You can install path lights or post lanterns or attach lights to the side of the house. Low-level path lights, which spread circular patterns of light, will brighten your walkway, while highlighting nearby flower beds, shrubs, and ground cover. Low-level path lights can also be used to define the boundaries of long driveways.
Decks, porches, and patios can be converted into romantic evening retreats by concealing low-voltage mini-lights under steps, railing, or benches.
Don't forget to add stronger light over the barbecue or serving area. To accomplish this, install a recessed spot-light on an adjacent roof overhang or mount spread lights on a railing behind the grill.
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