Use Outdoor Home Lighting to Beautify Your Home
When it comes to home improvement, outdoor home lighting is often overlooked. Your best play for adding to your outdoor home lighting is to draw out your plan, start in moderation and add a little as you go to see what effect it has.
Just as in the house, light fixtures situated in the right areas can be useful in outdoor home lighting. It’s significant to have a safe home, and your outdoor home lighting should be installed with that in mind. Similarly, areas such as the side of your house may have poor lighting, making it unsafe for you and your family; install some new outdoor home lighting there. By starting small and making little changes, one by one, as you discover safety or comfort needs, you can have some great outdoor light fixtures with little extra expense.
Outdoor landscape lighting can breathe new life into your yard, allowing you to use it in new and exciting ways. The difference between poor outdoor lighting and great outdoor lighting is sometimes as simple as adding one or two new light sources around the home. Lanterns have always been a favorite lighting option whether indoors or outdoors. Due to their unique shape and size, the lanterns look fantastic in outdoor decor.
The best way to better outdoor home light fixtures is to install lights that can highlight your trees, statues or garden perimeters. Walkways and gardens also look great with these exterior lightings. Solar lights are also an excellent choice because you can move them around or replace them whenever you need to change your garden style or want to give a new appearance to your outdoor area. Use low voltage outdoor home lighting fixtures to reduce your electric bill.
You can choose to make your outdoors more attractive with garden lights or underwater lights or your walkways lined up with the lamps that belong to the old Victorian eras. You can always use low voltage outdoor light fixtures which is readily usable in assorted styles, such as the street lamp look or the flat top look.
You can visit our website to learn more about outdoor home lighting as well as other lighting styles.
All About Home Lighting
Today home lighting is an integral part of home décor and interior designing. Lights are crucial in setting the mood and the ambiance of all the rooms in a home. Before embarking on a shopping spree for home lighting accessories and gadgets, decide how you want each room to feel, and map the indoor lighting and outdoor lighting scheme first.
Check out each room and its utility and thereafter the amount of lighting it might need. Next check how the light fixtures can be set up around the rooms. This includes fans, chandeliers, tiffany, well-placed spotlights, floor lamps, table lamps and, pendants. Once you have planned and identified how you will arrange the lighting setup, make sure that the plan is tailored in accordance with your budget.
Conventional lighting can be achieved through LED lighting and Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs cut down on the energy costs as well as on your power bills, which helps you indulge in other luxurious lighting options such as fantasia fans, flush fittings’ etc. However, a number of portals and online sites such as LightMyHome have started catering to the consumers interested in such home lighting options.
Home lighting is not only for home décor. It has its bonus advantages too! A floor lamp placed near the sofa can act as an enhancement of the interior design and can also help a person sit and read with comfort and ease! A room with recessed lighting can be the ideal love shack for a couple and yet be a suave fashion statement at the same time. In modern times, the saying, ‘lighting is not only for the light’ holds very true. A well-lit house not only has to be efficient and lively and serve its basic purpose, but also has to be fashionably astute.
Lighting can be made to highlight the room or any specific feature or area that you want your guests to turn their attention to. This, usually called accent lighting can catapult that exquisitely painted wall or gothic painting into limelight. A painting may not stand on out on its own, yet with such well thought out indoor lighting you can help make your neighbors envy that modest piece of art! Even smaller spotlights and pendants, you can help your home achieve an enigmatic or mystic glow.
Bathroom lighting is another aspect that is often left unattended by interior design enthusiasts. But incorporating this into your plans may well make your ordinary bathroom look like the ones featured in fashion magazines. While purchasing home lighting fixtures and products make sure that you shop around. Most online portals offer indoor and outdoor lighting accessories, with the whole catalogue up for an inspection by potential clients. Some of the online portals such as LightMyHome are almost 50 years in the home lighting industry and offer much better prices than their real-world rivals.
Home lighting is a rage today, both because of the increasingly fashion a conscious populace and the efficiency of it. Make sure you are not left behind!
Home Building – Interior Home Lighting
Home lighting is probably the most important element in home interior decorating, because it is instrumental in setting the mood of any room. It can affect performance, mood, morale, safety and security. When deciding what lighting to use in your new home it’s important to consider how each room will be used, what fixtures are appropriate, energy efficiency and cost. To ensure that you will achieve the desired effect for your rooms, you first need to understand the four basic types of home lighting.
Ambient or general lighting illuminates the whole room. It is a good idea to install a dimmer with your track and recessed lights so that you have the flexibility to adjust the brightness. Examples of ambient lighting are recessed downlights, cove lighting, soffit lighting, valance lighting, wall washers, sconces, surface-mounted lights, pendant lights, track lights, chandeliers, under-cabinet lights and portable fixtures.
Task lighting provides sufficient light to help you perform the task at hand, for example reading, cooking, shaving, etc. Task lighting should be glare free and it should make things easy to see without tiring or straining your eyes. Examples of task lighting are valance lighting, pendant lights, under-cabinet lights and portable fixtures.
Accent lighting is focused lighting that is used to illuminate an object in your home like a sculpture, piece of art, or architectural element. Accent lighting is about three times as bright as ambient lighting. Example of accent lighting are wall washers, sconces, track lights and under-cabinet lights.
Natural lighting comes through windows, doors, and skylights and depending on the time of day, season, or weather, it can vary in brightness and intensity.
Types of Lighting Fixtures
Once you’ve considered what types of activities will be taking place in a room and what type of lighting is needed, you’ll need to decide what fixture will work best in each room in your new home and don’t be afraid to use multiple types of interior lighting. In fact, mixing and matching different light fixtures can help create a dramatic look and aesthetically pleasing room. The type of lighting you choose can also help make a room look larger or smaller.
Be prepared: Walking into any light fixture store can be overwhelming, so be sure to have a list of the types of fixtures your considering and how many you will need in each room. Before purchasing any fixtures, make sure you ask your builder if there are any restrictions on the types of fixtures that can be used in any specific room, because sometimes things such as ductwork, insulation or ceiling height can affect whether or not a fixture can be installed properly in a room.
Tip: Your local American Lighting Association (ALA) showroom is the best place to view the many different styles, sizes and shapes of lighting fixtures that are available to deliver the ambient/general, task, and accent light you need. Below is a list of the different types of lighting fixtures.
Hall/Foyer Fixtures can create a harmonious atmosphere, while providing you with the general lighting you need to greet guests and move safely from room to room. Use ceiling, chain-hung, or close-to-ceiling fixtures in hallways, stairways, and entranceways.
Chandeliers can add sparkle and style to your dining room while giving you the ambient/general lighting you need for dining and entertaining. They are also used in large bedrooms, foyers, or over a living room grouping or a grand piano. Some are designed with downlights to provide task lighting for homework or table games. Chandeliers are available in both incandescent and tungsten-halogen. The addition of a dimmer control lets you alter the intensity of light to suit the mood and activity going on in your room.
Pendants can provide both task and ambient/general lighting. Equipped with shades or globes to avoid glare, they are usually found hanging from the ceiling over dinette tables, game tables, kitchen counters, or other work areas. When used over end or night tables, they free up the space occupied by table lamps. For added flexibility use a dimmer control.
Ceiling Fixtures usually provide general lighting and are very practical in busy areas such as foyers, hallways, bedrooms, kitchens, baths, laundry rooms, playrooms, and dens. They are available with incandescent, fluorescent, and energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.
Wall-Mounted Fixtures can provide ambient/general, task, and accent lighting. Many are designed to match and supplement dining room chandeliers, or to provide hallway, bedroom, or living room lighting. Wall brackets are often used for task lighting at the bathroom mirror. They are available with a choice of incandescent, tungsten-halogen, and energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.
Bath/Vanity Lighting Strips provide task lighting, while supplementing the general lighting provided by ceiling fixtures. Similar to the lighting in theater dressing rooms, these soft glowing strips of globe-shaped incandescent bulbs provide excellent lighting for grooming.
Portable Lamps provide ambient/general, task, and accent lighting and give you the added flexibility of moving the light whenever you want. Table lamps, floor lamps, and torchiers are available in a variety of styles to complement your decor. Small specialty lamps, such as clip-on lights, uplight cans, adjustable task lights, mini-reflector spotlights, desk and piano lamps fill a variety of task and accent light needs. These lamps are available with incandescent, tungsten-halogen, and energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.
Track Lighting can provide ambient/general, task, or accent lighting all at once in one flexible lighting system. You can move, swivel, rotate, and aim the individual fixtures in any direction along the track, giving you the versatility to change your lighting scheme whenever you want. You can also hang chandeliers and pendants from the track. Track fixtures are available in standard or low-voltage current, and a choice of incandescent, tungsten-halogen, and energy-efficient compact fluorescent light sources.
Recessed Lighting can provide ambient/general, task, or accent lighting inconspicuously. Installed in the ceiling with only the trim showing, recessed fixtures can be used anywhere in the home. They are ideal for low-ceiling areas, and with a special adapter they can also be used in cathedral ceilings. They are available as downlights, adjustable accent lights, and wall washers in both standard and low-voltage current and a choice of incandescent, tungsten-halogen, and energy-efficient compact fluorescents.
Undercabinet/ Undershelf Fixtures provide both task and accent lighting. Under kitchen cabinets they light a countertop. In a display cabinet they show off special collections. They include slim, energy-efficient fluorescents, miniature track lighting, and strips of low-voltage mini-lights.
What About the Bulbs?
Certain fixtures are designed for a specific type of bulb, such as a two- or four-pin fluorescent bulb. Others can accommodate the more common screw-in type. When choosing fixtures, be sure to note what type of bulb it requires, so that you won’t be surprised to find the bulb you bought isn’t the right one.
Incandescent bulbs are the most heavily used in homes. Unfortunately, these bulbs are inefficient and expensive to operate. Fluorescent bulbs have come a long way from the humming, glaring office lights we’ve all been exposed to. Today’s fluorescent bulbs don’t hum, and they provide light that is almost identical to incandescent bulbs. The best part is that fluorescent bulbs have significantly longer life than incandescent bulbs (almost 10 times as long), use less energy and are affordably priced for use in your home. Halogen and LED bulbs are also available for the home market. Both are more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs, but are more expensive than fluorescent lights.
Room-By-Room Home Lighting Ideas
When you start shopping for lighting fixtures, you’ll find that there are literally hundreds of home lighting options, so think of lighting from two perspectives – function and aesthetics. Functionally, your home lighting needs to provide the right type of light in sufficient quantity for your intended purpose. Aesthetically, you can configure your lighting to create the desired mood through its intensity, style and color.
Below are some ideas for lighting the various rooms in your home.
Living Rooms
- Place a lamp about 42 inches above the floor in areas where you plan to do reading.
- Highlight a framed piece of art with halogen track lighting or by attaching a picture light.
- Use accent lights to illuminate bookcases or display shelves.
- Install recessed lighting as your general lighting or to accent beautiful wall textures, but be sure your lighting comes with a dimmer.
- Slim strip lights come in just about any length and can stick to the edge of shelves or ledges to highlight displays.
Kitchens
- A grid of recessed ceiling cans will provide great general lighting and flexibility.
- Install individual recessed down-lights as task lighting for the sink and cooking areas.
- Place halogen pendant lights over bars and countertops.
- Under-cabinet lights make excellent task lighting.
Dining Rooms
- A chandelier with a dimmer over the dining room table creates a beautiful setting.
- Highlight a framed piece of art with halogen track lighting or by attaching a picture light.
- Install halogen strip lighting inside your china cabinet to highlight china or collectibles.
- If don’t care for a chandelier and you have a long table, try using a trio of pendant lights.
Bedrooms
- Place table lamps on your bedside tables, but avoid halogen lamps in children’s rooms because they can get very hot.
- Wall sconces can provide good general lighting without being too bright.
- If space is limited you should consider recessed lights or pendant lights.
- If you want to create a romantic setting, place candles around the room.
Bathrooms
- Use shadow-free fluorescent or incandescent lights around mirrors for grooming.
- To avoid shadows, place mirror lights on the side rather than directly overhead.
- It’s always a good idea to install a night light.