Thursday, October 15, 2009

Appropriate Home Lighting to Adorn and Illuminate Your Home

Home lighting is an important aspect of home decoration which is often ignored. You need to have the right kind of lighting for the interiors of your home to enhance its beauty as well as for illuminating a display area or showcase. Home lighting is no child’s play; you need indoor lighting which is compatible with the furnishings, colour scheme, and the mood of the room.

You can look for modern indoor lighting supplies at various electronic online stores or can order the lights from electronic manufacturers. If you are looking online, you can get to choose from a wide range of home lighting options. You can even have an idea about the prices for installing a particular kind of indoor lighting.

Different home lighting options for different rooms

Not all rooms need the same type of lighting options. Your bedroom, living room, study, kitchen, and bathrooms all require different types of lighting. It is important to understand this before you start looking for ideal home lighting options.

• You could start with the living room; the most important part of your home. It is advisable that you opt for general lighting in the living room. The living room usually has a large space, so you can have general lighting from one or more ceiling fixtures. You can also choose to have many indirect lighting fixtures. In the living room, you can also use decorative wall lights to enhance the beauty of paintings, photo frames and the fireplace.

• For the bedroom you can have a general lighting fixture; this will illuminate the whole bedroom. You may need to have specific task lighting to cater to the dressing table area. Having ornamental lampshades, reading lights or bedside light fixtures is also very essential. Install wall lights wherever necessary in your bedroom.

• The kitchen requires enough lighting for the purpose of cooking meals. Proper lighting ensures that you are able to cook safely. There is no place for dim lighting in this area. It is advisable that you have a large ceiling fixture coupled with energy-efficient fluorescent tubes which will provide enough light. It is also a good idea to have strip lights under the cabinets; this will illuminate the countertops and the work areas.

• For the bathrooms in your house, you need good amount of lighting. There are specific lighting needs of the bathroom. Have proper lights installed at the sides of the bathroom mirror. There can also be task lighting in the bathroom for reading, near the wash basin, or near the toilet paper dispenser. A recessed light could be installed above the shower or the bathtub.

General lighting with task lighting in different parts of your home should serve the purpose of perfect indoor lighting. General indoor lighting options are not enough to highlight every corner of your home. If you have good furnishings and lots of showpieces to display in your house, flaunt them all with proper indoor lighting. A well illuminated home is a picture of mirth, warmth, and cheer.

Choose Bathroom Lighting According to your Needs

When it comes to lighting the interiors of your home, you cannot afford to ignore your bathroom. It is important to choose appropriate bathroom lighting that would not only provide illumination but also go with the décor of your bathroom. Bathroom lighting is a part of the broader category of home lighting.

Remember that different kinds of bathroom designs require different kinds of lighting. The lighting you choose for your bathroom will be largely dependent on the room design, personal choice, as well as the bathroom setup. Make sure that the lighting in the bathroom is just right, not very bright and neither too dim.

Different bathroom lighting options

Depending on your preferences you can choose from many kinds of bathroom lighting options.

• You can opt for ambient lighting in your bathroom. This mode of lighting in your bathroom actually plays the role of general lighting in the room. You can have recessed light fixtures, which are quite in vogue for bathroom lighting as this makes it possible for the lights to reach the corners of the bathroom. The typical sources for this lighting option are chandeliers, flush-mounted ceiling fixtures, and pendants.

• Try accent lighting for illuminating your bathroom as it accentuates the lighting in your bathroom. This lighting option is not a necessity, but can be used for creating a decorative and dramatic look for your bathroom.

• Task lighting for the bathrooms actually illuminates the area for specific activities like reading, using the toilet paper dispenser, or wash basin. You can have wall sconces at the sides of the mirror in your bathroom. Wall sconces offer extra task lighting; this is something that flush-mounted ceiling fixture cannot offer. Wall sconces use low-wattage bulbs, so there is no danger of the bulbs getting hot and cracking or breaking with water vapor contact.

• You can also choose to have natural bathroom lighting. This kind of lighting option is just perfect for small bathrooms. If you have a small bathroom to the right portion of the house, you can have a row of windows above for letting the natural light outside penetrate the bathroom.

Ambient bathroom lighting is a very popular choice

For providing ambient illumination, the use of chandeliers and pendants are recommended. You need to keep in mind that bathrooms have the presence of a high degree of water vapor; this leads to the cracking of very hot bulbs which are exposed. Chandeliers and pendants have exposed bulbs, so think twice about their placement before having them installed.

It is wise to use flush-mounted ceiling fixtures, owing to the fact that these come with bulbs that are enclosed by a kind of cover. The cover is essential as it acts somewhat like a lamp shade and helps in diffusing the light as well as protecting hot bulbs from breaking and cracking from contact with water vapor. The best would be to have the right balance of ambient bathroom lighting and task bathroom lighting. This will give your bathroom proper illumination and make your bathroom experience worthwhile.