Home Improvement Articles and Remodeling Ideas

Room Lighting: Shedding Light on the Situation

When your newly decorated room does not depict the look you were hoping for, try redecorating it with light. Here are some tips for optimizing light in a space.

By Writer: Christina E. from Raleigh, NC on January 28, 2006
Category: Lighting

If you've newly decorated a space in your home and even after painting, putting in new furniture, and accessorizing it just doesn't seem to capture the look you were after, maybe it's time you shed a little light on the situation. You may not have realized it, but the kind of light you use in each space of your home is extremely influential. The reason is that when done properly, lighting can actually add depth and height, enliven color, and accentuate texture. Lighting truly is the foundation for the overall mood of any room, space or area in your home.

Although lighting has the ability to establish the overall tone of a room, many of us neglect to utilize it. We may erect a few lamps here and there in order to see, but beyond that, we give no deference to how light placement adds beauty and drama to a room. It may be because trying to properly light a space is a daunting task with so many lighting styles to choose from.

The truth is that making lighting work for your home takes a bit of savvy. But with some basics to guide you through it, you will be enjoying that newly decorated room in no time.

The Basics of Lighting

The basics of redecorating with light are encompassed in three key tenets.

Tenet One: create general lighting. General, or ambient lighting provides bright general room light. It is the functional type of lightning that is used for 'seeing' and doing simple everyday tasks. Lighting of this type includes: recessed and track lights, and a torch're (tall floor lamp with a salad bowl shaped component at the top portion that diffuses light upward).

Tenet Two: set up task lighting. Task lighting is used in areas that are designed for a specific activity such as over a drawing table, on a desk, or above a sewing machine. Most task lights are table and floor lamps.

Tenet Three: use accent lighting. Accent lighting enhances decor. Of all three tenets, use of accent lighting is often the most ignored. Why? Because most of us don't need it'in fact, without it, we can see and complete our tasks just fine. But accent lighting adds drama to an otherwise uninspiring room by enhancing the beauty of photographs, paintings and other artwork as well as spotlighting display items so that they are shown in their best light (literally).

More on Accent Lighting

Accent lighting is best achieved with spotlights such as track or recessed lighting. You can experiment with different bulbs to play up the color and texture of your artwork and other display pieces. Good choices include low voltage halogen and incandescent bulbs. Halogen bulbs mimic the power of sunlight as they give off bright white light, and they are great for intensifying the colors in a painting or enhancing wood grains. Incandescent bulbs produce a warm, yellowish color and a controlled brightness.

Fluorescent lamps are good accent lighting choices for evenly lighting big vertical spaces. This may include lighting large wall art, sculptures, floral arrangements, bookshelves, etc. Even architecturally striking areas of your home will benefit from good accent lighting.

Tricks of the Trade

The trick to redecorating with light is understanding how altering the direction, placement and intensity of light sources can utterly transform your home. For example, before you install that overhead light, try dispersing lamps all over your home in corners, etc., where the light will come from the sides instead of directly from above, which can make for a cozy atmosphere in your home. Paper lamps can help you achieve a warm, homey feeling too because they soften as well as diffuse light.

To brighten up a large room with dark surfaces or areas, forgo paper lamps and recessed down lighting as they do a poor job of lighting the walls. Instead, use indirect fluorescent lights, wall sconces or ceiling lights, or add a few portable light fixtures. For small spaces, adding a ceiling light can actually make it appear bigger.

A great trick to of the trade is the use of dimmers. Consider attaching dimmers to lights in order to regulate their intensity, which gives you control over the atmosphere in the room. In addition to controlling room's atmosphere, dimmers conserve energy, too.

Lighting It Up Room By Room

The best tip for effectively lighting up your Living Room is to put light sources on separate switches, thus having better control over the intensity of light overall as well as in specific areas of the home. Also, besides using general and task lighting don't neglect to use accent lighting such as placing halogen lights behind floor plants to add drama.

In Kitchens, use ceiling-mounted fixtures for general lighting but avoid anything recessed or flushed such as glass dome-covered ceiling fixtures. When bulbs are covered it lessens the amount of light in an area. For accent lighting, however, recessed lights and pendants are good choices for enhancing wall color and texture. For tasks such as cooking and food preparation, use under-cabinet task lighting (3" halogen recessed lighting works great), and as a bonus, you'll have lovely ambiance at night.

For illuminating a smaller Dining Room, a down-light chandelier about 26' or 27' in diameter in all probability will offer enough light. Larger dining rooms with buffets, credenzas or curio cabinets will need extra task lighting sources such as a floor lamp.

Floor lamps and table lamps are common lighting sources used for Bedrooms. Putting bedroom lights on dimmer switches is a great idea, too.

In Bathrooms, recessed cans'or a combination of vanity lights and wall sconces' provide great task lighting for carrying out everyday grooming tasks such as teeth brushing, shaving, applying makeup and other tasks.

Smaller Entryways can be well lit with a flush ceiling mount fixture; large entryways would benefit from a large chandelier.

Similarly to smaller entryways, smaller Hallways also can be well lit using a flush ceiling mount light as well as wall sconces. Larger hallways such as one large enough to accommodate an accent table ought to utilize table lamps. Suggestion: the multicolored lampshades of a tiffany lamp will not only bring light to the area but will add depth to it, too.

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