Choosing the Right Lighting for your Home

August 22,2013 From: ABC sources

  • \r\n Lighting has a significant effect on the mood and overall design of your rooms. The proper lighting enables you to perform tasks easily, makes you feel safer and more comfortable, and allows you to enjoy your home at its full potential. Each room however, has specific and unique General and Accent lighting needs. We’ve laid out some tips and ideas to consider when planning your lighting needs for each room in your home.\r\n

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    • \r\n Determine what your lighting goals are: Direct or task lighting is focused in the space you are trying to work. Ambient or indirect lighting is used for ambiance and for overall lighting of a space. Once chosen you can begin to choose lighting options.  Each room in your home should have a mood you want to set, as well as a function you want your lighting to serve.\r\n
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    • \r\n Provide lighting for safety and security on the exterior of your home: Walkways, sidewalks, perimeter of your house, and the front entry should be lit with ambient lighting.  Too dim of lighting on the exterior is a welcome sign for intruders. While too bright of exterior lighting is costly and disturbing to neighbors. Consider installing flood lights at the exterior corners of your home that are motion activated to further deter intruders. Follow the aesthetics and security lighting of your neighborhood for further guidelines as to what to implement at your own home.\r\n
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    • \r\n Inside your home use multiple light sources for one space: For rooms like the kitchen, bedrooms, and living spaces, multiple light sources will help you achieve a variety of functions and activities in that space. In the kitchen, under counter lights can provide great task lighting. While in a living room, opt for a floor lamp next to a couch or favorite reading chair. In bathrooms the lighting at the mirror should be free from shadows and glaring light.\r\n
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    • \r\n Remember that stairways and halls must have good general lighting for safety. To prevent accidents, stairs should be lit from top to bottom with switches in both places. For safety in hallways, place lighting fixtures every 8 to 10 feet. Tie in the fixtures you choose by matching your foyer chandelier or pendant with close-to-ceiling fixtures for hallways and smaller chain hung fixtures for stairways.\r\n
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    • \r\n In formal living and dining areas, research chandeliers wisely: In spaces that a formal chandelier is considered, choose one that will not date your space. Often time’s chandeliers are bought without thinking of the space and the decor that surrounds it.  Chandeliers come in extremely simple designs that include faux candles, small bulbs, or a few lights to the ornate and expensive crystal varieties. Whichever is your decor choice, measure out the space, and ceiling height before ordering to ensure enough head room will be available below the hanging chandelier.\r\n
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    • \r\n Use increased wattage in areas where tasks are performed, in rooms with ceilings higher than 8 feet, and in rooms with dark colored floors and walls.\r\n
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    • \r\n Make your artwork come to life and illuminate it with halogen light from track or adjustable recessed down-lighting.\r\n
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    • \r\n Add on a dimmer and really set the tone of your room.\r\n
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    • \r\n You can get a better sense of how long an LED light will really last by looking at its warranty. If a light claims to last for 20 years, but only has a one-year warranty, then that's a clue.\r\n
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    • \r\n While LED lights are very good eco options, don't be fooled by claims of 50,000 hrs. (about 20 years of use). These claims are for the tiny light-producing chips, not for the electronics that allow them to work. LED's and their electronic components are very sensitive to heat, moisture, and voltage spikes.\r\n
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    • \r\n If the LED lamp is inside the home and is open to air (such as with track lighting) then truly long life can be expected. If, on the other hand, the LED lamp is in an enclosed fixture (especially in the outdoor environment) then life could be drastically reduced because enclosed fixtures are like ovens that bake the LED's and make them very unhappy.\r\n
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    • \r\n Mirrors add a special decorative touch to a foyer.\r\n
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    \r\n Don’t be afraid when choosing lighting for your home, it can help your ambiance and mood in the space. If you need lighting help ideas get inspiration from lighting stores, catalogs, and online decor and fashion blogs/magazines.  Just like the color of your rooms, lighting should enhance your space and make it feel warm and inviting!\r\n




    by: Nate

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