Lighting Can Transform Your Space: Lighting Tips for Making Your Home Look Brilliant

If you walk into any well-designed room, you'll notice that the room looks beautiful. You can see the impact of beautiful color on the walls, drapes with luxurious fabrics, and so on, but there's one elusive -- and often overlooked design element that can really pull a room together and make it look fantastic: Lighting. Lighting is the one part of decorating that's most neglected. Yet, a thoughtfully-designed room would rarely overlook lighting.

More than just useful, good lighting creates drama in a room. A mood can be set by turning down the lights to a golden glow, all by installing a five dollar dimmer switch. Different types of lights (general, task, and accent) can be added so that a room will glow with a variety of lighting that makes it appealing, makes it easy to find something, or that shows off the room to its best effect.

Layer lighting for the best results
Most rooms require different kinds of lighting, such as general lighting. This can be served by a standard overhead light such as a chandelier, ceiling fan light, or ceiling fixture. You may also want to consider adding perimeter lighting or accent lighting to bring a glow to the whole room instead of just the center. This kind of lighting will help bring light to the corners of the room, and can even make a small room seem larger. Lighting should be all around the room, at the center, and at places where you will be working or reading. Layered in this way, you won't be searching in the dark again.

Boost your design with light
Besides overhead lighting and lamps, what other kinds of lighting will make your room look terrific? Plenty. Lighting enhancements such as dimmer switches create soft glow and romance aplenty. Wall sconces are another source of light at the perimeter that can create both light and drama. Lighting artwork is yet another way to bring more attention and focus to different parts of the room. If you have original art pieces - and even if you don't - lighted artwork brings your eye to the outer walls of the room and makes your art seem more important. It's also a great way, again, to make a room seem larger, draw you into it, and make you want to stay there.

Move over 70's
In the 70's, a common lighting feature were light boxes installed around the room. These boxes were installed close to the ceiling of a room and had fluorescent lights installed behind, casting that unearthly office glow. Fortunately those days are behind us. Now we have rope lighting.
You can create a beautiful lighted ceiling accent by installing crown moulding around the perimeter of the room, and lowering it about four or five inches from the corner where the wall meets the ceiling. Then, place rope lighting inside the crown moulding. Of course, you'll need an electrician to place an outlet close to the ceiling, but it'll hidden by the crown moulding. When the rope lighting is turned on, your room will have an incredible warm glow.

More lighting ideas
When you want to create drama in a room, consider replacing white lampshades with black ones that are lined in gold. This will give the room great presence and drama, not to mention how they will transform your lamps. Don't forget uplights for the corners of a room -- another great drama-maker. At about $7 a light, they can be placed in plant baskets or behind a folding screen, providing tons of design for a small price.

If you have kitchen cabinets without lighting do consider adding it because it's great task - and accent -- light. Have interesting architectural features such as columns or stone walls in your home? Light them with uplights and they become more important and beautiful. If dark hallways are a problem, install wall sconces. They can completely transform hallways, making them look beautiful and interesting.

Make lighting convenient
Consider having an electrician wire an outlet so that when you walk into a room, you can flip a wall switch to turn on lamps in the room. The wall switch will make turning lamps on and off more convenient for you. This is a terrific tip if you are thinking of building a home.

Lastly, don't forget about all-important natural light. Make sure drapes can be pulled to the sides of windows so that the whole window is exposed. Curtains are often hung so that the rod ends just outside the window moulding. Then, when the curtains are pulled back it only leaves a small slit of window. Make rods larger and you'll let in more natural light.

Light the way in your home by adding or enhancing your current light plan. You'll see what a difference it can make in your rooms - and the way you feel in them.

By Kathryn Weber

Mood Lighting

Interior designers are unanimous on one thing: gone are the days when lights were meant only for illumination. These days, mood lighting is much more in vogue, and chandeliers, as well as light fixtures are well suited for this purpose. Mood lighting is a relatively new concept in interior decoration, and it means creating a particular ambience with light. This can be achieved by varying the color of the light, its intensity or the look of the lamp.

These days, more often than not, creating a mood, rather than illumination has become the primary purpose of chandelier lighting. The type of the chandelier and the nature of lighting used in it, play a deciding role in how the mood is created.

For those who prefer a traditional look in their homes, a five-arm ornamental chandelier in iron would secure the look. This type of chandelier has a stately look about it and can also be used at formal dinners. Crystal chandeliers possess a conventional and opulent look. They are elegant and exude an aura of aristocracy. If you want a soft romantic look, nothing can beat a candle chandelier, given that candles themselves look warm and inviting.

Robust-looking antler chandeliers are more in tune with the outdoor-type person, a gamesman perhaps. Then, you have the rustic-looking wrought iron chandelier, and, coupled with candle lighting, you have a period piece in your hands.

The possibilities are immense with the chandelier. With little variations in the type of lighting and in the make of the chandelier itself, drastic changes can be made to the look of the room and the mood you want to project.

Choosing a Crystal Chandelier for Your Bedroom

Crystal chandeliers can help make a room appear more elegant and more beautiful while still making it functional in terms of lighting.
When discussing about light fixtures, people usually think of crystal chandeliers initially, this may be attributed to its characteristic of being a well-known sophisticated and attractive lighting that can help improve the overall quality and aesthetic look of any room. This type of chandelier offers a wide variety of choices for its consumers, ranging from different and unique designs, different colors, to the size, shape and number of crystals that are actually used on the chandelier.
Although there are a lot of different kinds of chandeliers out there, crystal chandeliers are considered to be one of the most expensive and most popular types of chandeliers in the market. A lot of people are attracted to crystal chandeliers mainly because of its exquisiteness and majesty that can be associated with royalty or wealth, which is why a lot of people choose to use this type of chandelier in decorating their homes.
Where To Put Chandeliers
Chandeliers are more commonly used in the dining room or the living room, which are places wherein people mostly get together and hold parties or social gatherings. These are the more ideal places to put crystal chandeliers since these rooms usually have high ceilings, or offer enough space to accommodate whatever sized chandelier you may have, in order to avoid making the room feel cramp or crowded. However, with the evolving trend nowadays, chandeliers are beginning to find their way to other rooms that normally would not house such an ornate fixture. One room in particular is the bedroom.
Chandeliers In Bedrooms
Bedrooms are commonly used for sleeping and resting. This is considered to be a place of sanctuary for a person, especially for a person who wishes to get away from his work or the world in general. Since bedrooms are used for such intimate settings and purposes, putting crystal chandeliers in it would not be at the top of people’s list. However, crystal chandeliers in bedrooms can actually help create the mood that you desire for your bedroom, improving your bedroom’s aesthetic look as well as its functionality.
Choosing Chandeliers For Your Bedroom
When choosing crystal chandeliers for bedrooms, it is important to remember that the look of the chandelier should not overpower the aura that the bedroom is creating. Keep in mind that the chandelier should not be the main focus of the room, but the bed should be, which is why your chandelier should not be too over-elaborate in order to make it complement the room instead of overpowering it. The design should be soft and smooth to help accent the atmosphere of the bedroom.
The look of any chandelier is only half the battle, which is why determining the type of light, color and brightness, of the chandelier is just as important in maintaining the serene environment of your bedroom. You can always attach your crystal chandelier to a dimmer switch so you can adjust the light from very bright to a bit dim, depending on the type of lighting that you may need. In terms of color, crystal chandeliers can create some of the most stunning display of colors through the lighting and the crystals used on the chandelier, giving your room a certain aura and look. It would be best, however, if you chose colors that are not too dark or too strong, for this can help create a soft glow to your room, making it a more appealing place to rest.

Illuminating Your Outdoor Gardens

Garden lighting makes gardens attractive and accessible long after dusk and allows gardens to be enjoyed after a hard days work when the sun has set. Lighting adds atmosphere to an evening garden, allowing access at anytime. At night your landscape can wear a different face and have a totally different look from its daytime appearance.

Give your garden an elegant look by adding lighting to it. To enjoy your garden at night, the lighting must be just right. Beautiful wall lanterns will add a sparkle in daylight and a magical glow in the evening. Landscapes emerge at dark under subtle lighting to create wonderful shapes in hauntingly beautiful sculptured drama. Whether glowing with an inner light or outlined in an elegant tracery against the night sky, landscape lighting paints the beauty of natural and cultivated forms, a pool, fountains and pathways with subtle shade, shadow and color.

The benefits of outdoor garden lighting are numerous: Safety - illuminating pathways, indicating hazards, such as steps, or marking safest routes. Path lighting provides a safe walkway and adds to your home’s security. Atmosphere - The loss of daily enjoyment is solvable through garden lighting, by transforming darkened patios, decks and flower beds into a welcome fantasy of light.

Different Techniques of Garden Lighting:

Up lighting is the most commonly used technique to illuminate trees, walls and sculptures and down lighting is a mimic of natural light - the fixture is located overhead with the light shining down from above.

Moonlighting can be achieved by placing the fixture high above the ground and to produce a broad, moonlight effect.

Shadowing techniques require the strong shape of plants such as yuccas, and surfaces such as a wall or lawn to create the most powerful effect.

Spotlighting is used sparingly to pick out larger plants, trees, statues and architectural features.

Floodlights are a broad light beam that covers large areas and can create dramatic silhouettes.

Accent Lights are small fixtures placed close to the ground which provide a subtle source of decorative lighting almost anywhere in the garden.

Spread lighting uses wide beam angles to light larger features such as lawn areas, flowerbeds and borders and low shrubs makes strolling around a garden in the late evening very pleasurable.

Cross technique is used to pick out and highlight the statue, urn, gnarled tree trunk, bonsai, archway, etc.

Silhouetting technique is often used to highlight the outline trees, palms or archways.

To create a balanced and interesting atmosphere in the night time garden, use a variety of fixtures and lighting angles, placing fixtures in the foreground, middle distance and background.

Up lighting, down lighting and side lighting are the three basic forms of garden lighting. Use a combination of all the three for the most pleasing result. Lighting systems come in low-voltage and standard-voltage configurations. Use standard voltage for large areas and for security, low voltage to accent individual plants.

Kitchen Lighting

Kitchen Lighting is something that homeowners tend to forget to take serious.

Natural light can do wonders for a kitchen by making it a happy place to work. When you are planning your kitchen design, think of a place you would like sunlight to enter. For morning sunlight install windows that face east. This is great for morning hours.

Install a large bay window near the breakfast area. If the sun gets to hot, you can install an outdoor awning that can block summer light, or blinds can work.
Talk to your architect or builder about placement of the windows. Make sure that your architect has placed large windows to let light in the kitchen. Some kitchens have no windows. In this case when you are designing your home, make sure your kitchen is placed in an area where you are facing outdoors, not in the middle of the house.

There are so many health benefits to having the proper lighting in your kitchen.
You can work better when preparing meals. When hosting a party, your guests can see who they are talking to and what they are eating.

Natural kitchen lighting also has health benefits, such as it has vitamin D. It can help fight the winter blues. During the winter month’s people tend to be more depressed.
Have a cozy breakfast area with plenty of sunlight, where you can read the paper and relax in the morning.

Task lighting is very popular in the kitchen, such as a series of fixtures above a kitchen island or fluorescent tubes under a row of above kitchen cabinets.

Ambient lighting is scattered all over the ceiling of the kitchen to give an overall everyday light. Track lighting or recess lighting is used for this type of light. You can control the brightness by using a dimmer.

Decorative Lighting draws attention to a specific area such as a pretty back splash. Chandeliers are a form of decorative lighting. Christmas lights can be used though out the year as long as you use it with no color lights. Placing them on artificial plants above the kitchen cabinets can give a great look.

If you are building new home, a good architect will go over the positioning of where all the electrical wiring should be placed. Take it from me; I had to learn the hard way.
I was not told where the lighting would be placed. My first kitchen had only one strip of track lighting. I was not a happy camper. We were always squinting and my kids had a hard time trying to see what I made for dinner.