Track lighting, pendants, cans & under cabinet

Interior and exterior lighting is one of my favorite ways to spruce up the look of a home, as well as adding value to any property. You will change the feel of a room or the whole home with just a few accents added in the lighting department. There is an amazing variety of recessed lighting, pendant lights, LED's, halogen and cabinet lighting systems available today. You could spend days online looking for the right units for each room in your home as well as outside. Exterior lighting can change the curb appeal of your home, and increase safety on your decks and walkways. Outdoor sconces are an artistic way to add character to your home. Spot lights pointed on the walls of your home, or into trees are a nice touch too.

Designer Lighting Secrets
By Brett Vance

You have just purchased your new furniture for your living room, or moved your existing things into a new home. You turn on the builder installed overhead lighting or the light that is integrated into a ceiling fan, and the space did not quite come out as you would have liked. What are the problems? It is very possible that your lighting is selling your new look short.

When you select new furniture at the furniture store, the first attraction that you have is to the pieces of furniture themselves. You like the lines, the size and the colors worked perfectly, but something changed when you brought your new furniture home. The pieces did not have the same look that they did at the store. Lighting may be your issue because you have to remember that furniture stores spend thousands of dollars to light their showroom as well as employ professional designers to showcase their products. But once you have identified this problem, you can begin to make lighting adjustments in your own space to make the furniture and accessories look great.

Whether you have lived in the house for years or you may have just moved into a new one, you might not have paid attention to the exsisting lighting. Many of us just begin using the lighting that was installed in the home and don't think about it. While today's builders think more about lighting than they did in the past, in all home price ranges, lighting can simply be a function of getting the space illuminated. Many homes may have a single fixture centered in the room or a ceiling fan with a cheap lighting kit. Some may have recessed or "can" lights, that illuminate a living room or master bedroom. In any case, the result can be a volume of hollow light that washes every surface in the room. If you find that your furniture and home accessories do not show as well as you would like them to, you need to address the lighting to get the feel you are after.

There are many types of lighting that you need to look at to make a good design. The first is the general lighting. As we have discussed, most rooms have this type of lighting. Recessed lights do provide a nice way to light a room. If you are a homeowner who has a single light in a room and find that you require more general lighting, then you may consider installing recessed lighting. While many builders evenly space the recessed lights throughout the ceiling, another designs may work as well. When you watch design shows, notice that when a room has a central lighting fixture, the designer will use small recessed lights around the perimeter of the room. This is an especially nice effect. It defines the space and brings the color of the room to life while creating drama and mood. Simply stated, a light needs something to illuminate, and this type of lighting design defines the walls while adding that needed general lighting.

The second type of lighting is accent lighting. Once you have filled the space with general lighting, you now need to bring in accent lighting. Think table lamps, and floor lamps. Accent lighting fills in the lower space of a room closer to the furniture and floor. Again, this is another layer of definition for the space. Lamps placed near your couches and chairs serve to further define the space. There are numerous options here to choose from when selecting your favorite accent lighting. Table lamps provide excellent accent lighting as well as torchieres. Once you have added accent lighting, you will notice that the room takes on more dimension and style.

The third type of lighting is task lighting. Task lighting can be the most important element in giving your room that designer look. While all three types of lighting together create the look you are trying to achieve, task lighting is what ultimately showcases your interior design. Let us think in simple terms. If you have a stunning piece of art hanging on the wall and it is not illuminated, then you have wasted your money on the art work. Without lighting it will wash into the wall. Add task lighting and it is showcased. You might have a sculpture sitting on a table or pedestal, and while a beautiful piece, it will not come to life until it is given the proper lighting. Task lighting can also be used to light areas for specific activities such as a desk space where you use the computer or pay your bills. When you are trying to decide what in your home needs task lighting, take notice of the things that are important pieces to you in the room. Then light them. Task lighting may come in the form of a high intensity light that has a very narrow beam and projects from the ceiling to illuminate an object in the room. It may also take the form of an art light mounted just above a painting or a flood light placed on the floor to illuminate an element from below. Think of task lighting as your third dimension in a good lighting scheme. Until you have a third dimension of lighting, your space will not achieve its ultimate design potential.

The last part of a good lighting design, which can never be underestimated, is the installation of dimmers on all of your lighting elements. A dimmer gives you the ultimate control over your lighting environment. You could take the time to adjust the wattage in every bulb in the room until you achieve the perfect balance between your general, accent and task lighting, but that still just gives you one look. As you know, a space changes dramatically from day until night and the dimmers will allow you to make adjustments in the lighting scheme to showcase your space. Whether you are having a brightly lighted super bowl party or a dimly lighted romantic dinner, dimmers will give you the ability to create any mood you desire.

Through well planned general lighting, accent lighting and task lighting, you can easily make your home look like a design statement rather than an ordinary room. You can add value to your home as well as showcase the furniture and collectibles that you cherish.