Tips for Planning The Lighting in Your Home

Lighting can make a noticeable difference to your home’s interior environment. Good lighting not only helps you see better but also enable you perform tasks more easily. Lighting provides security, safety and comfort. Also, lighting and lighting controls provide you with the flexibility to adapt and adjust the ambience and the mood around your home. Below is a lighting guide for living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.

Living Room Lighting

• Under cabinet lighting normally used in display cabinets offer accent lighting for showcased objects. These lights are not only visually appealing but can also offer the focal point basically in any room they are used.

• Portable lamps deliver ambient lighting and at the same time give you the flexibility of moving light anywhere you want.

• Chandeliers add decorative focal points and style to just about any room in the home.

• Ambient lighting offers overall illumination to the living room. It radiates agreeable brightness levels without too much glare and enables family members to walk about safely and see properly.

Dining Room Lighting

Dining room lighting should not only be beautiful but also functional. You can accomplish this by a combination of ambient, accent and task lighting. These different light layers establish the mood for various kinds of functions, which include dining, family bookkeeping and homework. Using dimming controls, you can vary light for each function. Use the tips below:

• Recessed or track lighting offers ambient lighting and at the same time enables you to highlight your most important possessions throughout the room. A row of 4 recessed down-lights around your dining table will supplement lights from the down-lights while at the same time providing accent lighting for the tableware.

• A sideboard or a buffet can be accentuated with recessed down-lights in the ceiling installed 24”-36” apart and 9”-12” from the wall.

• Chandelier: Hung over the dining table, a chandelier serves as a decorative element that accentuates the beauty of your furnishings. In case of a dim light, a chandelier creates a soft glowing atmosphere like that of candlelight.

• By installing track lighting above cabinets, you can turn them into showplaces for your most important collectibles.

Bathroom Lighting

• For small mirrors, use decorative wall fixtures put on each side of the mirror to provide the even facial illumination required for daily grooming tasks. In order to get the best results, have the fixtures mounted at least 28 inches apart and 60 inches off the floor.

• For large mirrors, use a strip of horizontal vanity lights to give each person adequate light. The strips should be mounted 78 inches above the floor.

• The lighting of shower and tub need to be adequate for shaving, applying makeup, reading shampoo labels and for cleaning. Select recessed down-lights meant to be used in wet areas.

Bedroom Lighting

When it comes to bedroom lighting, it is important to create a general atmosphere of quiet relaxation, and at the same time ensure there are bright spots for activities such as reading. A mix of task and general lighting that considers the lifestyle and age of the occupants is required. Note that dimming controls give you flexibility to vary light so as to suit every different activity and mood.

Whether you want a bedside lamp, a dining room chandelier, a whole room full of lighting or just bathroom fixtures, chances are that you want the fixtures you select to fill the room with enough light and also look stylish. The above are a few tips to get the most of your lighting fixtures.

If you are in need of any type of electrical repairs or installation, call Penna Electric. Our knowledgeable, experienced staff will get your electrical work done right the first time every time.