Light Up Your Life: Choosing Lighting for Your Home

Lighting can change a home’s atmosphere in many ways. I never realized the effect that lighting had on a home until I lived in a small apartment without overhead lights. Trying to keep enough light in my home so that it really felt comfortable was extremely difficult. Although I found ways to work with the lack of light, I never felt completely at ease in my home without effective lighting. The dimness of the rooms could be depressing, and during the winter, the darkness was at times unbearable. Choosing light fixtures and lighting for your home can be difficult, but your family will thank you for your choices.

If you have the opportunity to use overhead lights, then you should take advantage of that. Overhead lights offer a lot of light that spreads throughout a room. How much light is given off depends on the wattage of the bulbs as well as the type of light fixture you purchase. The light fixtures on ceiling fans and Chandeliers give off a lot of light because they have four bulbs, one shining in each direction. However, yellow tinted bowl light fixtures tend to give off a yellowish glow and leave most of the rim in semi-darkness; the color can make everyone look jaundiced and does little to lighten a room. Also be careful about using light fixtures with many details that will be hard to dust.

For corners or rooms without overhead lights, floor lamps can help brighten the area. Floor lamps are best when used in corners or next to seating areas. The lamps are high enough that they can brighten a chair while someone reads a book. Some floor lamps have bulbs on the sides, and these bulbs can be turned in different directions to make the best use of the light. Having this type of floor lamp in a large room or a section of a room can brighten the area while having to purchase fewer lamps for the room.

Finally, you can use table lamps to lighten a room. Table lamps work well on side tables in the living room or bedroom. Sometimes you can use a table lamp on top of a bookcase to give light from a higher point. Also, placing the lamps on antique books or photo albums can give your room a classy look and raise the lighting for the area. When purchasing table lamps, think about how they look now and also how they might look in the future if you redecorated. Lamps with classic lines in a flat silver or bronze or wood can be used in your home for years to come.

Lighting can make all the difference in your home. If it is a real issue as it was for me, you may also want to consider purchasing fluorescent bulbs so that the area needing lighting will be even brighter. The extra expense for higher wattage bulbs is worth the expense especially if you use the area a lot. Light up your home, and you will lighten your mood and your life!

©2005, Kathy Burns-Millyard.