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Lighting Your Home

You buy a bulb at the store, put it into a fixture and flip the switch. On comes a light. What could be simpler?

True, many home lighting situations are as easy as that. But if you want to get the most out of your budget, and also to design a more pleasing and practical home environment, a little more thought is useful.

Lighting the bedroom, for example, can be as quick as the scenario described above. But you won't be getting the maximum value out of your lighting scheme. If you want lighting that offers better reading, with less eye strain, a little designing is needed. If you want to create an elegant atmosphere for evening that is still functional in the morning, a little homework is helpful.

Even when you're lighting the exterior of the home both esthetic and functional factors come into play. Home security requires careful placement of just the right kind of lights. Motion sensors are a great addition. Decorative accents to make your home look its best have to be carefully selected and optimally placed.

The deck is another opportunity to make your home shine, literally and figuratively. Post lights, recessed lighting and many other options are available to give that often used structure just the right illumination. Whether providing a safe walk along the surface, or a decorative glow along the path to the pool, deck lights can add a stellar look to an otherwise ordinary area.

Indoors, track lighting can perform a similar function, even though using very different means. Highlighting a fine piece of furniture or wall decoration is one popular purpose for track lighting. But they can even add dramatic spots and shadows to dress up an area where no objects reside at all.

Naturally, these design elements can be enhanced by using colored lights. But going one step further to give control over placement and intensity is another way to optimize your lighting design. Movable track lights, dimmer switches and many other forms of control increase the beauty and usefulness of these elements.

When planning all that activity it's helpful to know a little bit about the various kinds of lamp and fixture. You'll want to find out about incandescents, CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lights) and LEDs, along with halogens and other lighting types. That will help you select the look and function you want within the budget you project.

It's also useful, both for the best results and for safety reasons, to know something about basic electricity. If you confuse a watt with how bright your light is, learn about lumens and color temperature. If you get nervous every time you hear the word voltage, do a little homework and take the edge off.

Lighting is one of the areas of do-it-yourself home projects that don't take a lot of experience or special tools. A good eye for what looks good, combined with some elementary information, can get you well down the road of creating just the look you want and need.