Light Up Your Life

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Lighting is essential to interior design. Light is what gives a diamond its sparkle, and it is a critical part of showcasing a home’s beauty as well. Light creates warmth and space, directs attention, and helps homeowners with the myriad everyday tasks they face. The right light fixture can add to the ambiance of a decadent dining room, or help illuminate the pathways from one area of a home to another. Plus, as you and your home both age, ensuring there is enough good quality lighting in all areas is more and more important.

See Your Home in the Right Light

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When choosing the lighting for a room, consider what it is going to be used for. If you need a light to read by in your bedroom or study, take steps to ensure that it will actually  light your reading area. As a rule of thumb, the lampshade should be at a point between your ear and shoulder. Another example: consider a bathroom. Rather than lighting the ceiling, you should focus light on your face to better see yourself during your morning and evening routines.

There are a number of other helpful hints to keep in mind when choosing lighting that will make sure you get not only the look you want, but also the light you need. For instance, when it comes to hanging a pendant or chandelier above a surface, like a dining room table, there should be somewhere between thirty and thirty-four inches between the two. Also, make sure that the light the chandelier casts illuminates the whole table.

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If you are choosing lamps for a living room, consider how the light you bring in will highlight the textures, colors and patterns present in the room. Table and floor lamps can help to showcase the many winning aspects already present, while adding an extra bit of decorative panache themselves. Plus, since most table lamps are small and portable, you can even consider changing them seasonally, like throw pillows on a sofa.

Make sure to properly light the artwork in your home as well. Spotlighting a canvas, or other art object, can be done with any number of track systems. Additionally, that same lighting can help provide extra illumination that will enhance the texture of fabrics and the grain in the wood of your existing furniture.

Set the Mood

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Mood lighting is a great way to directly impact the ambiance of a room. Dimmer switches give you control over the light in a room, tailoring it to suit different times of day or different occasions. You might have divergent goals for different meals in a dining room, for example. Dimmers give you the possibility of setting the mood for a romantic candlelit dinner for two with minimal ambient light, or an afternoon family meal for the holidays that’s brightly lit to encourage conversation.

Even in rooms where you might not have considered adding a dimmer, like bathrooms, the effect can be striking. Dimmers also help save energy, only providing the light you need at that moment, and can help avoid unsightly glare from open bulbs. Lighting control systems can help to avoid the complication of a bank of dimmer switches, and some can even be programmed to remember certain paths, modes, and settings.

 

Let the Light Shine Down

Chandeliers are more versatile than they might first appear. Along with common placements—over a table in your dining room, in the entryway to your home—consider more nontraditional locales. A unique chandelier placed somewhere unexpected, say a bathroom or laundry room, can make the space feel more welcoming. It’s also a way to add a personal touch to even the most utilitarian of rooms.

La Maison Interiors can illustrate what lighting can do for your home!