~~HOME LIGHTING~~~

Home Lighting



Lighting plays a very important role when decorating your home, but is very often overlooked. Every home has to be lit, so you might as well do it right!


Tubelights

Stay away from tubelights in the house. It gives an antiseptic feel to a room, and renders it completely characterless. If you would like to have tube lights in certain rooms to conserve electricity, use them in the toilets, kitchen and servants quarters, if you have any.

A much better option would be to invest in lights with dimmers. You can accordingly make the light as bright or as dim as you require. If you are watching television, you could reduce the light, if you are reading, make it brighter. Similarly, when you have guests over, dim lighting adds to the ambience. Rather than have one bright light, it is much better to turn on a few lamps and have dim lighting in corners.


Spot lighting

Use spot lighting above paintings. This adds to the beauty of the art.


Lamps

Place lamps on side-tables next to sofas, with a photo-frame or two around. Lamps are great to use in living and family rooms as they add instant warmth and atmosphere. Make the most use of natural light. Here's how:


Doors

For security purposes you naturally may not want to have a glass door at your entrance. You could however have a glass semi-circle above your main door to allow in some light.


Mirrors

Place mirrors opposite windows. This will reflect light and brighten up a room considerably. You could also consider placing a full-length mirror on the wall across a window.


Windows

Make your windows as large as you can. Naturally you will not be allowed to cut into beams, but in general you should be able to extend windows all the way down to the floor. French windows are a great option. If you have children but would still like to avoid the use of grills, use sealed sheets of glass for the bottom half. Thus, the windows will only open halfway, like regular windows. But the glass will run from top to bottom.


Glass

If you are just moving into a house, use as much glass as possible. For rooms that don't get adequate sunlight, borrow sunlight from the adjacent room by cutting out a large square portion of the common wall and replacing it with glass. Don't forget to place blinds on the glass for privacy. Alternately, you could use translucent glass.


Curtains

Do you have thick curtains that unnecessarily block out a lot of the natural light? Replace them with thin, flimsy curtains that allow light to filter through, but still maintain your privacy. You may need thick curtains only if you watch television often during the day, and your telly is placed directly opposite a window. But rather than covering up that window, it still makes sense to move the television.


Plants

Do you have a lot of plants that perhaps block out the natural light? Trim large plants to let in more light.


Furniture

Avoid the use of dark furniture. Instead, use light wood, and as much glass as possible to make the room look bright and spacious.


Paint

White walls brighten up a room tremendously.