Use Lighting To Enhance The Elegance Of Your Home

A feature article by an Alumbo member, Sep 25, 2007         

Summary: The right lighting can do wonders to the ambience of your house. Spending a little time on this important aspect can result in a classy look to your house without spending a fortune.

 
Richard Branson is said to be a fan of lighting solutions. He has spent a fair amount of his millions on innovative and elegant lighting solutions in his numerous mansions. Even if your budget doesn't quite fall in the same league, there is no stopping you from exploring your creative talent even with much lesser money. There is a huge variety out there when it comes to acquiring the right lighting solution for your dream home.

If you want to save on the money and yet have an elegant setting, take your time before moving straight to the lighting showrooms. Do your homework and decide the function of the room you are planning the lighting for.

The same house may have different lighting solutions as per the taste of the owner and the usage of the place. As the usage changes, so does the lighting style. A dining room or a lobby, for example, may be a very formal area in some households, while the same may be the hub of all household activities in others - the lighting would vary accordingly.

Why varied choices are available today is due to the increasing trend of people moving ahead and choosing the ambience of their own homes, rather than leave all the hard work to an outsider. Not only does it give a great deal of satisfaction, the money saved can also be well utilized in actually buying some of those expensive fittings you have been craving. "From basic solutions of simply illuminating the place, lighting today has graduated to a mood-decider or an ambience creator, even an expression of class", says Jack Robinson of GE Lighting.

So where do you start? Let us work on the basics before we go on to the essential details. Let us start with that most important of places - the dining room.

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"You need good lighting in this portion of the house to first satisfy its basic function - see the food laid out on dining tables," says Robert White, a New York based interior designer. Use halogen lights to highlight the tabletop, and improve the ambience of those dishes that have taken so much of time and effort in the kitchen. Try a pair of hanging lights rather than a single one so as to evenly distribute the light over the whole table.

For the overall lighting of the room and to bring out the best in the dining room furniture, use soft, non-glare wall lights in white or a color to compliment your walls and overall decor. A dining room hutch can be lit with small, concealed lights which, besides highlighting your expensive display items, would also add to the depth of the room.

In houses that have a common dining cum living room, lighting can be effectively used to separate out the two portions. Use different color lights in the dining and living areas to distinguish them. A dimmer works well to add an inexpensive option of varied lighting themes with the same lighting to suit your mood. They may not work with CFLs and florescent lighting, but adding a bulb here and there with a dimmer may not add prohibitively to your electricity bill, while it would definitely do wonders to the ambience. If you are a die-hard fluorescent fan, use mood lighting instead.

In part two of this article we will see more options to decorate other parts of the house.

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