Does the thought of passing another winter in your dark and dreary home fill you with dread? It doesn’t have to.
A great way to pre-emptively strike the winter blahs is to recognize the effect of improved lighting, even in smaller homes, experts say.
“Light really defines your environment,” said Susan Dickinson, manager of Dorman Lighting and Design in Timonium. “Like smells, it can make you feel a certain way.”
The American Lighting Association delineates home lighting as one of three types: general, task and accent. The trade group suggests combining all three types to light areas of the home “according to function and style.”
That means mixing and matching lighting types, especially in the main areas of the home, to brighten, create mood and even to give the impression of a larger space.
Dickinson suggests to owners of smaller homes that they use light around the perimeter of rooms and bounce the light off white ceilings. Wall sconces and recessed lights around the perimeter of rooms painted with light colors also can convey a more open feeling in smaller rooms.
“You can have 1,000-watt overhead light in the middle of a room, and it can still feel dark because the walls are unlit,” Dickinson said “Putting light on the edges washes the walls and gives a feeling of spaciousness.”
One lighting trick that gives a warm, diffuse feeling and is used by Kathy Adolph, manager of the lighting department at Wilson Lighting and Interiors in Towson, is to place a can light on the floor behind chairs that back into corners. She suggests using a high-intensity bulb that shines up the wall to the ceiling.
Regardless of the types of lights used, Adolph said it is critical to match the lighting to the size of the room. She suggests measuring any rooms for which homeowners are seeking new lights before they ever enter a lighting store. These dimensions can help lighting professionals determine their needs.
Another way to maximize the mood-influencing power of your lighting in any size room is to put all lights on dimmer switches to regulate the brightness and power use.
Potential energy savings is another major consideration for many buyers in the market for new lighting. Many customers are moving toward lower-wattage lights for existing light fixtures, according to Robert Henry, manager of the bulb department at Wilson. However, many customers are unaware that light manufacturers also have responded to rising energy prices by offering many more fixtures designed to use low-wattage bulbs.
Although LED, or light-emitting diode, illumination has garnered a lot of attention in recent years as highly energy efficient, Henry cautioned that the practical use of that technology has not yet moved far beyond night lights.
But lighting buyers don’t need to wait for LED technology to find newer bulbs that are brighter and smaller than ever, he said. Among his most popular small fixtures is a bathroom vanity light that uses the equivalent of a 60-watt bulb.
Light It Up
Here are some online resources that can help with lighting decisions for any size space:
- americanlightingassoc.com has general information about lighting types, as well as specific room lighting guidelines.
- childsafetyresources.com/worldoflighting.html has noncommercial information about lighting safety and the effect of light on health.
- doityourself.com offers tips on installing dimmer switches and many other lighting tasks
