Interior Lighting

Low Voltage Cable Lighting Systems

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:18:45 +0000

The advantage of low voltage cable lighting systems is that they have the illusion of floating in space. The cables are tightened between two hard surfaces and they can span up to twenty feet without any supports. This type of lighting is excellent for a room with a very high ceiling that would normally be quite difficult to light. A benefit is that these cables can be installed at any height you want and by adding supports; you can create a turn anywhere.

Another benefit of low voltage cable lighting is that it allows the homeowner to use their creativity in designing. It can also enhance security by increasing the lighting around the outside of your home at night if you choose to install them outdoors. They can shine on the home or along walkways around your house.

Before you head out to the local lighting store or do it yourself center, you should do some planning first. If your low voltage cable lighting is for the outdoors and not for security purposes then plan to have it accent something such as a garden, landscaping or statue. You will want to measure out the entire length of your planned lighting so you can purchase the appropriate length of wire.

Here are a few guidelines for the low voltage lighting system if installed outdoors:

Up lights are for trees and anything else that is tall Recessed lights are for pathways or deck steps Area lighting is for play areas or gardens Pathway lighting should be approximately ten to twelve feet apart and not across from each other Spot lighting should be for sculptures, water gardens or trellises

To get a better idea of what the lights look like, visit your local dealer or do some research on the internet. Low voltage cable lighting is a good investment but planning should be done before purchasing and installing. These types of lights have become quite popular recently. The type of bulbs used for this style of lighting is generally halogen or xenon.

Whether you are getting low voltage cable lighting installed or any form of lighting you should consult with an electrician if you are unfamiliar with installing lights or working with electricity.

By: David Karlson

Children’s Lighting Creates Mood, Ambiance

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:01:47 +0000

One of the fun aspects of decorating your child’s bedroom or nursery is choosing the furniture and the appropriate lighting to go with it. Usually considered novelty-styled lighting, children’s lighting is really just fun, with themed features like hot air balloons or airplanes, to animated characters like circus clowns and zoo animals. Down right cute and doubling as night lights that comfort your child from fears of the dark, looking for the perfect light to accent your child’s room is a fun experience for both you and your kids.

If you think about it, the last thing your child will see before he or she falls asleep is the light being turned off. Children’s lighting can create a pathway to their dreams or ignite an imaginative spark while creating a cohesive theme for their bedroom or nursery. And with the right lighting, creating a fun motif for your child’s room can be possible.

Presently a lot of new parents are looking to create a genuinely fun yet gender friendly bedroom or nursery for their child and finding the right kind of fun, kid and parent friendly yet functional lighting is just as important as having a crib. To create the ideal atmosphere, first think about what kind of look you wish to achieve. For example, if you’re leaning toward zoo animals or a safari theme, go for mint and jungle green colored walls with fun animal shaped wall sconces. Nursery rhymes are another popular theme that goes well with both kids and parents; a prime example of a terrific themed light is the Cow Over the Moon Wall Sconce, found exclusively at Eco-Lights.com. Table lamps with sports-themed fixtures for boys or butterfly and baby animal details for girls are also fun and functional lighting ideas that will tie your child’s bedroom theme together quite nicely.

And for those toddlers who just won’t get to sleep quite easily, there’s always the option of having a carousal light. Carousel lights sit on a base that allows the shade to slowly rotate, showcasing a collection of colorful animals, shapes and designs that reflect onto the walls. These lights will surely entertain your baby while comforting him to sleep. But whatever theme you finally decide upon for your child’s room, remember that lighting will create the ambiance that you’re looking for.

By: Vicki Duong

Flex Track Lighting and the Key to Domestic Tranquility

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:42:09 +0000

Through a little bit of luck and a long love of art we decided to invest in some art work just before the market took it’s nose dive. We were on an Alaskan cruise and not only got a good deal on the pictures but got some ideas on how to display them. The auctioneer had installed track lighting in both the area where the pictures were sold and in the onboard gallery. When the lights were adjusted to focus on the pictures we were interested in you could see what a difference the right lighting had on each picture.

FedEx delivered our pictures and when we took them out of the box my wife declared they were not the ones we purchased. The brilliant colors had somehow faded from what she remembered on the ship to what was now in front of her in our living room. Not having flex track lighting in our home I had to make do and direct one of my photography lights on the pictures. She immediately noticed the difference and moved flex track lighting to the top of her “honey do” list.

We do not have an electrical outlet store in our county and I had no idea where to find or how to install flex track lighting I turned to the Internet. Much to my relief I was able to find not only lighting outlets but written instructions on how to install it myself.

The track, as the name implies, is completely flexible and can be formed to fit the pattern that best handles your lighting needs. I followed the instructions and carefully drew a diagram of where I wanted the lights to be mounted and how many I would need at each location. We knew where the pictures were to be hung so it was a matter of determining where the lights should be mounted. We had to have several consultations until we decided which finish and shade colors best matched the room and location. But at last we were in agreement and were ready to place our order for flex track lighting.

Because of the length of track involved and the number of lights we were going to need we were not able to order a flex track lighting kit. Instead we ordered the parts individually and now have our own happy marriage and a well lite miniature art gallery.

By: Simon Harris

Night Club Lighting

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:34:19 +0000

Nightclubs frequently require jazzy, modern lighting and special effects, such as flashing lights of many colors, moving light beams, and smoke machines. A disco ball is an important feature of nightclub lighting. A disco ball is a rotating football-sized spheroid hung from the ceiling, covered with numerous small flat light-reflectors, with a light beam aimed at it. Light reflections produce a large number of moving light spots on the floor and on people. Some nightclubs arrange foam parties where a dance floor is filled with soap lather that may not be too slippery.

Modern stage lighting is a versatile tool in production of opera, dance, theater, and other presentation arts. Various kinds of stage lighting devices are used to highlight stage effects, provide dramatic background scenes and so on. There are some general principles for lighting a stage, but no rigid rules can be applied in order to allow imaginative special effects for a nightclub. Some of these principles are illumination, revelation of form, focus, mood, location and time, projection elements, plot, and selective visibility. Nightclubs can adopt some of these light effects to create the right kind of ambience needed for it.

Illumination means ability to see what is happening onstage. Any illumination plan will be unsuccessful if an audience has to strain to see characters, unless this is a clear intention. Revelation of form means changing the perception of shapes onstage, mostly three-dimensional stage elements. Focus denotes directing the audience’s concentration to an area of a stage, or distracting them from another. “Mood” means the tone of a view or environment. For example, harsh red light has a completely different effect than soft lavender light. Colors of lights can also achieve a desired effect of depicting time. Blues usually denote nighttime while orange and red can imply a sunrise or sunset. Lighting may also be used to project a specific view, or to act as scenery onstage. Special effects may be employed to show areas of a stage, which a designer wants an audience to see.

By: Ken Marlborough

Lighting Up Your Home With Leds: is it Time to Upgrade?

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:22:07 +0000

How about LED house lights? LED light bulbs are more efficient than incandescent or fluorescent lighting. The problem is that LEDs have very directed light. For LED Christmas lights, that isn’t a problem; you just want some shining points of light, which LEDs do very efficiently. Lumens levels are read from a sensor placed right underneath the light source. A household LED light bulb at 2 watts may have the same lumens rating as a 50 watt halogen bulb, or as a 15 watt CFL, but the LED lamp may only send a focused light directly under it to the photo sensor, while the incandescent light and CFL will light up a much broader area, and still give that same lumens rating for the area immediately beneath the bulb. When it comes to halogen lights, they are only as efficient as incandescent lights, so the same efficiency considerations apply here. But since halogen lights are typically much more direct than incandescent bulbs, LED lights that are designed to replace halogen lights are both more efficient than the halogens they replace, and work well for the direct light that halogen bulbs provide. This increases the area of full light coverage of an LED light. Where LED lights outshine existing bulbs is as replacements for lighting that is (or should be) highly directed. Task lighting is another example of an application where LEDs shine. LED light bulbs are, in theory at least, very durable, when compared to incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs. LED lights do decline progressively in light intensity and therefore in efficiency, although they will still be more efficient than either CFLs or incandescent bulbs throughout their life.

The “color temperature” of a light bulb, measured in ‘degrees Kelvin’, determines human visual response to its light. Be a trend-setter, not a trend-follower – start converting your home lighting to true daylight colors, whether with CFL lights or LED light bulbs.