Interior Lighting » Lighting Options

Log Home and Log Cabin Lighting – Save Money and Energy

admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:30:07 +0000

My sister told me about this lighting system and I think it is just the coolest thing since Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups! (My favorite candy). How cool would it be to have natural light in your closets? Dark hallways and dark bathrooms? I am always turning off lights to save energy and money on my light bill. So this would be perfect!

Here are some specs about them:

· It provides exceptional lighting. The light output is incredible, providing as much light as you would expect from a skylight many times its size.

· It is cost-effective. Tubular Day lighting Devices cost considerably less than other day lighting options, such as windows and skylights, including both product and installation costs.

· Installing it is fast, clean and easy. They require no structural reframing, tunneling, dry walling or painting. A professional can install the product in less than two hours and most Do-It-Yourselfers can finish the project in one day.

· It can go almost anywhere. The compact and flexible design of TDDs allow them to be installed in just about any room, including rooms without direct roof access and smaller spaces where day lighting would usually not be an option.

· It is “Green.” TDDs allow you to switch off electric lights during the day, which provides savings on energy bills and also reduces environmental pollution.

· It is actually good for you. It has been shown in several prominent studies that increasing daily exposure to natural light can enhance mental and physical well-being, boost concentration and energy levels and a variety of other unexpected perks.

Go check them out.

Here are some quick links for you.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4212741.html

http://www.solatubelondon.ca/faq.htm

Dream Big!

Christi Sealey

By: Christi Sealey

Do-It-Yourself Pendant Lighting – Install Like the Pros Do

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:46 +0000

There is nothing more gratifying than a home improvement project that goes well, and nothing more frustrating than one that goes wrong. The key to successfully installing pendant lighting in your home is being prepared before taking on the project.

Go into the room where you have decided to install the pendant lighting. It’s time to look around and make sure this is an appropriate lighting option for the space. First take note of how much light you really need in the room. Will one pendant light do the trick? Or will you need a series of lights to offer the illumination you want.

Next, consider headroom. If you have very high ceilings, this is not a problem. But if you have lower ceilings, you should make sure that the area where you put pendant lighting is not a high-traffic area, or those lights could become a battering ram when you have a tall friend to your house. Take measurements so you know how long the lights can be to do the job, but not be a head-bumping hazard.

Now it’s time to make some style decisions. Look at the décor style you have chosen for this room. What type of pendant lights will fit in? Thanks to the advent of online catalogs, this part of the process is much easier. In many cases you can take your computer in to the room where the lights are to go and click through the pendant lighting options on the market. This allows you to picture the light with the room’s décor. You want pendant lighting that goes with the room, not stands out as something that doesn’t fit the rest of the space.

If you are having a tough time finding good pendant lighting to go with your space, you should contact a lighting store to find out of there are any custom options available to create a light that will better suit your needs.

Once you have selected your pendant lighting, it’s time to install. This is a pretty easy process and you can usually do this with a set of insulated wire cutters, insulated pliers, a screwdriver and a ladder. The first thing to always remember when putting up a new light is to make sure the power is shut off to the area you will be working on. It’s best to do this from the circuit breaker.

Next take your pendant lighting out of its box. Look at the wires coming out of the light. They should have at least ½ inch of wire sticking out from under the colored plastic insulation. If not, you should remove that amount, so the light wires can be attached to the house wires.

If you already have a light in the space where your pendant lighting is to go, it needs to be removed. As you take it apart, you will see there are wires from the light and from the house twisted together inside the ceiling. These need to be untwisted so you can remove the old light and put in the new.

Now you need to take your pendant lighting bracket and screw it in place in the ceiling. You now will attach the wires from the light to your house wires. Match the wires by color. There should have been wire screw tops on the house wires before you started, put these back on to the newly attached pieces of wire.

Push all the wiring up into the ceiling and attach the rest of the pendant lighting to the ceiling. Make sure you have put a light bulb in the light, and then turn the power to the room back on, and test it to make sure it works.

By: Pam Tice

Attractive And Energy-Efficient Home Lighting Options

admin — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:08:01 +0000

The art of creating elegant,applicable and sustainable lighting options for the home is a very interesting as well as a thought-provoking process. Lighting is an important element in home décor, because not only does it highlight your surroundings, it also enables you to perceive color and texture.

When you have spent some time choosing which fixture to purchase, what colors and accessories to blend, it’s now time to use these lighting options to help maximize their impact in your home. There are a lot of guidelines in creating lighting schemes, and the ides noted on this article will hopefully help add to your own ideas for creating attractive home lighting patterns and options.

Home Lighting Should Complement With A Home’s Existing Furnishings

The colors,as well as the other furnishing present in your living room and other rooms, should effectively complement each other perfectly. Once you’ve arranged the accessories to suit your preferences, and the furniture is deemed comfortable and attractive, what else is there to arrange or fix?

When you feel that the room still lacks the inviting atmosphere you imagined, think of the aspects that you failed to consider. According to home lighting experts, attractive, well-lit rooms most often combine the four types of lighting:

- Natural lighting includes sunlight, candlelight and fireplace light. The quality of natural light however varies, depending on the time of day, weather, season and the room’s location.

- Ambient or general lighting helps provide a safe and comfortable level of light.

- Task lighting supplies the intense directed light needed for detailed work.

- Accent lighting helps highlight interesting features in your home’s decor.

What To Take Note when Planning About Home Lighting

Here are some helpful hints to take into consideration as you plan the lighting throughout your home. Whenever your deciding on the lighting options for a room, consider these concerns like, What kind of mood should they create?, what type of activities take place in the room?, and what decorative elements do you want to attract attention?

Generally, to create an inviting atmosphere, the experts suggest using three to five light sources in every room. To simplify your decorating options, there are home lighting designs and items available with the same finish and style for chandeliers, wall-mounted sconces, pendants, floor and table lamps. Using the lighting fixtures from the same collection within a single room will help to create a more unified look.

To make your rooms look more interesting, vary the height of the light sources in the room. The differing height patterns will help to add depth and glow, by creating separate areas of light and shade. Usually in most rooms, you need to allow for varying intensities of light. You could do this by adding dimmer switches or three-way bulbs in lamps. It’s also good to have alternate switching patterns between general lighting, task lights, lamps and accent lighting.

For instance, while you are preparing for a dinner party, you’ll need task lighting instead of accent lighting, However, when your guests arrive, you’ll probably want to be able to switch off the task lights and turn on the accent lights. You should also remember that since darker colors absorb light, you’ll probably need to use more lighting in rooms decorated with dark colors than rooms with light colors.

Green, Eco-Friendly Lighting Options

In todays eco-conscious and earth-friendly lighting markets, as the focus on living “greener” has become the popular ideal, more consumers are demanding, and receiving, lighting options that are energy efficient for home interiors.

From energy-saving light bulbs to lighting materials produced with the least amount of negative environmental impact possible, many manufacturers and designers are responding with earth-friendly fixtures for ecology-conscious consumers.However, there need not be a compromise on style, either, as some of the most elegant and desirable lighting fixtures are the most visually appealing as well.

http://goldenageusa.com – Golden Age USA

By: Vanessa A. Doctor

The Benefits Of Using Modern & Energy-Efficient Home Lighting

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:37:24 +0000

The home and office lighting market notes that these days, more and more people are spending more time than ever before on their terraces, living rooms, decks and patios, and as these places have become fully-utilized portions of the home, they need to be lit up nicely and affordable too.

Home lighting manufacturers now realize the importance of a new lighting market, and are adapting their most popular designs to both indoor and outdoor living, using a wider array of materials and innovative designs that can stand up to the elements. Chandeliers, table lamps and wall sconces made of cast aluminum, which is more durable, don’t easily corrode or rust, are now available in all types of sizes, shapes and colors.

How Good Lighting Can Enhance The Feel Of Your Homes

For those who are planning to redecorate their homes, home design experts suggest that perhaps the most vital aspect of your home improvement project, will be the decisions you make about home lighting. This truly important aspect can help in dramatically influencing the look and feel of a room, making it more warm and inviting, comfortable and cozy, or dull and drab, cold and distant at the flick of a switch.

According to the home lighting experts, whether you decide to go with recessed lights, lamps, pendants or chandeliers, decorative lighting would probably be the most vital accessory you can purchase. If you choose the materials correctly, it can have just as much influence on the look and feel of a room as your most expensive and ornate furnitures. According to home lighting experts, three major aspects are influencing home lighting trends today, and these are:

- Simplified traditional: This refers to removing the excess stuff and simplify. The decorative lighting options here may either be solid brass, but stripped down and rich with antique patina.

- Casual elegance: The development of warm, relaxed and comfortable home environments using casual lighting that is a little more upscale in design.

- Soft contemporary: This trend refers to clean, modern and simple styles. While architectural in design, these fixtures are no longer lifeless or cold.

Lighting That Complement’s A Home’s Overall Design Is Tops

Most home lighting professionals today note that lights that complement a home’s architectural design are really the hot items these days. Furthermore, lighting trend observers note that for example, there’s been a growth in the availability of taller fixtures, because homes being built today have higher ceilings.

While eight feet used to be the previously standard ceiling norm, today it’s more like nine or ten feet and home owners need to find ways to fill the space. Home lighting specialists also note a change in the materials of choice for use in those fixtures, as more people are moving away from the plastic and resin look that used to be quite the popular choice in newer homes, and are seeing a return in popularity of the old world look – brass and copper, crystal chandeliers, and related materials.

The other important factor that home owners need to really take note today, is about energy efficiency. The lighting industry as a whole is putting a strong emphasis on this green aspect right now. A lot of manufacturers have brand-new decorative chandeliers,table lamps, pendants and wall sconces out on the market this year, that take fluorescent bulbs rather than incandescent ones,as they see fluorescents last longer and are dimmable, and therefore use less energy than the usual incandescent bulb.

http://goldenageusa.com – Golden Age USA

By: Vanessa A. Doctor

Garden Lighting Could Work in an Abbey

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:31:00 +0000

Through clever innovation melded with traditional and classic designs, Kathy Ireland has built a vast, multi-billion dollar enterprise specializing in home interior and garden designs. Recent additions to her collection include a line of French garden lighting which includes chandeliers, sconces, buffet lamps and floor lamps.

Of this set, the 21-inch wide French Garden Ceiling Light Fixture has proved to be one of the most popular pieces. Its golden oak finish and twinkling shower of glass beads make it perfect for both modern and older homes.

Wrought of crystal and hand-worked metal, and adorned with beaded shades of gold, the French Garden Beaded Chandelier is another of the beautiful and elegant pieces from this set. The shades emit a vibrant golden glow when lit, while the beaded crystals dazzle with a rainbow of colors.

The Amber Raindrops Grand Chandelier is yet another charming chandelier from this set, featuring clear and unassuming beads next to amber and ruby-hued crystals. Do not forget to look outdoors to the wide variety of low voltage lighting options.

Sconces are a classic lighting source that dates back even further than the chandelier, and can add a touch of stateliness and elegance to any room or hallway. The Kathy Ireland French Carriage Wall Lamp is the perfect example of this, casting a soft white glow around its vicinity which can easily be coordinated with the color patterns of any room.

Table lamps can prove to be a centerpiece of many rooms, and Kathy Ireland offers a wide variety of these as well, in a wide variety of styles and suitable room types. The Italian Lattice table lamp, with its sweeping curves and earthy tones offers a laid back and stylish flair to any room. If it’s night table lamps you’re looking for, the Garden Blossom Night Light Table Lamp may be just the thing, with its variable light settings, perfect for reading or just gentle illumination. Styled in the classic French vein, this faux alabaster glass lamp is connected to its square base through an intricate flower leaf support.

Floor lamps are ideal for lighting those darkened corners, and are perfect for rooms or areas where other light sources are too intrusive or inappropriate. Continuing with the French theme, the Kathy Ireland Collection features a European Country Garden Blossom floor lamp very similar to the aforementioned table lamps. These would look stunning in the same room together, but circumstances would probably dictate that they be placed in separate rooms.

This new French collection of lighting from Kathy Ireland is truly an illuminating experience, and one that any household, no matter the style can benefit from.

By: Thomas Fyrd