Have you ever thought, “I’m having trouble seeing what I am doing,” or “the lighting in this room isn’t quite right?”  If so, you aren’t alone.  The most common lighting complaints revolve around insufficient or unflattering light.  We recommend using an experienced specialist to isolate your lighting challenges and guide you through the placement and selection process. 

Following are some common challenges that you may face:

• ·         Light sources are not bright enough to provide adequate illumination.
• ·         There are too few light sources to adequately light the space.
• ·         Light fixtures may be the wrong design for the room.
• ·         Light fixtures are incorrectly placed in the room.

The amount of light you need depends on the design of the space as well as the distinct visual requirements of rooms such as a home office, kitchen, bathroom or library.  Remember that it usually takes a combination of several light sources, such as ambient, task and accent lighting to achieve your goals.  The age of the occupants and personal lighting preferences should also be considered.  Once all of these factors are considered, you will be able to select the most effective lighting solution for your home.

Dimmers are also important in any lighting design and will make your lighting selections more versatile.  Depending on a room’s usage, like a dining room table being used for homework or a romantic dinner, you can easily change the light level to accommodate each activity.  Rooms with more than one function also benefit from layering light from different lighting sources such as wall sconces, recess lighting and hanging fixtures.

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Most people only think of ceiling fans for summer use, when in fact there are many benefits to using them in the winter.  In any given room there are layers of air with varying degrees of temperature; the warmest air  is near the ceiling.  In the winter months you should run your ceiling fan in a clockwise direction.  This pushes warm air up against the ceiling and then down the walls, gently recirulating warm air through the room without causing a chilling breeze.  This technique has been proven to lower home heating costs by as much as 10%.  Ceiling fans can bring numerous energy saving benefits to your home.  Most ceiling fans use only about as much power as a 100 watt light bulb.  When used properly, ceiling fans can save you money in utility bills in both the winter and summer months.

Most people only pick out lighting every 15-30 years. Lighting changes a lot in that time span, so there are some common mistakes people make that can be avoided.

• Under-sized lighting on the exterior of their home, especially next to large garage doors. When you pick out lights, you’re in a store or showroom that is smaller scale than the exterior of your garage is usually. To avoid this, bring in a picture of your home into a lighting showroom so someone can help you with appropriate scale. Just remember that they will always look larger in the store, than they will look on your house.
• Heights are important.  For fixtures you will be walking under, you’ll want to leave 7’ of clearance from the floor to the fixture.  Over tables, many people hang fixtures to high.  Fixtures should be hung a little above eye level. The general recommendation is 30” between the table and the bottom of the fixture.
• Wall Sconces and Lamps are underused. When building a home, don’t understimate the nice accent lighting that sconces can create. If you’re doing a remodel, see if you can wire in a couple sconces to flank a large window, or fireplace. Also, if you need extra lighting in a room, but don’t have the ability to hardwire anything, add some floor lamps or table lamps. They make many styles that can add quite a bit of lighting for a room, or just create a nice accent as well.
• Installing Only Recessed Lighting in a Bedroom. If its a bedroom in your house that will be used primarily for sleeping, only using recessed for general lighting will not be the best way to do that. When you are laying in bed, you will have spotlights to stare up at. These can be very uncomfortable for a place of rest. Its better to use a fan with a center light, or a semi-flush mount in the middle to provide more soft & diffused light along with the recess.  This gives you the option of having soft light or directional light in the room