How to Pick the Best Lights for Each Room in the House

The lighting in an Okotoks home can often do more than homeowners realize to set the mood of each room. Harsher lighting may make sense in a bathroom when everyone wants to look their best, but it can be off-putting when trying to relax in the morning with a cup of coffee. Before putting the final touches on your lighting decor, take into account how each shadow and glow works in the many rooms of the home. Many people don’t put much thought into how to light a house, but spending a little extra time picking out the right house lighting can go a long way. Here are some invaluable tips for how to light your home.

Liven Up the Living Room

Lighting the living rooms is especially important because most people spend a lot of time in their living rooms, so it's important to keep in mind how light interacts with different activities. Reading a book will require different lighting than watching a movie, which is why experts advise homeowners to layer their lights and use movement to eliminate odd or distracting shadows. Consider valance or concealed cove lighting to evenly distribute the light and create vertical lines that draw the dweller's eyes upwards. Homeowners can also consider accent lights for the main features of the room, such as the fireplace or a favorite painting.

Making Bathrooms Shine

Too many shadows in a bathroom can cause beauty mistakes or razor mishaps on a regular basis, so properly lighting the bathroom is essential. If a mirror is only illuminated by a single light located in the middle of the bathroom ceiling, the darkness can create a wildly different reflection of the viewer than their true appearance. Adding light on both sides of the mirror is a good way to solve this problem. For smaller bathrooms, this can be done with wall mounts on either side plus another wall sconce or fixture on the opposite wall from the mirror. Not only can this tactic create a decorative opportunity in the bathroom, it can also eliminate the need for overhead lighting entirely.

Add Mood To Bedrooms

People may be tempted to make the bedroom lighting as romantic as possible, but there are safety concerns for the task areas in a bedroom too. Bedrooms are versatile rooms that can have the best of both worlds by mixing mood and clarity. Here are some different ways of lighting the bedroom:

• Use overhead lighting that is sufficient for standard activities that require clarity to ensure safety.
• Place lamps on nightstands for when homeowners need to get up in the middle of the night.
• Have a light in the closet, especially if it’s a walk-in, so everything inside it is clearly visible.
• Have a reading lamp for those who love to relax with a good book before going to bed.
• Install a dimmer switch to give the room a little more ambiance on a whim without sacrificing visibility for everyday use.

Don’t be afraid to get creative with bedroom lighting. Personalize and customize it to fit your needs perfectly. It will be easy to find what works and what doesn’t with a little trial and error.

Lighten Up the Kitchen

Accidents are more likely to happen in a kitchen without proper lighting. Homeowners will need to consider how to create illumination for chopping vegetables, washing dishes, and putting away food. Recessed lighting to cast pools of light onto the many task areas is an excellent way to reduce the risk of injury or property damage. In addition, undercabinet lighting is not only an aesthetic benefit that can pull a room together but a safety measure that can help people dice and julienne their way into dinner. T5 linear fluorescent bulbs come highly recommended because the technology of LED lights can sometimes create unintentional shadows. Use dimmers so inhabitants can enjoy a cup of hot cocoa when they can't sleep.

Lighting Considerations When Selling a Home

When you're selling your home you'll want to do everything possible to present it in the best light. While the older incandescent bulbs do burn up more electricity, when you're selling your home they are the best lighting to choose. The newer fluorescent models just aren't able to present your home the right way and here's why:

Fluorescents are too white

When you're selling your home you're trying to create a special ambience in it. Fluorescent bulbs cast a white glow over the room that is simply overpowering. It's fine to use these types of light bulbs when your home isn't on the market, but when you're trying to create an effect to impress home buyers, they should be put back on the shelf.

This whiteness makes the room seem colder and less personal. You want every potential home buyer that steps into your home to feel engulfed in a warm and inviting atmosphere. Traditional bulbs provide these warmer and softer lighting conditions that are perfect for showing a home.

Fluorescents take longer to light up

There's something about showing a home that involves a sort of flow. As you move from room to room it should be a smooth process. Fluorescents can stop this energy flow since they take longer to light up the room. The real estate agent needs to have lights that will turn on instantly as soon as the switch is flicked to keep this communication flow moving.

With fluorescent bulbs, there is a start/stop motion going on as both the agent and the potential buyer wait for the lights to turn on. While the wait only involves a few short seconds, it still makes a difference when the home is being viewed.

Traditional incandescent light bulbs may not be your preferred choice of bulbs to live with but you should consider using them when you're trying to sell your home. They add a smoother flow to the home viewing since they turn on right away and they also make each room look warmer and comforting. Once your home is sold you'll be able to go back to the fluorescents you prefer. In the meantime, however, help out your agent by making the switch back over to regular light bulbs that will help sell your home faster.

Lighting up your house doesn't have to be complicated, but it will require some careful thought on the part of the homeowner. However, homeowners who do change the lighting in their home as a home improvement project often see better results when staging to sell. Whether a person is most likely to be found in the kitchen, bedroom, or living room, there are home lighting options to get the best possible illumination for each room of the home.