Home Building - Interior Home Lighting

Home lighting is probably the most important element in home interior decorating, because it is instrumental in setting the mood of any room. It can affect performance, mood, morale, safety and security. When deciding what lighting to use in your new home it’s important to consider how each room will be used, what fixtures are appropriate, energy efficiency and cost. To ensure that you will achieve the desired effect for your rooms, you first need to understand the four basic types of home lighting.

Ambient or general lighting illuminates the whole room. It is a good idea to install a dimmer with your track and recessed lights so that you have the flexibility to adjust the brightness. Examples of ambient lighting are recessed downlights, cove lighting, soffit lighting, valance lighting, wall washers, sconces, surface-mounted lights, pendant lights, track lights, chandeliers, under-cabinet lights and portable fixtures.

Task lighting provides sufficient light to help you perform the task at hand, for example reading, cooking, shaving, etc. Task lighting should be glare free and it should make things easy to see without tiring or straining your eyes. Examples of task lighting are valance lighting, pendant lights, under-cabinet lights and portable fixtures.

Accent lighting is focused lighting that is used to illuminate an object in your home like a sculpture, piece of art, or architectural element. Accent lighting is about three times as bright as ambient lighting. Example of accent lighting are wall washers, sconces, track lights and under-cabinet lights.

Natural lighting comes through windows, doors, and skylights and depending on the time of day, season, or weather, it can vary in brightness and intensity.

Types of Lighting Fixtures

Once you've considered what types of activities will be taking place in a room and what type of lighting is needed, you’ll need to decide what fixture will work best in each room in your new home and don’t be afraid to use multiple types of interior lighting. In fact, mixing and matching different light fixtures can help create a dramatic look and aesthetically pleasing room. The type of lighting you choose can also help make a room look larger or smaller.

Be prepared: Walking into any light fixture store can be overwhelming, so be sure to have a list of the types of fixtures your considering and how many you will need in each room. Before purchasing any fixtures, make sure you ask your builder if there are any restrictions on the types of fixtures that can be used in any specific room, because sometimes things such as ductwork, insulation or ceiling height can affect whether or not a fixture can be installed properly in a room.

Tip: Your local American Lighting Association (ALA) showroom is the best place to view the many different styles, sizes and shapes of lighting fixtures that are available to deliver the ambient/general, task, and accent light you need. Below is a list of the different types of lighting fixtures.

Hall/Foyer Fixtures can create a harmonious atmosphere, while providing you with the general lighting you need to greet guests and move safely from room to room. Use ceiling, chain-hung, or close-to-ceiling fixtures in hallways, stairways, and entranceways.

Chandeliers can add sparkle and style to your dining room while giving you the ambient/general lighting you need for dining and entertaining. They are also used in large bedrooms, foyers, or over a living room grouping or a grand piano. Some are designed with downlights to provide task lighting for homework or table games. Chandeliers are available in both incandescent and tungsten-halogen. The addition of a dimmer control lets you alter the intensity of light to suit the mood and activity going on in your room.

Pendants can provide both task and ambient/general lighting. Equipped with shades or globes to avoid glare, they are usually found hanging from the ceiling over dinette tables, game tables, kitchen counters, or other work areas. When used over end or night tables, they free up the space occupied by table lamps. For added flexibility use a dimmer control.

Ceiling Fixtures usually provide general lighting and are very practical in busy areas such as foyers, hallways, bedrooms, kitchens, baths, laundry rooms, playrooms, and dens. They are available with incandescent, fluorescent, and energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.

Wall-Mounted Fixtures can provide ambient/general, task, and accent lighting. Many are designed to match and supplement dining room chandeliers, or to provide hallway, bedroom, or living room lighting. Wall brackets are often used for task lighting at the bathroom mirror. They are available with a choice of incandescent, tungsten-halogen, and energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.

Bath/Vanity Lighting Strips provide task lighting, while supplementing the general lighting provided by ceiling fixtures. Similar to the lighting in theater dressing rooms, these soft glowing strips of globe-shaped incandescent bulbs provide excellent lighting for grooming.

Portable Lamps provide ambient/general, task, and accent lighting and give you the added flexibility of moving the light whenever you want. Table lamps, floor lamps, and torchiers are available in a variety of styles to complement your decor. Small specialty lamps, such as clip-on lights, uplight cans, adjustable task lights, mini-reflector spotlights, desk and piano lamps fill a variety of task and accent light needs. These lamps are available with incandescent, tungsten-halogen, and energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.

Track Lighting can provide ambient/general, task, or accent lighting all at once in one flexible lighting system. You can move, swivel, rotate, and aim the individual fixtures in any direction along the track, giving you the versatility to change your lighting scheme whenever you want. You can also hang chandeliers and pendants from the track. Track fixtures are available in standard or low-voltage current, and a choice of incandescent, tungsten-halogen, and energy-efficient compact fluorescent light sources.

Recessed Lighting can provide ambient/general, task, or accent lighting inconspicuously. Installed in the ceiling with only the trim showing, recessed fixtures can be used anywhere in the home. They are ideal for low-ceiling areas, and with a special adapter they can also be used in cathedral ceilings. They are available as downlights, adjustable accent lights, and wall washers in both standard and low-voltage current and a choice of incandescent, tungsten-halogen, and energy-efficient compact fluorescents.

Undercabinet/ Undershelf Fixtures provide both task and accent lighting. Under kitchen cabinets they light a countertop. In a display cabinet they show off special collections. They include slim, energy-efficient fluorescents, miniature track lighting, and strips of low-voltage mini-lights.

What About the Bulbs?

Certain fixtures are designed for a specific type of bulb, such as a two- or four-pin fluorescent bulb. Others can accommodate the more common screw-in type. When choosing fixtures, be sure to note what type of bulb it requires, so that you won't be surprised to find the bulb you bought isn't the right one.

Incandescent bulbs are the most heavily used in homes. Unfortunately, these bulbs are inefficient and expensive to operate. Fluorescent bulbs have come a long way from the humming, glaring office lights we've all been exposed to. Today's fluorescent bulbs don't hum, and they provide light that is almost identical to incandescent bulbs. The best part is that fluorescent bulbs have significantly longer life than incandescent bulbs (almost 10 times as long), use less energy and are affordably priced for use in your home. Halogen and LED bulbs are also available for the home market. Both are more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs, but are more expensive than fluorescent lights.

Room-By-Room Home Lighting Ideas

When you start shopping for lighting fixtures, you’ll find that there are literally hundreds of home lighting options, so think of lighting from two perspectives - function and aesthetics. Functionally, your home lighting needs to provide the right type of light in sufficient quantity for your intended purpose. Aesthetically, you can configure your lighting to create the desired mood through its intensity, style and color.

Below are some ideas for lighting the various rooms in your home.

Living Rooms

- Place a lamp about 42 inches above the floor in areas where you plan to do reading.

- Highlight a framed piece of art with halogen track lighting or by attaching a picture light.

- Use accent lights to illuminate bookcases or display shelves.

- Install recessed lighting as your general lighting or to accent beautiful wall textures, but be sure your lighting comes with a dimmer.

- Slim strip lights come in just about any length and can stick to the edge of shelves or ledges to highlight displays.

Kitchens

- A grid of recessed ceiling cans will provide great general lighting and flexibility.
- Install individual recessed down-lights as task lighting for the sink and cooking areas.
- Place halogen pendant lights over bars and countertops.
- Under-cabinet lights make excellent task lighting.

Dining Rooms

- A chandelier with a dimmer over the dining room table creates a beautiful setting.
- Highlight a framed piece of art with halogen track lighting or by attaching a picture light.
- Install halogen strip lighting inside your china cabinet to highlight china or collectibles.
- If don’t care for a chandelier and you have a long table, try using a trio of pendant lights.

Bedrooms

- Place table lamps on your bedside tables, but avoid halogen lamps in children’s rooms because they can get very hot.
- Wall sconces can provide good general lighting without being too bright.
- If space is limited you should consider recessed lights or pendant lights.
- If you want to create a romantic setting, place candles around the room.

Bathrooms

- Use shadow-free fluorescent or incandescent lights around mirrors for grooming.
- To avoid shadows, place mirror lights on the side rather than directly overhead.
- It’s always a good idea to install a night light.

The House Designers award winning residential house plans, architectural home designs, floor plans, blueprints and house plans will make your dream home a reality!

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2007 Home Decorating Trends

With 2006 behind us, it's time to start looking forward to what the New Year will bring. For me, the New Year isn't just about making resolutions; it's about keeping design current with the very latest trends. Read on to find out what's going to be popular in 2007.

Colors
A few key color trends are emerging that mark some significant departures from what has been popular in the recent past. Browns, oranges, and other warm colors are resurfacing after a long period of absence in home decorating. You can also plan to see greys, blacks, and other darker, more mineral-like tones. Deep hues of teal, navy, and green are also making a comeback and offer a fresh, new look for homes everywhere.

Mother Nature, Interior Designer
Anything that reflects elements of nature, such as wood, bamboo, and other "earthy" textures is going to be very popular. Earth-inspired fabric collections that are designed to mimic the feel of woven woods are seen more and more in everything from window shades to rugs to lampshades and other accessories, reflecting this trend.

The Cozy Cottage Design Style
Even the most metropolitan of homes are incorporating more charm and comfort into their interior design. This reflects what is called the casual, or cottage designing style, which is making a comeback. Characterized by mixed-and-matched design accessories, light, airy, and informal décor, this re-emerging design style adds a vacation feel to any living space. Sheer window shadings, and soft draperies are going to be seen in more homes as a way of maintaining a light, carefree atmosphere.

Be a Creature of Comfort
For those of you who have always opted for comfort over style: you're on to something. This year, a comfortable living area is a stylish living area. Your home environment should encourage relaxation and be a haven from the hustle and bustle of the outside world. Stiff, formal sitting rooms are out.

Shades of 2007
I couldn't write this article without talking about the exciting new trends in window treatments, many of which follow the overall trends of the season. Simple shades, like roller shades or flat-panel Roman shades, have taken over. Shades in textural fabrics, like suede and cotton are especially popular this year.

Your window treatments can also reflect the comfort-focused trend that is so stylish now: you can use them to control visibility, and the increasingly popular motorized shades allow you to control visibility with the simple flip of a switch. Of course, energy-efficient shades can save you energy, which will always be in style.

Good News for Do-it-Yourselfers
Anything homemade or handcrafted is in! From handmade blankets and pillows to craft projects like picture frames and other accessories, the project ideas that this trend inspires are endless. And they will add a personal touch to your home.

Go Global
Another big theme for 2007 is home design with an ethnic flavor. So don’t be afraid to venture outside of what you currently have. Spruce up your décor with furniture inspired by the styles and culture of other countries. Not ready to make a drastic change? Home décor accessories like lamps, pillows and rugs offer ways to infuse your home with smaller tastes of culture.

It’s clear that 2007 promises to be an exciting year in home design. These tips will help you welcome the new year with style, whether you’re planning a decorating makeover or just some small updates to refresh your home’s look.

Stacey Wiktorek is a member of the in-house professional home design team at BlindCrafter.com, where she provides expert decorating and design advice for anyone looking to beautify their home. For tips and home design ideas, or to receive their monthly Customer Club newsletter with trends, advice, and exclusive coupons, visit their website at http://www.blindcrafter.com/kristinasdesignstudio.cfm

Home Interior Design Tips on Decorating your Space with Wall Art

How to Decorate your Space with Wall Pictures

If a room in your house lacks character, by simply placing some fine art prints on the walls can actually make quite an impact. Wall pictures are a necessary accessory in your home and are great to tie in with the room's style and color accent. Before you go off to buy some new pictures for your walls there are a few things you need to plan and decide upon. Here is a home interior design guide on how to decorate your space with wall art.

Shop for Wall Art by Room

The kind of home you have and the mood, ambience and style of decor you create, should be perfectly designed to suit your lifestyle. Deciding on a style for your room should be determined by the lifestyle you choose and not by what's the latest home interior design trend.

Whichever room you are wanting to decorate, whether it be your bedroom, living area, kitchen or office space, you need to decide what you want to get out of that space. For example:

• do you want to hold dinner parties or entertain?
• do you want a quiet retreat to get away from the hustle and bustle?
• Is this an area for the kids to play in?
• Is this a room for your hobby?

Once you have decided what you want to use the room for, you can now choose a color theme to suit the function of the room. For example, mellow greens and neutrals for your 'quiet retreat room', lively yellow for the kids room, or pale tranquil blue for your office space.

So far we have established the function and color of the room in question, this then gives us the basis on choosing the right art prints for the area.

For example:

• bright colorful cartoon pictures for the kids room
• mellow pastel floral pictures for your quiet retreat area, or
• tranquil landscape and scenic pictures for your office space

Choose your Style

Like paint color, artwork can immediately establish or change a room's mood. Not only can it pull the room together, but you can use it to create a style uniquely your own.

• traditional & classic
• modern
• contemporary
• fun & entertaining
• casual
• romantic

The style of the room is totally dependent on your own personal taste and this is the time when you can inject your own personality into the room through artwork and textured accessories.

Suggested art picture styles:

Fun & Entertaining: Pictures can include bright colors both in the print and on the frame. Fun and entertaining pictures can include kittens and puppies, or comedian actors such as the Three Stooges or Laurel & Hardy.

Modern: With the strong black accents in the framed iron-work and the tapestries, striking black and white photos are a natural choice for a modern and sophisticated look.

Calm Retreat: To reinforce the mood of a nestled, cozy retreat, use artwork with neutral, earthy colors and a horizontal landscape subject.

You can even mix and match different styles to create a unique style of your own. For example, frame traditional black and white photo prints in a modern black iron frame.

Arranging and Hanging your Pictures

In order to get the maximum effect of your wall pictures in terms of adding character and a focal point to the room, you need to decide where and how you want to hang them.

Here are some suggestions to help you decide how to get the best effects from your pictures:-

Modern Gallery Look: To create a modern art gallery feel, particularly nice in hallways, lobbies and stairwells, give each piece ample breathing room. Stand at the center of the first piece and take one swift, or two small steps along the wall. This is a good center for the next piece.

Above a Sofa: When placing art above furniture such as a sofa, you need to hang the picture about six to nine inches above the sofa, or at eye level.

Cluster Arrangements: Tightly group an even number of pictures together to give a statement or a focal point. This works on either large or small wall spaces, depending on the look you want.

In a row: By placing an odd number of pictures in a horizontal line to each other gives balance and the sense of space. This works well in hallways or stairwells.

By deciding where and how to hang your pictures, whether it be a tight cluster or a single print above a sofa, you can then determine the size and shape of the pictures you need to buy.

When you have decided on the room's function, color and style, you are in a much better position to go shopping for wall pictures that fit in with the overall theme.

Summary

Wall pictures are an underestimated home interior design accessory. This is probably because most people do not know what to do with their pictures in order to get the maximum effect in a room. Before you go hanging up your pictures make sure you plan ahead what you want to get out of that room. Decide on the function, style and color of the room first before you buy your artwork. By doing this you are in a much better position to buy the right type of art picture to fit in with the theme and color accent of your room.

Claire Bowes is a successful freelance writer and owner of Online Home Improvement Ideas.

Interior Design Simply Means Personalizing Your Interior Environment

Interior Design today is all about customizing your built environment with conceptual planning, aesthetic sense and technical solutions applied to achieve the desired result. It goes beyond just the visual or ambient enhancement of an interior space, it seeks to optimize and harmonize the uses to which the built environment will be put. Between you and me, this jargon simply means dressing up your closed spaces to make them look their best. And just as you would dress for the occasion, your interiors need to be "dressed up" for a specific intended purpose or use. And that is where technical expertise really helps.

Interior Designs should reflect your needs.

Each space is unique with its own dimensions, construction, design potential and, of course, - limitations. Are you going to use that space for work or leisure, entertainment or learning, worship or healing? Can you create the ambience that you wish to convey – be it power, authority, wisdom, and achievement, a sense of security, playfulness or serenity, as required by that space?

Consider the practical aspects. Is access easy, lighting adequate, acoustics soothing, and seating comfortable? And have you worked out strategies for wise storage space without forgetting special needs – especially health and safety? Sounds a wee-bit difficult, isn’t it? Despair not! You as user are the only one who can come up with all the right answers. Look for interior design ideas – they are available aplenty. It’s just this small matter of putting things together judiciously. Who knows? There could well be a Le Corbusier hiding somewhere in your persona!

About The Author

Mike Yeager
Publisher
http://www.a1-interior-design-4u.com/
mjy610@hotmail.com

Interior Decorating and Home Decor With Inuit Art from the Arctic North

In order to help give a room a classier touch, interior decorators have used sculptures to bring in a mansion or even museum-like feel to a home. This is particularly true for the interior decorating of living rooms, dens, home offices and hallways. When many people consider sculptures as home decor, the thought comes to ancient Roman or Greek mythological characters like Apollo, Venus or Zeus. Others think about abstract contemporary fine art sculptures that are sometimes difficult to interpret. Since there has been a trend in recent years towards a more natural look with more earthy color tones for interior decorating, Inuit art from the Canadian Arctic north can fit in nicely as part of home decor.

Most subjects used in Inuit art tend to be focused on the observations that the Inuit people (formerly referred to as Eskimos in Canada) make of their Arctic surroundings whether the pieces are soapstone sculptures or prints of drawings. We often see Inuit art depicting Arctic wildlife including polar bears, seals, whales and walruses as well as lifestyle scenes involving family or hunting. The Inuit have been carving stone sculptures for thousands of years but it was only introduced as fine art to the modern world on a significant scale during the 1950s. Today, Inuit art has gained international recognition as a valid form of contemporary fine art.

Colors of Inuit sculptures tend to be polished shades of blacks, grays, browns, greens and whites. Inuit artists also tend to utilize relatively neutral colors for their art prints which work well with all color ranges of today's more natural styles of interior decorating. Adding an Inuit sculpture on an end table, mantle or shelf gives a living room or office that gallery touch. An Inuit art print on the wall of a hallway or corridor also works the same way. Since the majority of people especially outside Canada have never seen Inuit art before, such artwork in a home will often end up as conversational pieces with guests.

There are Inuit stone sculptures to suit almost every price range and budget at about $100 to several thousand dollars for large, intricate pieces. Most can be purchased at galleries located in major Canadian cities but there are now a few galleries located in the USA and Europe that specialize in this form of art. Not surprisingly, the latest retail source of Inuit art is on the internet. This development is especially useful for those who are not located near an Inuit art gallery. Check out some examples of Inuit art either in a gallery or online and imagine how a piece or two can be part of your home's interior decorating.

About The Author

Clint Leung is owner of Free Spirit Gallery (http://www.FreeSpiritGallery.ca) , an online gallery specializing in Inuit Eskimo and Northwest Native American art including carvings, sculpture and prints. Free Spirit Gallery has numerous information resource articles with photos of authentic Inuit and Native Indian art as well as free eCards.

The Two Pillars Of A Successful Interior Design Project!

Dear Friends,

Whenever I think of any design, be it interior design or product design, a few things very naturally come up in my mind. These are in the form of questions.

The best part is, answers to these questions can give rise to a very successful design in itself. Let's see how.

If I am planning to design a piece of furniture, let's say a double bed, immediate I start relating to what I already know about double beds, some picture/image I have already seen, something I have seen in some furniture shop, etc... Then I start thinking about what material I should think about, the budget, dimensions, age group of people who are going to use it, etc... If you answer these questions one by one on a paper, you will get a blueprint of the design process, so that you can convert in into technical drawings, with all the joinery details and finally the product.

Amongst above mentioned questions some are directly related to function of the double bed as a piece of furniture.

What does this mean?

When I ask myself, what should be the dimensions of a double bed? I have very little freedom to decide the dimensions of the bed, because there are certain norms to be followed in order to serve it's basic function and that's comfort.

But what if I say that I will keep the overall surface area of the bed same , but make it round in plan. Will it be ok..

Now here I am trying to achieve both function and aesthetics, without sacrificing the comfort of the person who will use it. So during any design process there will be times when the designer need to take some decisions where he has to keep aside his wildest ideas and pay attention to function first.

That's why the true success of an interior design project is a good balance between function and aesthetics.

Expressing this kind of balance through design is not an easy task, because function is universally accepted, but aesthetics, not always.

What does this mean?

Beauty is always relative. A washbasin has a common universal function of an appliance to be used for washing hands, but it's beauty is relative. What is beautiful for me, might not hold true for you.

So a design expression can have a unique style of the designer himself. It is possible that the designer is more comfortable with certain kinds of materials/finishes/color schemes, etc.. which can reflect in his designs.

In spite of these personal touches a good designs always caters the needs of the user first. A good designer has a certain kind of convincing power in his/her style which he uses to expresses in the design without sacrificing the likes/dislikes of the user.

There are designers who are more comfortable in designing only a certain kind space such as bathrooms, bedrooms, living rooms, public spaces such as restaurants, clubs, gymnasiums.

Of course this is entirely of a personal choice, but there is this same message in their designs, shell out your ego and design for the best parameters with worst possibilities taken into considerations. This is what gives birth to a great design.

I hope this article was helpful.

Copyright 2005 Shrinivas Vaidya

About The Author

Shrinivas Vaidya

For more powerful and in-depth concept level knowledge of bedroom design visit Bedroom-Design-And-decorating-Ideas.com. You will find some good tips on designing various kinds of bedrooms.

Romantic Interiors for Valentine’s Day!

With Valentine’s day just around the corner, thoughts turn to romance. To set the right mood throughout the year, here are some simple decorating tips and a handful of extra special touches to dress your house. So whether you are planning a Valentine’s Day bash or some intimate time for two, check out these romantic ideas.

For lighting, that mood maker extraordinaire, consider changing your white light bulbs to pink (available in most grocery stores and 3-way too.) These cast a softer, gentle glow and will be sure to bring complements from those nearby. In fact, my favorite tale is from a client who mentioned that her husband commented almost daily for a week on how great she looked, and she never let him in on the secret of pink bulbs!

A collection of whimsical or more traditionally elegant angels, cherubs, and cupids can be delightfully fun to create. Consider printed pillows, woven throws, porcelain figurines, classic framed prints and the like. These can be gathered and dedicated in one room or creatively displayed throughout your home. They have a way of lifting one’s heart during a potentially dreary time of year, and reminding us of those closest to us.

Treat yourself to flowers. And, yes, do go beyond the grocery store! There are not only florists, but great sources on-line and in catalogues for a wealth of pretty posies. Top picks include Calyx and Corolla, 1-800-Flowers, Gardener’s Eden, Pick of the Crop in Alpharetta, and Meme’s in Roswell. While roses are the original symbol of romance, tulips in white, red, and pink or even a bouquet of carnations can brighten any room. Paperwhites and other bulbs will bring a welcome touch of Spring, as well. Consider using paper or silk flowers if live aren’t your bag.

For those with a sweet tooth there is always a treat for holiday munching. Consider well placed candy dishes, heart-shaped of course, in crystal, silver, or ceramic. Whether filled with chocolate kisses, or pastel melts, it adds a sense of festivity and sweetness to the season. Get the kids involved with baking special Valentine’s sugar cookies, heart shapes with pink and red sugar sprinkle topping to share with family and friends.

Honor those close to your heart. Choose favorite pictures of your children, spouse, significant other, or friends and group them in heart shaped frames. Or create a collage on cork board of the same pictures, in a heart shape with a ribbon border. You can even make your own frames by cutting out hearts from construction paper (red, of course) and taping or gluing pictures to each. These can be put on the refrigerator with magnets, or pinned to a bulletin board. They can even be strung on decorative yarn and hung on the mantel.

Stairrails, mantels, mirrors and more can all be festooned with ribbon in white, pink, and red, reflecting the heart of the holiday! Papier mache cupids and angels are now available in a variety of sizes and finishes (gold, silver, or unfinished) and can be perched strategically on newell posts, mantel corners, the top of cabinets and such.

If red, pink, and white aren’t your favorite colors, go with gold or silver, but do promote the sense of romance with sparkle and elegance. What makes you feel romantic?? These days the opportunities are endless, take advantage of the day and make it special.

2006 Melissa Galt

About The Author

Melissa Galt, Lifestyle Designer, Speaker, & Author, is the owner of Melissa Galt, Inc., a full service interior design firm based in Atlanta. She has been decorating clients’ homes all over the Southeast for more than a decade, making their interior visions come true. She speaks to audiences nationally , on how to use design as the catalyst for “creating the life you’ve always dreamed of”. Melissa is the creator of Design Destinations, a free monthly guide to designing your signature life. To sign up for her FREE monthly newsletter, visit http://www.melissagalt.com/.