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Lighting: The Hardest Working Fixtures of the Home

Create Your Favorite Mood With a Mix of Sunlight and Fixtures

Kerrie Kelly December 13, 2010

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No matter your situation—single, married, parent, empty nester—lighting probably functions as your home's hardest working element. Well planned lighting makes every activity a whole lot more enjoyable, whether it be game night, movie night or even nap night.

The right lighting adds drama and elegance with a mix of natural light supplemented with ambient, task, and accent lighting. A balance of fixtures and sunlight sustains the warmth of a room while allowing homeowners to create different moods. Here are 9 great examples:

LDa Architecture & Interiors

Drum design: Once typically found in just entry ways or dining rooms, chandeliers and drum-like fixtures are now a lighting element in every area of the home. This drum fixture not only illuminates this living area, it sets the tone for a simply styled room.

Richard Bubnowski Design LLC

Style setter: Pendants can bring style your active home places. These Craftsman-like pendants bring personality to a neutrally designed kitchen. Centered on the island they also illuminate a task area or your wine and cheese party.

KI3 Design

Nearly invisible: Can lights are now small enough to recess into narrow soffited areas and cabinetry. Guests can now belly-up to the bar with ambient light above.

Tip: Choose your can light baffle color to coordinate with your wood or ceiling tones. Select white, ivory, black or metallic finishes to complement your design.

Divine Design Center

Light from above: Chandeliers are found more and more in bathroom settings. Some purchase this style so they can have added versatility—simply change the shades and "volia!" you have a whole new look for the season.

Nora Schneider Interior Design

Visibly versatile: This room makes track lighting cool again. Low voltage lights on rails provide overhead illumination. The system's flexibility enables light to be cast in multiple directions to bounce off the lighter tones in the room.

David Small

Size it up: Fixtures must give adequate light, but also must be sized appropriately. In an average sized dining room, this means 18" to 24" in diameter. Add fabric shades to exposed bulbs for a more romantic feel.

Olga Adler

Fan-tastic: Embraced by budget and green-minded consumers, the ceiling fan is another fixture that has found its way to multiple rooms of the home. Most fans come with operational lighting and a range of styles to complement other fixtures.

Tip: Purchase a fan with a remote control so you can operate the light intensity and fan speed from any area of the room.

Vanessa De Vargas

Touch of modern: Vintage couch, scuffed metal table and a sleek contemporary floor lamp all work together. While periods are disparate, the elements and lighting work in this eclectic space. This fixture provides overhead reading light layered by natural light.

Becker Architects Limited

Lighting trifecta: This kitchen is working triple duty. It has the ideal mix of layered lighting. Above, we have general or ambient lights; under cabinets we have task lighting and over the island we see accent lighting. If they are all on dimmers, this lighting can serve any event or mood.

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jesully

I loved the ideas and comments on the kitchen lighting because I am very frustrated by my lack of good light In the kitchen and it is something that I've wanted to fix but wasn't quite sure what to do so the ideas were great.

1 Like December 15, 2010 at 1:45AM

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danthehandyman

I really like that track lighting design set-up in the living room shot. You wouldn't expect to a perimeter of track lights like that, but it works here. Check out http://www.NovaLightingStore.com for a closer look at many of the fixtures featured in this ideabook.

Like December 17, 2010 at 1:57PM

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Tom Lambe

Great. Save.

Like March 10, 2015 at 9:35PM