Lighting is the indoor sunshine of our lives. Like a sunny or a gloomy day, it can affect our moods. It can change the way a room, a color, or even a person looks. It combines beauty and function, makes our tasks easier, and can enhance safety and security. But, like the sun, we often give it only a passing thought.
Washington, D.C., designer Milo Hoots thinks that lighting is the most important element in the overall design of a room. "Most people probably need to spend more time thinking about the effect they want to achieve in their homes and plan the lighting as part of the total concept, not as an afterthought," he says. "Lighting effects everything that you do with a room starting with color, which I consider the second most important element in a room."
Interior Design Hints
Hoots has a few tips about lighting from a design standpoint. First, determine whether you want a contemporary or traditional effect. "You can be more adventuresome with contemporary settings. Neon, for instance, would probably be out of place in a traditional setting, but it can be used as a decorative light source in a contemporary setting. It might be employed as an accent around the ceiling or to highlight a column or some other architectural detail."
With lamp lighting, keep the light source at the same height throughout the room. "Don't use the same height lamp on a twenty-four-inch high table and a thirty-inch high chest. The effect is distracting," Hoots explains. "My rule of thumb is to have the light source about sixty inches from the floor."
Lamp shades in the same room don't all have to be the same color or type. They can be of different materials, some translucent and some opaque. "There are no hard-and-fast rules," Hoots says.
And try for a variety of intensity levels. "I like to see light areas and dark areas in the same room," he says. "It's much more interesting than a room that's evenly lit. Most people light their rooms in a balanced way, the way they've always seen it done before."
Arrange furniture so that lamp cords can be hidden as much as possible. In some cases, an electrical outlet can be installed in the floor to accommodate lighting needs in the middle of a room.
Be careful with fluorescent light. "It's a very efficient source of light, very cool, and very low cost. But it can be unattractive and can distort color," Hoots says. One of the few places he uses it is under kitchen cabinets.
Milo Hoots has seen many lighting changes in the thirty-two years he's been in the design field. "There's more use of down lights now," he says. "You almost never see a surface-mounted ceiling light in bedrooms or living areas in new houses. But you do find a switch that will turn on a outlet so you don't have to walk into a dark room."
Kitchen and bathroom lighting is better and more varied today, he finds. "There's more focus on task lighting in various areas rather than just having one fixture in the center of the ceiling. Now you also find
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