Lighting is one of those things that you either don't notice, or you really notice - because it is so bad or so great. The great is easy to understand but many of us don't have the thousands of dollars to spend on lighting. The really bad is something that must be addressed if you are selling your home (or not). From your front door to your back yard it matters.
Over the year I will focus on different areas of your house. Today, I'll want to talk about the dining room, or your kitchen if you don't have a dining room. I have seen fixtures that are too small and larger ones that are too dominating. So the rule of thumb is that the fixture should be 12 inches narrower than the table and have at least 48 inches of space from each of the room walls or room diameter. Hang the chandelier approx. 30 to 34 inches over the table with an 8 foot ceiling. If your ceiling is higher than 8 feet mount the fixture an additional 3 inches for each foot of ceiling. great places to look for inexpensive fixtures are Lamps Plus or even Home Depot. For high end, if local, check out Lunaria in Larkspur. They have a great selection for high end lighting. Very creative.
The other thing that I want to talk about are light bulbs. It does not matter which bulb you use, incandescent, CFL's, or any other type, you just need to make sure it is sufficient to light the room. In overhead recess lighting I prefer 100w flood lights. In lamps I prefer 60 -75w. Just like most things - more is better. You can always scale back with a dimmer, but you can't add to. And let me just say - for all those of you who don't have dimmers that is your 2010 goal to get them, everywhere. And replacing your light switches with dimmers is one of the easiest and most rewarding things that you can do yourself - just please remember to turn off the power before switching the light switch. Your local hardware store can help talk you through it.
Let the light shine in!
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