Proper Room Lighting

A light turned on in my head when I read the information below. I found it interesting, especially since I do this already in our home but never really knew it was correct -- even to a New York City Interior Decorator.

Wow, we're pretty upscale in our trailer home and didn't even know it. (!)

Before I entered the state of bliss that one enters when they become married, I had always dreamed of having a cozy living room with several dim lights accented evenly around the room. Now that I live in bliss and also have my own living room, I've become acquainted with the fact that I indeed share the room (and the marriage bliss) with another person.

And that certain person has at times expressed curiosity as to why there are so many lamps on but the room is still dim. Thinking they were doing our home and electric bill a favor, they bought a value package of florescent bulbs for the cozy ceiling fan in the living room and proceeded to change several light fixtures in our home.

I don't think the electric company was as disappointed in our lowered bills as I was with the drastic change of lighting.

Vital marriage communication played into the role as to what lights should sufficiently accommodate the money saving lighting. Toby had never known I didn't care for the lighting caused by fluorescent lights and I had never known there was concern with our electric bill. Now you see why communication is always important.

According to statistics, florescent lights are only efficient if they are left on for several hours. They use the bulk of their energy when you first flick the switch on. After that, they just seemingly glow and use very little power for the number of watts being burned. Turn them on and off several times and you won't be as impressed with your money saving bulbs as you would be if you just left them alone.

Until now, I never had someone to back my lighting decor philosophy up. Thanks to Scott Salvator, I have proof that dimly lit rooms aren't always bad.

To me, lighting makes or breaks your household ambiance. If you have a well decorated room with cozy couches and soft, inviting chairs and even have a candle burning and music playing, the entire atmosphere can be shattered by a bright, overhead light, or a florescent bulb glowing it's cold, yellow glow from a table lamp. Equally so, if you have to squint your eyes in order to see where the couch is, you just might need to turn your lights a little brighter or rearrange the lighting in the room.

The following title is key:

Balance, Scale and Variety

by Scott Salvator, featured by Bed Bath and Beyond

"The key to a well lit, glamorous room is to have many types of lighting and in various wattages, including table lamps, uplights, task lighting, spot lighting, etc. This allows you to dim, raise or turn off individual lights to create different scenes. You don't want one halogen floor lamp in the corner lighting your entire room. People also often choose too small a lamp, which looks ditsy and doesn't provide enough light. Formal and period lamps such as porcelain vases converted into lamps usually belong in more formal rooms. Ceramic glazed pottery is more casual and can usually be used anywhere. Other lamps are designed for certain geographic areas, such as white birch floor lamps for the mountains or palm carved lamps for Florida."

• Tip:
  When in doubt, oversize a lamp, but do not oversize the wattage. Use several lamps around the room instead of one or two.
  
• Tip:
  60-watt bulbs are good for most lamps, except reading lamps, which require a higher wattage.

credits taken here.