Since 2005Lighting Tips for Your Home
Every room you walk in needs light, right? In this guide, we have collaborated our most helpful tools to use when it comes to lighting your home. Ever considered that the lighting needs to be adjusted in the right way in order to be effective and most importantly...efficient? You have questions, we have answers. Give us a call if you still have questions we haven't addressed here and we will be sure to get the answer for you.
Image Courtesy of MyHomeDecorationIdeas.com
Your Bathroom Lighting Essentials
Are you thinking of remodeling your bathroom? The easiest way to make a huge change in the look and feel of this essential little room is to change your lighting fixtures. Imagine, for a moment, that it’s the middle of the night. You wake up to the Call of Nature. Your eyes are completely adjusted to darkness. You really don’t want to wake up any more than you absolutely have to, but you have to walk to the bathroom.
When you get there, you flip the switch, and you’re blinded by a bright fluorescent light. Suddenly, you’re jarred awake. The light hurts your eyes, and you’re not happy at all. Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. When you remodel, you can install a dimmer and/or warm, low-level, ambient lighting that won’t jar you awake when you have to use the restroom in the middle of the night. It will also be a more pleasant way to wake up when you get up in the morning to take a shower and get ready for your day.
As you start to plan your remodeling, keep in mind a few lighting essentials, and you’ll be sure to end up with the results you want in your bathroom. Here’s an overview of those bathroom lighting essentials.
Image Courtesy of ThisOldHouse.com
Keep the Style of the Room in Mind
Do you want your bathroom to have a modern, minimalist style? Are you a fan of beach themes? Do you prefer a more romantic style with lush earth tones? Think about your personal style and how you want to wake up every morning. Think of the atmosphere you’d like around you when you’re taking a shower every day.
If you want a minimalist look, for example, recessed lighting, accented with 2-4 strategically placed pendant lights, will be a lot more in line with your style than a crystal chandelier.
Campester 1 Light Watered Glass Mini Pendant
Consider Your Lighting Needs
What are your specific lighting needs for your bathroom? Do you need a well-lit mirror for shaving or doing makeup and hair? Do you want to accent a particular piece of décor?
Take a few minutes to brainstorm everything that you need in this room, both things obviously related to lighting and not. You might be surprised how it all relates. For example, if storage space is on your list, you’ll need to figure out how much. Then you’ll need to figure out if you need to figure out if you have space to allocate for wall sconces, or if you’ll need that space for cabinets.
Don’t limit yourself when you brainstorm about these things. Once you have a good list, you can go back over it and decide which items are needs, which ones are wants, and how to achieve all of your needs and most of your wants on a reasonable budget and in the space you have.
4 Light Vanity Lighting in Brushed Nickel
Your Fixture Choices
When it comes to lighting, you have a lot of options. Bathroom light fixtures are designed for one of three purposes: tasking, accenting, and ambience. Task lighting is focused on a specific task, like lighting the mirror so that you can shave, do your hair, or apply makeup. Accent lighting is made to accent a piece of décor for an aesthetically appealing affect. Ambient lighting is designed to light the whole space in a pleasing way.
The fixtures you’ll be able to choose from for these tasks include hanging fixtures like chandeliers and pendant lights. These are usually used for ambience, though two pendant lights, each hung low on either side of the mirror, can also perform as task lights.
You can also choose recessed light fixtures in your ceiling. These will usually be arranged in a grid or pattern, and they can be used as ambient, accent, or task lighting, depending on their placement. Wall sconces are particularly good for task lighting, as they can be placed beside the mirror for good lighting on your face. Flush mount lights are usually mounted directly to the ceiling, in the middle of the room, for ambient lighting.
Installation Requirements – Back to Reality
Now that you’ve done a little bit of dreaming about your new bathroom, it’s time to come back to reality. Are you prepared to hire an electrician to re-wire the lighting for your bathroom? Unless all of your current light fixtures are exactly where you want your new fixtures to be, you’re going to need to hire a professional.
Even if you don’t need to re-wire your bathroom, you’ll probably still want to call a professional to make sure that everything is installed correctly. If not, you could be paying for your fixtures twice and still paying for someone to do the job, after you try and fail. If you’re comfortable with home improvement, carpentry, and electrical work, though, this could be a fun learning experience and DIY project.
Bathroom Lighting Tips
When it comes to lighting in the bathroom it’s always better to have more than not enough. Consider placement of switches; give yourself options to have adequate lighting where you need to most like above the vanity or shower area. Consider installing a ceiling fan combo. Not only will this provide much need light, it also allows the air to flow better simply because bathrooms tend to stay moist. Put all switches on a dimmer so you're able to control the amount of light that’s in your bathroom.
More great tips to follow and common questions on replacing bathroom lighting
Vanity Lights Step-by-Step Installation
Bathroom Lighting? Are You Using the Right Light?
Avoid Issues in the Bathroom Ensure Proper Ventilation
Replacing a Bathroom Exhaust Fan
Bedroom Lighting Choices
Did you know, that you should have multiple sources of light in your bedroom? Like lamps, sconces, or even chandeliers. This is a great video from Jen from Southern Living on how to make these lighting choices in your bedroom. You can watch the video below or read the transcript here.
Antler Lighting
What is your style? Do you own a home in the mountains? Or maybe you just love the outdoors and want to bring it indoors? Antler lighting brings a very unique touch to your home. We have a few great resources on choosing antler lighting including how to measure your space and even how to clean them. All the antlers in our line are natural and they will not dissapoint. Take a look for yourself.
Essentials to Know Before You Buy an Antler Chandelier
How to Measure for an Antler Chandelier
How to Clean an Antler Chandelier
8 Light Extra Large Mule Deer Antler Chandelier
Installation How To's
Want to swap out your old ceiling light for recessed light fixtures? Need to know how to install that enourmous wrought iron chandelier you just bought? Maybe you want to know if you can install a ceiling fan instead of the current chandelier. Here are some great resources to answer all of these installation questions. And for the wine connoisseur, we've even thrown in a DIY project on making your own light fixtures out of wine bottles!
How to Swap Out Traditional Ceiling Lights for Recessed Fixtures
How to Install Large Wrought Iron Chandelier Light Fixtures
Can I Hang A Ceiling Fan Where A Chandelier Was Hung?
DIY Light Fixtures Using Wine Bottles
Vetraio 9 Light Oil Rubbed Bronze Chandelier
How Do You Know if it is a Bad Bulb...or Bad Socket?
Contractor question of the day is do I have a bad socket or a bad bulb? A good place to start is with a better bulb. They make bulbs that have a 130 volt rating on them which is a better bulb and is more durable. This is something any home owner can do. See how long it lasts, that may be the solution. If this does not help, he recommends calling an electrician to check the socket. The wrong wattage bulb may have been used that did some damage to the socket.
How To Remove A Broken Light Bulb From The Socket?
The old wives tale we have always heard is that the easiest way to remove a broken light bulb from the socket of an antler table lamp—or any other lamp or light fixture for that matter–is using a potato. Is this true? We asked our Electrician who had heard the same tale before—but it is certainly NOT the way he would recommend. Before you even begin, he warns again—MAKE SURE THE POWER IS OFF! (We feel like we’re repeating ourselves a lot of the time with that one—but it bears repeating!) Anyway, usually when a bulb breaks it means that something has corroded inside of the socket, causing it to stick. So rather than a potato, grab a pair of needle nosed pliers and grasp the shell of the socket and twist. You’ll get much better traction with these then your garden variety alternative!
How To Fix A Light Socket?
Fixing a bad light socket can be done by simply replacing the socket. Usually sockets are attached by one nut on the bottom or two screws down through the base of the socket. You’ll want to make sure the power is turned off to the fixture before taking it down, of course. After unscrewing it and taking it down, you can find a replacement at any local home improvement store. Reattach it the same way you took it down and put in a new bulb. You’re good to go!
