When I was a kid I rode the buses to far places away from my ghetto neighborhoods to admire homes in classic neighborhoods. I walked many neighborhoods until dusk. The homes were well lit from the families arriving home from work and school. During the era of 1970?s very few of the classic homes had down lights or recessed can lights mounted on the ceilings. I admired the warm glow of light from the period lamps and the filtering effect of light glowing through the lamp shades. The ambiance was romantic, warm and homespun. I could always locate the kitchen behind the fa?ade because many owners had remodeled it and added the ugly cool color florescent light tubes in the kitchen ceilings with sagging and yellowing sheet of plastic to conceal the shop lights. The light emitted from the kitchens looked like a workshop rather than a chef?s haven.
Lighting can turn bad interiors into romantic mood setting in many restaurants and homes. Infinite moods are created through creative lighting. However, most of the warm glow is from the incandescent light source deemed energy inefficient. The energy saving lighting alternative produces lights in the cool spectrum in offices, hospitals, schools, cafeterias and other institutional places. The light is mostly for task lightings. These light are never used in museums because it alters the true color of paintings. Artist and designers never use this type of light for color and sample selection. These lights are applicable in places where ambiance is a low priority. Places like garage, workshops, kid?s bedrooms, and storage. Never try to install this type of light in Master closet because it alters the visual perception of the true color for clothing.
Recessed can lights are universal it can take energy efficient and inefficient bulbs. Builders install recessed lighting in places where ornamental lamps are impractical. Places like kitchen, hall, bath, laundry, utility room and sometimes dining or family room.
The places of romance like bedroom and living room need to have lamps on table or night stands adjacent to the bed or couches. It is all about the right furnishings and accessories. Lamps are important in the grand scheme of interior design. Recessed cans and accent lightings add additional mood and drama. The most difficult about them are their placement relationship to seating and art wall locations. Builders often are reluctant to add them because it is extremely difficult in predicting the owners preferred furnishing layout. Another important factor pre-installed can lights can be a conflict to enhanced ceiling treatment buyers prefer to add like false beams, coffered ceiling, trim and crown molding treatment. It is extremely difficult to place beam when the can lights get in the way of the repetitive beam and molding spacing and locations.
In old houses the dining room is all by itself completely separated from the living and kitchen we would find a gorgeous light fixture hanging in the middle of the room center above the table. The formal dining room is the most beautiful room during the holidays with all the table top trimmings from Pottery Barn or William Sonoma. The dilemma that we have today is the dining room is floating somewhere between the kitchen and living or family room space. It no longer has 4 walls defining its boundary. In many instances one has to cross the dining (area) to get to the kitchen. The dining table is always pushed to one side to create a path of circulation. The table will never be at the center of the room and would be odd if there is a fixture hanging down at the middle of the room and the table is shoved over to one side. If the fixture location were to be mounted off centered to relate to the shoved over table location then the fixture would appeared odd in the context of the room. What if the table is round, square, or oblong rectangular then the fixture location would move again. Builders could never anticipate the unknown dining table so the recessed can lights in the dining room is the perfect bandage solution for lighting.
Locations of recessed light are recessed into the ceiling and they are often in conflict with floor and ceiling beams. The beams are placed tightly together and the recessed lights have to give up its perfect location. Here are some examples: a 4? wide hall when there is a structural beam placed at the middle of the hall a series of recessed cans are then mounted off set from the middle of the hall or the beams over the kitchen island forced the mounting of the cans away from the food preparation surface.
Recessed can lights in bedroom is extremely controversial. It provide excellent light source for reading in bed but extremely annoying for the partner trying to fall asleep. Then putting the lights on different switches has a lot to do with people?s habit and preference. Builders can never satisfy the specification of the consumers so there is no recessed lighting in Bedroom.
Recessed lighting will provide much better lighting but the consumers should control its final destiny. It relates to the homeowners' lifestyle and the need for various mood. Having dimmer switches add greater flexibility and they are energy saving as well.
A perfectly placed light add good feng shui or remedy bad effect for your home.
