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Lighting

Effective lighting accents and highlights your decor, art, objects.  A skilled lighting designer will be quick to point out that their pieces can be the centre point of any room. 

There are four types of lighting:- ambient, task, accent and decorative.

Ambient Lighting

This is used to illuminate an entire room evenly.  This is usually one light in the centre of your ceiling from a light fixture or ceiling fan, several recessed lights spread evenly over the ceiling, or natural lighting from skylights or windows.

Task Lighting

This is used in a concentrated part of a room where more lighting is needed to perform a task i.e. reading lamp, piano lamp, bedside lamp, etc.

Accent Lighting

This type of lighting is used to highlight certain things e.g. Christmas tree lights, art, plants, etc.

Decorative Lighting

This is when a light fixture becomes a focal point in the room such as chandeliers, fireplace light, decorative lamps and candles, etc.

Having multiple types of lighting in a room adds interest but is not necessary.  Dimmer switches enable you to adjust your lighting and set the perfect mood for your room.

Going Green

With such an emphasis on 'green living' some options are; install skylights, use energy efficient bulbs such as fluoresent or LED lights. Turn lights off when you are not in the room, use lower wattage bulbs.