5 Uses for LED Strip Lighting in the Home

LED strip lighting is a very versatile and creative way of adding light to your interior design. It has long been used by interior designers for businesses and hotels and now it's easily available for home use too.

The strip lighting comes in lengths or as a long roll, with the individual LEDs mounted on flexible tape. It can be cut at certain intervals, which makes it very easy to fit into smaller spaces. This flexibility allows for an infinite number of applications, limited only by your creativity.

There are at least three different options when it comes to purchasing this lighting: Single colour in either warm white or cool white; colour changing RGB (red, green and blue) or single colour in a variety of different colours. While the white light is most useful for general household lighting, the colour options can add drama to an interior and can create fun lighting solutions for homes and businesses.

1. Under counter and under cabinet lighting in kitchens Any dark shadowy areas on kitchen work surfaces can be banished with the use of strip lighting attached underneath cabinets. The advantage of LED strips over fluorescent tubes is that they can be cut to exactly the right length, giving even, bright light the whole length of the counter. And of course LEDs are far more economical to run, using far less electricity.

2. Bookshelves and display shelves LED strip lighting solves the problem of lighting bookshelves and other display shelves. Short strips of LEDs can be cut to size, discreetly lighting each section with a warm glow.

3. Nooks and niches Curved nooks and niches can often be problematic from a lighting point of view, but with the flexible strips of LED lights, it is now easy to light individual and curved niches. Because the strips have such a slim profile it is also easy to conceal them in the recess, with no ugly tubes or bulbs to detract from the smooth line of the interior.

4. Bar Lighting Bar areas can be transformed with subtle LED strip lighting. Get glitzy with colour changing strips or go for subtle light accents of your prized collection of vintage bottles.

5. Desks and hobby areas Even lighting is a great help for desk areas, or workshops. Easy to install LED strips can be used to create just the right light for fine and detailed work exactly where you want it.

LED strip lighting is easy to install and need a transformer to adjust the voltage to LED requirements. Ask advice from your LED supplier to make sure you get the right components for the application you have in mind.

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Recessed Lighting: Take Recess From Unsightly Light Fixtures With Stylish New Fittings for Your Home

Recessed lighting was first developed in the 1930s, but it's become very popular in recent years. It's easy to see why - recessed lights are sleek and stylish, they fit into any décor, and they never need to be dusted. If you're building a new home or addition, remodeling, or just looking for a change in your light fixtures, this is an option worth exploring.

Ceiling Fixtures

The average light fixture is attached to a ceiling (or sometimes a wall) and hangs down or protrudes. They're usually covered by decorative glass. Most people don't think too much about their lighting, but they have to dust it often, and there's always a chance of broken glass. And if the room is redecorated, the glass fixture may need to be replaced to fit in, adding to the cost of the décor. These problems are all eliminated with recessed lighting. A recessed light fixture is simple. The light bulb is enclosed in a canister-like housing and mounted inside the ceiling, flush with the outer surface. This gives the impression of a completely flat, clean ceiling, with light shining from a perfectly placed spot.

The exposed part of the housing can be trimmed in many different styles if desired. Recessed housings are made by a large number of manufacturers now, and a wide variety can be seen at a lighting or home improvement store. Recessed lighting is particularly popular for kitchens, because they require little or no cleaning and give a sleek, modern look to the room. Guests can focus their attention on the beautiful butcher-block island, rather than the dusty and greasy lighting. It's also popular for bathrooms. Special housings are available on the market to control brightness, diffusion, and directionality of the light, so it can be tailored to suit the specific needs of any space, from a reading nook to a poker table to a laundry room.

Under-Cabinet Lighting

A specific kind of recessed lighting is designed especially to be installed under cabinets or shelves. These are available as puck (spot) lights or as linear strips, and can easily be installed to light a work surface or display area. These are excellent for illuminating countertops in kitchens, work benches in garages, desks in offices, or any kind of display shelf or cabinet. They can even be installed inside a cabinet, making it easier to see the contents of your pantry or other storage area.

Many Different Varieties

Recessed lighting is available in incandescent, fluorescent, and LED varieties, which each have different characteristics. Incandescent lights are cheap, easy to find, and easy to maintain. However, they have short lives and use more energy than the others. Fluorescents have improved a lot in recent years - they provide excellent color and are highly efficient as well as having a very long life. Fluorescent fixtures are sometimes not easily concealed, though. Finally, LED lamps can last 10 years or more and are extremely energy-efficient. They are also the most expensive of the three varieties, and they generate heat which can limit their usefulness in recessed lighting.

There are four different categories of recessed light housings, according to UL requirements. There are two categories each for new construction and remodel styles, and each of them has an IC (insulation contact) and non-IC category. IC housings are to be used when there will be contact between the housing and any insulation, to prevent fire hazards. Non-IC housings must be at least 3 inches from insulation material. Usually, these categories will not impact your style choices at all, since only the trim of the housing is visible.

Recessed lighting is a great design choice for any room in your home, but like any remodeling task, great care should be used in installation. To prevent fire hazards and ensure that the wiring is safely done, a professional electrician or contractor should consult with you about placement of your new lights and do the installation. Your family will be able to enjoy the new lighting even more knowing that it's safe and secure.

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A Guide For Choosing Chandeliers For Your Dining Room

When it comes to choosing lighting for the various rooms of your home, many people can forget that these fixtures do more than just provide adequate illumination for the space - in many cases, they form attractive features of the room and, as such, need to be aesthetically pleasing themselves. If you are in the process of choosing a chandelier for use in your dining room, it is important that you take the right steps in ensuring that you make the right choice.

One of the most important aspects of choosing a chandelier for a dining room is its proportion. You need to ensure that the fixture does not dominate the table beneath it nor that it fades into the background and becomes insignificant. The general rule of thumb is that the span of the chandelier should be 12 inches shorter than the table's width for it to not look out of place. Your starting point, then, should be in measuring the width and length of the dining table (or the diameter for a round one).

Another important aspect of choosing a chandelier for a dining room is where the fixture hangs. It should be placed over the centre of the dining table, ensuring that there is a 30 to a 33 inch gap between the surface and the bottom of the fixture to ensure adequate head space. If your table is not placed in the middle of the room, you may find it easier to place a hook in the ceiling above the centre of the table and run the chandelier's chain and wiring along the ceiling to it.

The next aspect that it is important to take into consideration is the globes that you choose for your chandelier. To ensure that your dining room is not illuminated like a Christmas tree, you should decrease the wattage of the globes according to the number of globes that you require. For example, if your chandelier has three or four sockets, you should be using globes that are around 40 watts.

And, finally, how easy your chandelier is to clean should be the final aspect taken into account when choosing one for your dining room. Extravagant crystal fixtures can be quite problematic when it comes to cleaning so, unless you have a spare day every 6 months or so, this is not going to be a good choice for you. For those who are time poor, a chandelier that only needs a quick dust or wipe down with a damp cloth every now and then is going to be perfect.

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Pendant Lighting and The Different Types Available

Pendant lighting has become very popular recently. From kitchen islands, to restaurants bars and museums, pendants are seen everywhere these days, perhaps more than any other type of lighting. The simplicity of a single, downward facing light, hung from a single cord, chain or stem, is very visually appealing and attractive. Vivid multi-hued glass designs are often used, bringing a focal point of color to an otherwise uninspired room or space. And many styles are available, including mini pendants, bowl pendants, lantern pendants, drum pendants, and multi light pendants.

Mini pendants are usually less than 10 inches in width, with downward facing light. Very often these are designed with a modern look and style, using brightly colored glass shades. Mini pendants are perfect for use above kitchen counters, bars, dining tables, and other small seated areas. Often, multiple single mini pendants are hung in a series of 2-5 or more. This is a very common sight in modern restaurants and bars.

Bowl pendants are often hung as the focal point of a room, and can be used instead of a chandelier in kitchen and dining areas, entryways, etc. Bowl pendant lighting is usually softer than other pendant types, because the light is diffused through the much larger glass bowl. And because the bowl is open on the top of the fixture, it gives off up and down lighting. For this same reason, though, bowl pendants should always be hung higher than eye level to keep from looking directly into the open top. They are not recommended for area near staircases and balconies because of this.

Drum pendants are becoming a popular new style as well. They are used extensively in modern homes and contemporary business settings. Drum pendants are a short cylinder shaped "drum", usually covered in fabric or metal, closed on the bottom and top sides, and hung from a stem or cord.

Multi light pendants are usually simply a string of individual mini pendants, hung together from a single mount. They are especially ideal for use over coffee tables, pool tables, kitchen islands, and wetbars.

Finally, lantern pendants are commonly used in any foyer or entrance area. Consisting of glass panels set in a metal frame, these "lanterns" are usually chain hung and may match outdoor lanterns hung at the outside of the entrance.

Pendant lighting can update the look and feel of any space that is being modernized. With the many styles, types, and finishes currently available, you should easily be able to find the perfect match for your room!

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What Kind Of Chandelier Works For Your Home?

There are many types of lighting that go into making a house look more like a home. You can add outdoor lighting to spotlight a landscaping fixture or to cast light on the side of your home. You can add lighting under the cupboards in your kitchen that shine down onto your counter tops for a beautiful effect as well. One of the most popular ways, though, that people dress up their houses and help make them look more like homes is by adding chandeliers.

Chandeliers most often belong in only two places within a home. The first place a chandelier belongs is in the entry way or foyer. This is especially true if you have vaulted ceilings at your entry way. Then the second place to hang a chandelier is in the dining area above the dining table. Sometimes that means there will be a third location with a chandelier if you have both a formal and an informal dining area.

There are multiple types of chandeliers that you can choose from, and you just need to decide what style is best for you and your personal taste and situation.

We will start by discussing chandeliers with lights that point up towards the ceiling. These types of chandeliers belong in locations like entry ways and foyers. This is because entry ways and foyers call for soft, indirect light which can be achieved by hanging a chandelier with upward facing lights which bounce their light off the ceiling and wall.

Next are chandeliers with downward facing light. These types of fixtures work best in places that require more direct light, such as dining areas. Indirect light does not work as well for these types of areas because you need to be able to see the details of your food as you eat and engage in other social activities in the dining area.

There are also single and multi-tier chandeliers that you can choose from. More often than not you see multi-tier fixtures being used in entry ways and foyers, while single-tier chandeliers are usually being used in both formal and informal dining rooms. The reason for this is that usually entry way chandeliers are much further away from people as they enter and walk through your home, so the fixtures can be larger and can act as more of a decoration. Dining chandeliers, on the other hand, are very close to the occupants of your home, so you do not want something too large and ornamental hanging right next to their faces.

These rules are common guidelines, but are in no way necessary to follow. People interchange these guidelines often and end up with beautiful, stylish looking homes. So take this advice, but use your own judgement for what will look best in your home.

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The Basics of Art Deco Lamps

In the period between World War I and World War II the occurred a fantastic explosion in the creative arts. One of the most enduring styles of this era is the Art Deco Style. It was elegant and often futuristic but not nearly as kitschy as later modern styles. As such, it can often be blended quite seamlessly into decorating schemes where it ads a dash of modernity to any setting.

Art Deco Lamp Styles

Drawing from the Art Noveue, Futurist, Arts and Crafts, and many other elements, Art Deco exhibits a wide range of influences. Art Deco lamps are no exception. They come is a great variety of shapes. Two of the most common, however, are what I call the "raygun gothic" and the "elegant lady" motifs.

"Raygun gothic" is a contemporary term that denotes the futuristic stylings of the 30s and 40s. Think Buck Rogers space ships, streamlined locomotives, and curvaceous automobiles. These lamps are often made of chrome and have an almost science fiction look to them.

"Elegant Lady" is a term of my own making and it refers to the very common deco practice of making lamps in the shapes of dramatically and elegantly poised women. I would lump into this category lamps which have a similar style but feature graceful animals like cats or gazelles.

In both cases you'll find certain Art Deco conventions are commonly used. They are:

Modernist design Bold contrasting colors (chrome and black were particularly popular) Ethnic elements (especially egyptian and native american) Use of new (for the era) materials like aluminum and plastics.

Types

By the 1930 most of today's lamp forms were being used. You had table lamps, desk lamps, torchiere lamps, as well and many types of lights designed to be built into walls or other structures. Actually, many of these forms arose in the period as the use of electricity became the norm. If you traveled back to 1910 you'd probably find a great many such forms absent or rendered as oil lamps.

Important Warning About Wiring

If you are purchasing a vintage art deco lamp it is highly advisable you have it checked out before use. The wiring used in the 1930s and 40s was far less safe than it's modern counterpart. If your lamp has never been rewired it could present a real fire hazard. gest you have it replaced.

Modern Options

Fortunately Art Deco has never really gone out of style. It may not be at the forefront of fashion anymore but it remains an enduring favorite that can be integrated with a great many other styles. Because of this there are still a great many new lamps made in the style. Some are reproductions but many are totally new takes on the Art Deco style. Modern lamps will lack the historical cache and probably the resale value of antiques but they can prove less expensive and temperamental. I suggest you explore both options to see what will work for your home.

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