LIGHTINGS

Quite a number of people don’t take into consideration the type of lighting that should be put into a space when building or designing their homes, be it the bedroom, kitchen, a living room (parlour), an office or even a gym. Lighting is a critical component if not the most essential in properties when planning your home from the building to the decoration stages. There are two major types of light

·        Natural lightings – this is the flow of direct sunlight into the space

·        Artificial lightings – this involves the use of electrical lights in the contemporary sense

Take for instance your kitchen, you want it to have a lot of lighting, mostly natural lighting so it is not affected by loss of power. This surplus lighting helps you to conserve your electricity bills. The more natural lighting you have, the better. Long glass panes can be hung from floor to ceiling on one wall to increase the amount of light entering the space. For folks who are conservative, the typical windows can be used as long as it opens outside not to a hallway. Use minimal and bright-colored curtain drapes where necessary. The window should be situated above the work space and near the cooking area to help with the ease at which work is carried out in the kitchen especially as the day progresses to evening

Natural lightings for rooms and offices are quite different because in these areas communication is constantly on going. You want to create a conducive atmosphere. A room with poor/dim lighting makes it difficult to see the facial expressions and body language of the person you are chatting with. Here is an idea when it comes to choosing the best position for your window; Do not locate a window behind you or your client/guest especially in an office, best to place it on the side

Because it is almost impossible to build houses without hallways, to get natural lights into the hallways may require the use of glass walls or fancy blocks. Although a lot of people may see fancy blocks as old-fashioned, I still prefer them because they have a few advantages. Firstly, it can be used in place of railings in a balcony and secondly, it lets in the air.

Now, moving on to electrical lighting in other words artificial lighting, these include fluorescent bulbs, chandeliers, table lamps, standing lamps e.t.c. table and standing lamps also serve as accessories and can be gotten at many interior design and furnishing stores. The fluorescent bulbs can be placed over head, embedded into the ceilings at strategic locations or placed at opposite angle from each other. You can actually have a chandelier in every major room in the house but it has to fit in with the remaining design theme of the space. When placing artificial lighting, have at the back of mind to avoid casting shadows. Chandeliers give an elegant effect to the room.

It is always better to have excess lighting than too little lighting because in the case of excess lighting, you can always put up a window blind. However, after much said lightings must be placed at strategic points where they give off the most luminescence and at the same time not too direct as to affect the eyes.