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4 Ways to Improve the Lighting in Your Home

If you follow design blogs then you’ve likely seen the advice to improve lighting about a million times. While it makes sense that better lighting in a home would result in better design, it’s not always clear what a designer means by that. Half Price Drapes has come up with four different, specific ways to improve your home’s lighting.

1. Replace your light bulbs with dimmable options

If there was just one piece advice we could give for lighting it would be to find ways to control the light in your home. When you have dimmable light bulbs, you have a lot more control over how bright or moody your home is. In the past, you had to have a special dimmer switch installed but today’s technology allows you to get dimmable lights simply by installing a dimmable bulb.

2. Hang your kitchen lighting fixtures between 32 and 36 inches from your counters

Kitchens can be tricky to light for a few reasons. First of all, you want to ensure that you have plenty of light to see what you’re doing when you prepare food. Yet that can often get in the way of subtle, cozy, mood lighting. You don’t want a room that feels like a medical lab due to the bright lights, but you don’t want to cut asparagus in the dark. Hanging your lights between 32 and 36 inches above your counters is the solution. This brings the light down low so you can see the surface and what you’re preparing, but it isn’t so bright that it will be uncomfortable.

3. Put light fixtures throughout a room

Once again, this involves having control over how much light you have in a room. If you have lights all over, then you can turn them on and off in conjunction with one another to control the amount of light. Generally speaking, your ceiling lights should be used to get around, your accent lights should be welcoming, and your task lighting should be bright enough to read by. Almost all rooms should have all three of these types of light.

4. Don’t ignore natural light

Many people get so stuck on the lights they buy that they forget the light they get for free. You’ve likely picked up by now that the key is to have control over the light and that’s true of window coverings too. We recommend sheer curtains that allow in plenty of light while also affording privacy, installed under a heavier type of curtain, such as linen, that allows you to darken the room if necessary.

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