Archive for the 'Home Lighting' Category

Jul 25 2010

How to Install an Outdoor Sconce

Published by L.A. Remodeler under Home Lighting

Before you buy an outdoor sconce you will want to figure out what type you want and where you want it installed. Most are located on the wall near your door knob. First thing you will need to do is shut off your electric, most houses have a breaker box that will let you shut off it off by simply hitting a switch that looks like a light switch. A light like this should rest tightly against the wall to prevent water from seeping through, this can be a little tricky if your house has shingles or vinyl siding and you may want to purchase a rigid foam mounting block.


If at all possible, look at the blueprints of your home to figure out where you can tap into the electric line or you could have a professional run a new line from your electric box. Next you will want to draw an outline for your new sconce to figure out where your screws will go in. You will be cutting through the insulation of your home as well as the siding so be very careful there are no wires or pipes behind it. After you have installed the mounting box for the outdoor sconce, you can then start to run the wires.


Connect the black and white wires from the wall fixture to the corresponding wires of the sconce making sure to connect the ground wire as well. Use the screws and anchor it to your house. Put caulking all around to keep the water out but leave a small opening at bottom just in case water would get through. Turn the power back on at your electric box and test to make sure it is working properly. Adding a outdoor sconce can make you feel safer by having the outside of your house lit up and will also help keep away burglars. Now your house is more elegant.

For more information about how to install an outdoor sconce or how to install an LED grow light

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Jun 23 2010

Home Lighting Tips For Home Improvement

Published by L.A. Remodeler under Home Lighting

Improving the overall look of the house is actually not a hard thing to do if you know how to experiment with your lighting by using various light fixtures in different rooms. There are actually several home lighting tips that will help you create a different ambiance in your house. This way, you wouldn’t necessarily need to spend a lot of money buying expensive furniture just so you can improve the interior of your home.


Below are some of the home lighting tips which will help turn your house from being “just normal” to extraordinary and really welcoming.




  • When you are starting to decorate and improve the lighting inside your kitchen, it is best to remember that the health needs of your family should be taken into consideration before anything else. Florescent strip lights are usually the fixtures that are placed inside the kitchen, and so you should start with removing them since they are not good for the health – they are usually causing nausea and headaches to many people. Instead it is best to use halogen spot lights and under counter lighting in order to have sufficient light directed to the place where it is needed the most. Good task lighting is very important in any cooking area.
  • The case is almost the same when decorating bedrooms. There should be plenty of lights located in dressing areas; however, bedside lamps should always be present in order to create a dramatic and more intimate ambience inside the rooms. This is also ideal for honeymoon and romantic settings, and will add to the intimacy shared by couples living inside the house. Task lighting here is also extremely important, particularly if the people in the bedroom like to read a book now and then before falling asleep.
  • For lounges, you can always create beautiful lighting effects using general central lighting added with wall lights and different table or desk lamps. The size of the lamps would depend mostly on the kind of illumination that you want to have in the room. For example if you want to have a brighter area, then it is suggested to buy the larger lamps to go with the room arrangement, of course, making sure that the room is not too small for placing a large light fixture in it.
  • If you want a rather ambient and cozy illumination with home lighting tips, you can have several smaller lights strategically placed in various parts of the room. A few table or desk lamps on various coffee tables or a few well places floor lamps that spread out the light from the corners of the room are a perfect example of achieving this.

Using decorative wall sconces in any room is a great way to enhance the ambient of any room.


Visit wall sconces lighting to learn more.

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Jun 15 2010

Bathroom Lighting – The Right Lighting is Everything

Published by L.A. Remodeler under Home Lighting

Bathroom lighting is a very important part of any home. Without the right lights, the room will not fulfill its purpose or give off the right mood to people. There are usually multiple types of lights used in a bathroom, and some types of lighting that should be avoided at all costs. For starters, whenever you are buying light fixtures for a bathroom, you need to make sure that you get fixtures that are rated for use in a bathroom. That might sound obvious to some, but too many people buy fixtures because of their style or color and don’t check to see how they will handle the moisture that is known to live in the bathroom.


Every time you take a shower or a bath, run hot water for shaving, or do anything else with water in the bathroom, you let moisture into the air. If you have light fixtures that are not specifically created for the bathroom, they could easily be affected by that moisture and cause a lot of problems. However, if you choose lights that are specifically for bathroom use, you will be able to light your bathroom properly and not have to worry about fire hazards or other electrical issues that could come up. Bathroom lighting is all about safety first, so remember that.


When you are shopping for bathroom lighting, you have four types of lighting to consider: ambient lighting, task lighting, decorative lighting, and accent lighting. Ambient lights are the ones that light up the entire room and provide general illumination. Task lighting is going to be the type of lights (such as the ones around your vanity) that are specifically used for a task, such as shaving or putting on makeup. Decorative lighting is just for decoration, or to create a specific effect. These include things like candles, fireplaces, and chandeliers. However, pendant lighting is not usually recommended in a bathroom, unless you find an approved fixture.


Accent lighting consists of small fixtures that add drama, depth, and visual appeal to the room. They accent whatever they are near, adding a touch of elegance to the bathroom regardless of where they are used. By taking the time to learn about bathroom lighting, it will be much easier to get the right fixtures for your needs. You should remember that the fixtures need to be bathroom-approved and that lights should fall within the natural daylight spectrum of light output in order to be the most effective.

Visit Bathroom Lighting Outlet to learn more about Lighting fixtures and contemporary vanity lighting.

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May 07 2010

Outdoor Post Lights – Making Your Outdoors Light and Bright

Published by L.A. Remodeler under Home Lighting

Interior decorating and lighting is very important, but what a lot of people may not think about is the importance of exterior decorating and lighting. The outside of the house is easy to overlook because you of course spend more time in your house than looking at its exterior. However, the outside of the house is what other people see the first and sometimes what they only get to see, so if you care about first impressions, then you should care about how the outside of your house looks and put effort into decorating it. There are also more safety hazards outside your house than inside, so the illumination of your house’s exterior is also very important to consider. You can fill both purposes at once by getting outdoor post lights.


If you have decided on getting outdoor pilaster lights, then you will need to choose an outdoor post on which to mount the outdoor post light. There are many different styles, lengths, and colors of the posts available to choose from. Once you have selected one that you like and that fits your house’s style, then you can choose the post light that matches the outdoor post that you have picked out. You can also do it vice versa and choose an outdoor post that matches the post mount lighting that you have already selected based on your taste. If you do not care if they match together, then you can always just choose each of them separately based on how they look while considering them as separate entities.


Because of the large variety of options that you have to choose from, buying and installing outdoor pilaster lights is a great project for those who take pleasure in decorating their house and do not look at it as a chore. Because outdoor post lighting is left on for long periods of time at night, you should invest in energy-efficient lighting. This type of lighting may cost more than normal lights, but it is a route to long-term energy-saving as well as cost-saving results, which should make that initial expense worth the purchase.


Once you have bought the outdoor post lights, you should figure out where in your yard to place them. A good area to put them next to is the entry to your driveway. It can show you where you’re driving at night and maybe even illuminate the house number on the mailbox if that’s where it’s located. Other places might be the garden, the patio, or wherever else you might need lighting.

Visit http://OutdoorLightingDiscounters.com to learn more about Outdoor Post Lights and Outdoor Lighting.

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Apr 14 2010

What You Should Know About Outdoor Patio Lighting

Published by L.A. Remodeler under Home Lighting

During the summer or spring, homeowners love to spend most of their spare time at their patio. This is because they often take this time to relax and admire the environment as a whole. For some, this is a great time for family bonding and recreation. But, without proper outdoor patio lighting, you may not be able to appreciate everything.


Patio lights need not be expensive. In fact, there are some houses where the homeowners use their creativity and maximize their budget to get that million dollar feel to their patio without actually costing a million. Now that is a feat that only a handful of people can achieve, but, you too can get close to that look if you work hard and try the proper combination of patio lights.


The first step when creating a theme for your patio would be to determine if the seasons often change. Summer and spring is usually the time where people decorate their patio. This is because people won’t sit and stay outside in the middle of winter. But, this doesn’t mean that you can’t put up patio lights that can stay up all year round.


A good type of light to install in your patio is the string lights. This type of illumination is easy to install. Plus, its power consumption is relatively low. One advantage that can be noted with string lights is that you can change it as the season changes. During Christmas season, you can put up festive colors while during summer you may also use it to create a cold and subtle ambiance. Typically, this kind of light is available for about $10 – $15 per sting and you can find it in most hardware stores and home shops.


If you can afford, you can also look for solar powered string lights. Although these may not glow as bright as the conventional bulbs, at least you don’t have to worry about another strain in your electric bill. Forget about the long wires that have to be plugged in to an external socket because these lights get their energy from the sun. This prevents accidents from tripping over especially if you have kids around the house.

Visit Driveway Lighting Tips, the author’s personal blog that talks about how to light up your driveway more effectively. Outdoor lighting is an element of your home that you should take time to consider. After all, adequate illumination means, you won’t be stumbling in the dark when you go out at night and would mean safety and security for you and your entire household.

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Aug 28 2009

Lighting Control Systems

Published by L.A. Remodeler under Home Lighting

Light has the ability to function both practically and aesthetically. Lighting control systems maximize both the decorative and functional lighting equipment and bring illumination under direct control of the homeowner. Lighting control systems by Vantage and Lutron also feature latent memory capacity, and can operate in unison with home-automated programs that control lighting with timers and sensors. Because ILD employs its home automation team to install lighting control systems and equipment, clients of our firm receive the additional benefit of integrated, multifunctional lighting and design solutions.

Lighting control systems help our clients with long-term, accumulated savings on power costs. Our many years of experience in home automation and control have shown us that clients consistently save approximately 10% per annum on their power bills. Vantage and Lutron lighting systems contain astronomical timers that control both indoor and outdoor lighting power and brightness levels. Lighting control systems can manage motorized window shades and draperies at either preset intervals, or we can program them to respond to user commands via touch pads and remotes. They can also operate on either light or heat sensors, thus intuitively responding to their environment. This sophisticated efficiency works like clockwork, and it preserves equipment life up to 40%. By reducing maintenance calls and costs for our clients, we can provide additional, long-terms savings on unnecessary replacements. Return on investment in lighting control systems is therefore reliable and measurable, and is one of the best financial investments ILD clients can make for themselves.

Living life with full control of one’s choices and maximized command of one’s environment is truly optimal living. Lighting control systems create one-touch command- control over the interior lighting, making it possible for homeowners to adjust lights in any portion of the house through the touch of a button. Lighting control systems can operate with equal efficiency from wall-mounted touch panels and from hand-held units. People getting up in the morning or going to bed at night can adjust lighting in the living room, den, or kitchen without having to leave their bedroom. Homeowners can also enjoy lighting control systems with pre-programmed lighting themes. Many of our systems feature multiple combinations of brightness, color, and shadow that make each individual room look like many different rooms when scenes change. Lighting control systems tie directly into home automation networks and provide excellent background lighting for home theater and stereo systems. Homeowners can either run automated sequences that correspond to musical themes, or they can dim the lights to create theater-like effects within the comforts of their own home. Perhaps most importantly, security lighting control systems work hand and glove with security alarms. In the event of a home invasion, the alarm can flood the property with light and turn the interior lights on and off as a beacon to the police and a panic indicator to intruders.

For twenty-seven years, Illuminations Lighting and Design has helped clients throughout Houston’s most exclusive neighborhoods optimize their lighting experience with the world’s best experience and Texas’s most expert electrical and lighting design specialists. With the right combination of vision, equipment, and creative touch, every corner of the house can be lit to just the right degree, and every major lifestyle choice can be supported and enhanced with lighting themes. Call now at 713-863-1133 for a free consultation that will show you exactly how we can light your personal world today.

By: Tom Kretzschmar of http://www.illuminationslighting.com who specializes in residential and commercial indoor lighting and outdoor lighting as well as home automation, home theaters and lighting control systems.

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Aug 27 2009

When To Use Neon, Fluorescent and Low Voltage Lighting

Published by L.A. Remodeler under Home Lighting

To fully understand how to make the most of your home lighting, using the correct indoor light fixtures for the different types of light requirements, (i.e. task lighting, accent and general lighting), it helps to understand the basic types of light being given out by each.

Task lighting is that lighting which allows you to carry out your “tasks” around the house – for example, reading, knitting and playing the piano. All of these tasks require you to concentrate on the work at hand and in order to do this work you need good light. Task lighting is more often than not provided by fluorescent overhead lights and can be supplemented by other lamps, commonly adjustable table lamps which the worker can adjust to a more suitable angle. Adjustable lamps can be desk lamps, as well as floor lamps, or other portable lights that can be clipped onto shelves or other surfaces.

Accent Lighting is lighting that is used to focus on an art object such as a painting or a sculpture, or any other object that you want to highlight. Perhaps even to highlight a coffee table or a certain corner of a room. Picture lights for example, can be used to highlight a painting. A hanging pendant or a table lamp can be used to highlight a small table. Sometimes it can prove difficult to obtain the exact effect you are after because lamps have different sizes of beams and trying to make the beam fit the
object is not always easy. Low voltage lights or spotlights are other good ways of using lighting to highlight objects.

As well as having lighting pertinent to a particular use or task, the other side of the coin is to look at the types of light being emitted by different light fixtures and to see where this light might be better used. We briefly examine neon, fluorescent and low voltage lighting although there are obviously many other types of lighting available.

Whilst we are more accustomed to seeing neon signs and lighting in malls and streets, neon lighting is becoming more popular for special effects lighting at home. The ability to bend the neon lighting tube into different shapes at will is the principle reason why this type of lighting was so prevalent in the signs and streets for many years. The downside to using this type of lighting fixture is that it uses a high voltage and is quite vulnerable to breakage – hence for this reason it is not recommended to have neon lighting in children’s bedrooms. Whilst neon lighting can be very efficient and cheap to run once
it is installed, the initial cost of buying this type of lighting is relatively expensive.

Fluorescent lighting is a cheap and efficient lighting form. This is because fluorescent light uses about five times less electricity than its incandescent counterparts but still gives the same amount of light. Also, this type of lighting is longer lasting and doesn’t radiate as much heat from the tube.
Fluorescent lighting is a popular choice for task lighting. Low voltage lighting is another popular lighting choice as these lights do not give off a lot of glare and can still be used to provide sufficient light for your surroundings. Also, this type of lighting is cheap and efficient and the low voltage bulbs last a
lot longer than the conventional GLS bulbs. An added bonus is that that low voltage bulbs tend to be quite small, which means they can be tucked away inside small light fittings designed for a variety of purposes.

Being aware of what types of home lighting you need and also knowing about the light that is emitted from light fittings can help you to plan your indoor lighting more effectively.

Lauren Tyler is a writer for LampLightWorld.com

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Aug 26 2009

The Various Utilities of Outdoor Lighting

Published by L.A. Remodeler under Home Lighting

Outdoor Lighting Provides Security

Statistics report that outdoor lighting is a very effective way to prevent the thieves and burglar away from your home or your business. These statistics report that outdoor lighting will make any criminal very insecure and will deter intruder from entering your property or your home. The last thing these criminals want is for us to recognise them, so by having proper lighting outside of your property is a good way to encourage them to seek another target for their devious deeds. On top of that the lighting required to keep those thieves away does not have to cost a lot of money, in fact with today’s technology you can get access to devices that will save you money and energy.

There is some energy saving device that can be used with your outdoor lighting setup. Some device will turn on and off the outdoor lighting using motion detectors. This means every time there is motion within the range of the sensors the lights will come on. This device alone is very effective to frighten criminals who would try to make their way onto your property. On the other hand there is some energy saving devices that will keep the lights on for a very long time while saving energy. These devices are very effective to save you money and keeping your property and family safe.

Outdoor Lighting creates a Wonderful Atmosphere

On one hand outdoor lighting is great for security and on the other hand it can also add a great atmosphere for you personal or family activities. There is a wide range of beautiful outdoor lighting fixture available for the various areas of your property. Let’s take you swimming pool for example, it’s probably beautiful in the daytime, but outdoor lighting will make it a great place for entertaining and exercise after the suns goes down. On top of that it will make you landscape looks amazing.

Another good point about outdoor lighting is that it provides access to all area of your property at night whether it’s for entertaining friends or just for you. Who doesn’t like to make a good barbecue with friends during a warm summer evening? Having fine fixtures with proper lighting can create a very relaxing ambience for a dinner under the stars. If this is the type of ambience you are looking for there are a wide variety of fixtures for you to choose from. There are fixtures for every budget so you don’t have to ruin yourself in order to get the ambience you want. From ground level fixtures to elevated ones there is a wide choice of fixtures type. Yes outdoor lighting is a very wise investment for any owners of any property.

This article was written by Frederic Madore Owner and founder of the Outdoor lighting tips website.

For more information about outdoor lighting, visit my website at http://www.outdoor-lighting-tips.com We offer information about the various utilities of outdoor lighting.

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