Interior lighting

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Living Room Lighting

* Establish an adequate general illumination level to reduce the accent light, brightness, contrast.

* Illuminate an entire wall with overhead fixtures to provide background for room furnishings.

* Feature window areas with the cosmic lighting.

* Indirect light like that under a pelmet or above a cabinet will supply soft uniform illumination.

* Use dimmers to program lighting moods.

* Play up with the architectural features like aala, niches, mantles etc.

* Highlight artwork and plants with individual lighting arrangements.

* Be sure that the floor, table and hanging fixtures have adequate shades to prevent glare.

* Plan adequate lighting to handle a variety of family activities like rack for display.

* Bar area could use incandescent light to play up sparkling glassware. Lighted shelves or fluorescent fixtures under the front edge of bar are effective.

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Dining Room Lighting

The decor of dining room depends upon the culture of the family. A dining room can change the style of eating. So one should be careful while playing with the lights to make the environment relax and easy.

* One must keep the visual emphasis off the ceiling and walls and on the décor of food and guests.
* Ceiling down lights should fall and focus primarily on dining room table surface.
* Candles and fuel lamps in decorative holders can add special touch to any meal.
* Buffet or service areas and chinaware/silverware/crockery displays deserve special lighting emphasis.
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Kitchen Lighting

Kitchen is a place where a lady spends her maximum time so it should have comfortable and fresh feeling. Today's kitchens are far removed from the dark dingy spaces one saw earlier.


* General lighting for a kitchen should be well distributed, uniform and as shadow less as possible.

* Fluorescent fixtures reduce the energy demands without sacrificing illumination.

* Even if there is window in the kitchen, install down lighting over a sink for cloudy days or nights.

* Special lighting for key work areas can be installed in the ceiling or in the upper cabinets.

* Provide light for storage areas in pantry or wall cabinets overhead or shelf mounted brackets will do the job.

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Bathroom Lighting

Planning and designing is a tedious job. Today's bathroom wears a well dressed look, its design recognizing people's needs to begin and end their day in pleasant surroundings. It is after all an intimate personal place- perhaps the only room in the house where one can be totally private and get much needed peace.

* For a relatively small room, the bath area can use a no. of different types of lighting.

* General lighting is essential in a compact bath, a central ceiling may suffice.

* Medium size and large size baths and especially those with sectioned areas for tub, shower and toilet will require several overhead fixtures.

* The lights are general, recessed into the ceilings or those over a tub or a shower must be watertight and vapour proof. A minimum of 100W incandescent or 60W fluorescent lamp is sufficient.

* The most critical lighting in a bath centers on the mirror area, this is the basic for good grooming. For shaving, make up applications hair care, light should be soft and diffused without glare or shadow.

* Avoid lighting the mirror itself rather light of the person looking into the mirror. The most efficient to light up a person's face is to use three fixtures, one on either side of the mirror or one overhead. Side fixtures should be mounted 30" - 36" apart on the wall and install about 60" above the floor.

* Incandescent fixtures should have a minimum of 75W bulb and fluorescent tubes on either side of 20W and one tube of 30W or two tubes of 15W overhead. Additional bath lighting for specific purposes may include plant lights to take the advantage of bath humidity for growing the flowers and ferns.

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Reading Room Lighting

The study is the most important room for the intellectuals, for students as this is the room where one builds his career. In the reading room, one should plan the lights very carefully as the intensity affects a lot on the eyes thus on the health.

* In a study, the priority is to provide adequate illumination for reading and writing. For maximum pleasure of reading and for easier concentration, reading lamps must have a proper quality and quantity of illumination and be placed so that the light falls comfortably on the open page.

* The complete room may be lit with powerful up lighters, down lighters, or the general lighting may be reduced to be supplemented with task lights as required. For the study it is necessary that task lights be supported with general illumination even if it is of low intensity to avoid eye strain.

* Care should be taken where computers are placed; the task light should not produce glare or reflections on the screen. Task lights for writing should be positioned so as to avoid both glare and shadow.

* If floor lamps are used as reading lights, then it should be 40"-49" from the floor to the bottom edge of the shade. The shade should be moderately illuminous to softly diffuse the light and eliminate glare, thus open top shades are preferred.
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Bedroom Lighting

The bedroom is a place where one can be totally oneself. It is the room where we spend the maximum amount of time - to sleep, relax and unwind, after a long tiring day and rejuvenate oneself for the tomorrow.

* The lighting should be a soothing general illumination. If want to highlight some paintings or photographs, one can go for a task lighting in this area.

* Up lighters look very beautiful, dimmers can be very useful to play with the intensity of the light as per mood.

* Lights should be planned in such a way that it must create a light, romantic, relaxing environment. Table lamps or hanging lamp shades provides the room a very aesthetic look.
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