Common Lighting Mistakes Homeowners Make

Ace’s Design Experts Katie Reynolds, Julie Richard and Nathan Fischer provide expert tips and recommendations for lighting your home.

When a homeowner starts to decorate their house, there is often a mix of excitement but also nervousness. This can be because changing your home is often expensive and so we really hope that it comes out perfect the first time around. Often lighting can make a big difference to this. You may visit plenty of lighting showrooms during your journey to home decoration perfection and still feel like you come up short in the long run. This is where the advice from our experts may come in handy.

Katie Reynolds

• Many homes rely too much on overhead lighting and do not have enough “human-level” lighting, which includes table lamps, floor lamps and task lighting.
• Often homeowners use the wrong type of light bulbs. Overusing bulbs like fluorescent lighting, which can give off an unpleasant white color, will keep a home from feeling warm and inviting. So it would be advisable to leuchtstoffröhre durch led ersetzen.
• Many homeowners hang light fixtures at the wrong height – either too high or too low. Hanging light fixtures should be no less than 7′ above the ground when hanging in a hallway or traffic path. A good rule for island lights over a task area is 36-42″ above the work surface. And lastly a chandelier over a dining table should be 32-36″ above the table surface. When picking out a chandelier from companies like Kouboo or a similar store, you will need to make sure the length you need matches the distance between your dining table and the height of the ceiling before purchasing.
• Homeowners should avoid hanging mirrors in front of a directional light, a common feature over fireplace mantles. The light always reflects in an unpleasant way. Be sure to angle any directional lighting near mirrors downward.

Nathan Fischer

• When it comes to lighting, it is always better to have more than you need than not enough. Whether recessed ceiling lighting, lamps, or drum pendant lighting, the more the merrier.
• Add some lighting variety to your space and don’t rely only on ceiling lights. Mix in lamps, wall sconces, artwork accent lighting, etc. Try to get light fixtures in a room that project light down, up and sideways.
• Replace outdated fixtures. This is a relatively easy and inexpensive fix that can make a big impact in any room.
• If your dining room chandelier is not centered over the table this will probably the first thing visitors will notice. Relocating a chandelier can be fairly simple, and well worth the effort.

Julie Richard

• Homeowners often only rely on one light source to illuminate their homes. It’s important to layer light by using it in various forms – overhead, lamps, task lighting, etc.
• Having only a single level of light isn’t as functional or aesthetically pleasing as when it’s multi-dimensional. Add dimmers to your lamps, overhead and recessed light fixtures to create ambiance and atmosphere in the space.
• Be sure to consider task lighting in work areas. Often times these areas are under-lit. These lights shine directly on your work/reading surface and make accomplishing any task easier.

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