Decorating your house with light

In real estate, the professional know the importance of lighting. Our mood and quality of life is influenced by the quality oflight in our home.

It is not easy to create good lighting for our homes. Natural light is one element - the number, size, and location of windows, however, is neither easy nor cheap to change. In most cases we have to work with what we have, playing with variety of window coverings, and augmenting with light fixtures.

A plethora of light fixtures is available on the market, and they come in all possible shapes and sizes - not to mention prices! A visit to a lighting store can be overwhelming and confusing.

Before going shopping, though, we should first analyse the quality of light that would make each space in our homes enjoyable. It will depend on the use of each particular space, because different lighting is necessary to illuminate work areas, and different to create relaxing mood while resting.

In our homes, natural light coming from the windows changes quality and acquires texture with the changes in weather, time of day, and passing of seasons. There is hardly anything more relaxing to me than sunshine, filtered through green summer leaves. Perhaps the next in line would be soft, misty light on autumn morning.

Artificial light is usually treated as means to provide adequate illumination when natural light levels are low. But good lighting should not only enable us to see, but also provide pleasant and rich ambience.

This is particularly important in real estate. When your house is listed for sale, the interior lighting will affect the mood of prospective buyers, and may influence their decisions.

Real estate professionals regularly advise their clients to increase lighting levels before showing the house to prospective buyers. It is important to provide adequate lighting. It can visually change the room, and make it more attractive. It is best to provide several light sources, using standing lamps in addition to any available ceiling lights. Unless on a dimmer, some ceiling lights might be too harsh.

If in doubt, consult a lighting design book, or hire a designer. If you are preparing your home for sale, and planning to hire a staging professional, optimizing the lighting will be one of the aspects of staging, to give your home the most appealing ambiance.