Designing with Light

A Planning Primer

THE PLEASURES of good lighting have an elusive quality. When you walk into a room with a successful lighting design, you don't remark "What fantastic lighting!" But your eyes sense that everything is comfortably visible, and you feel somehow both stimulated and at ease. In fact, our eyes don't observe the light itself, but rather the things on which it shines; a great lighting scheme serves as a silent partner in enhancing the surroundings. THIS SECTION GIVES YOU a good start toward bringing this partner into your home. In these sections we identify the properties of effective lighting and explain them in clear terms to help you achieve the best lighting design for your own situation. FOR INSPIRATION AND IDEAS to use both indoors and out, browse through "Great Lighting Ideas". And for guidance in choosing bulbs, fixtures, and innovative controls, see "A Shopper's Guide".

YOU'VE LEARNED THE BASICS-now it's time to get creative. In this section we take you on a photo tour of great home lighting ideas, traveling room by room. Along the way you're sure to find styles as well as strategies that will work for you. WE BEGIN AT THE FRONT DOOR, wind our way through the living room, kitchen, and dining area, and then move on down the hall to the bedroom, bath and home office. Finally, it's off to the great outdoors, where we show how good lighting blends sparkle with both safety and security. BROWSE AT YOUR LEISURE, perhaps marking your favorite pictures to show to a lighting designer or supplier. If you run across unfamiliar terms, you should be able to find explanations of them in the previouse section, "A Planning Primer", See some fixtures or controls you'd like to learn more about? Click "A Shopper's Guide".

YOU'VE SEEN what great lighting can do. Now it's time to take a closer look at the hardware that makes it happen. Some devices stay quietly in the background, while some just beg to be noticed. Bulbs come first, then the fixtures that house them and shape the light. Controls-a catchall phrase for a slew of switches, dimmers, and timers-are also a big part of today's flexible schemes. AND LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY doesn't stop indoors. For garden, patios, and pools, choose from puchy 120-volt or sparkling low-voltage effects.