Use Lighting To Make Your Home More Welcoming
Posted on: 21 August 2015
If you would like to start inviting more family and friends to your house for events or gatherings, you may be looking at different ways to make your home more accommodating for guests. While adding something like an outdoor patio would certainly do the job, that's a pretty big project that you might not have the time or money for right now. One other way that you could change the look and feel of your home without getting involved in a major project would be to simply pay a little more attention to the home lighting fixtures that you use to illuminate your home. The right lighting can change the perception of a room and create the perfect kind of atmosphere for the occasion. Here are three ideas for changing the lighting in key areas of the house where guests may gather or mingle.
The Dining Room
More often than not, if you are inviting guests to your home, you may be offering them a meal or a drink. If you intend to use your dining room to entertain guests, you want the lighting to help you set the tone for the rest of the evening. Traditionally, you should make sure the dining room table is the most illuminated place in the entire room. One nice touch might be to add a chandelier above the table. You can still have lights elsewhere in the room, as long as it doesn't draw too much attention. For example, a couple of small lights that light up the inside of the china cabinet will create a friendly, warm glow.
The Living Room
There are multiple ways to light a living room, but start by taking a look at what you currently have. If your living room already has an overhead light installed, consider getting a dimmer so that you can adjust the lighting and perhaps call more attention to other parts of the room. Try to have at least 3 corners of the room lit with some other source of light, such as table lamps. This will allow guests to see each other clearly as they talk across the room. Try using a lamp to illuminate only a specific object, like a plant, to help give the room a more relaxing feel.
The Kitchen
It's not uncommon for guests to congregate in the kitchen early in the evening before dinner is served to grab a few snacks and drinks with each other, or in the case of relatives, perhaps even to help the host prepare the upcoming meal. When it comes to buying lighting for your kitchen, you want to focus on illumination that will help you get the job done. Overhead lights above the stove and other key areas are important. Consider adding some lights inside the cabinets to help everyone see things like pots and pans clearly. You likely will still have a central lighting source somewhere, but you can experiment with something like a table lamp or adding another dimmer.
If you want to change the look and feel of your home without too much work, investing in some new home lighting fixtures is a great way to do that. The right lighting can make your dining room, living room and even your kitchen more welcoming to guests while also serving needs like allowing you to see better while cooking.
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