9 Tips on how to set up lighting on your new home

The right lighting draws attention to a room and creates a cozy mood. Here are nine simple tips for installing lighting correctly. You can plan out your light and you shouldn't leave anything to chance, because shadows, the amount of illumination, and the type of lamp all have an enormous impact on a room's ambiance

1. Lots of Power Outlets

Lighting needs a power source: For new builds, you should preferably plan for a few more power sockets to be installed. Ideally, take advantage of renovation work and branch a few new wires out through the plaster walls.

2. Different Lamps

Sometimes you need more light in a room, sometimes less, depending what you're doing at that moment. The best approach is placing a mix of lamps of different strengths and colors in different parts of a room.

3. Choosing the Right Energy Saving Lamps

When dealing with conventional light bulbs, it's clear whether you'll need a 40, 60, or 100 Watt bulb. Energy-saving bulbs, on the other hand, come with completely different values on the packaging: 11 Watt bulbs replace the old 60 Watt bulbs and 20 Watt bulbs replace the more familiar 100 Watt bulbs. Pick a warm white bulb to create the right mood.

4. Create Pools of Light

A bright room with no shadow comes across as monotone and uncomfortable often, this creates the effect of being a waiting room. Instead, create pools of light, as well as more weakly lit areas, in order to create a more varied, contrasting effect.

5. Install Accent Lighting

Light must be used to good effect: to highlight the details you are especially proud of when the room is viewed. Be bold with your staging in any case, you can just turn the accent lighting off again if need be.

6. Shaded/shielded Lamps

There's nothing more annoying than a full-on view of table lighting or a light spot that's continually winking at you out of the corner of your eye. So, when you're shopping for lighting, make sure that your lights are shaded or shielded. If in doubt, test out your home before you buy anything. This is all the more true for the coil-shaped energy saving bulbs - these bulbs too belong under a shade, because they're only able to throw out their full luminosity, as most energy saving bulbs are not yet compatible with dimmers.

7. Halogen Bulbs for Punctiform Lighting

Those who install brightly burning punctiform halogen lighting won't find themselves wanting. Lighting in this configuration is unaffected when a bulb blows. In places where the light stays on for longer in hallways, kitchens, at your desk, or another similar place, it's sensible to buy energy saving bulbs. They also come with screw threads and as a candle type bulb.

8. Connections for External Lights

Would you love to spend more time on your balcony in the blue hours before twilight if you had enough light to read? Would you like mood lighting on the terrace or on the lawn or decking? Consider using connections and dimmers!

9. Motion-triggered Lighting in Hallways

Have you ever wanted to find the switch for the hallway light at night? Ever stumbled your way into the basement in the dark? Motion sensors for hall lighting and other lighting prevent accidents occurring.

What Does a Lighting Planner Bring to the Table?

Simon Konietzny advises private customers in his Sauerland design office and recommends the following: A house is planned out by an expert, so that nothing is left to chance. So it should also be with the house's lighting. Every room teems with different zones of light, but where they should be and the effect they create is all part of the expert knowledge of the planner, who is also the best advisor when it comes to planning a room's cabling and to modern electrical installation. The market is completely incomprehensible for laypeople planners have a comprehensive overview, from decorative table lighting, right through to the hidden technology used for lighting. Planning services for a 1300 sq ft family home will cost approx. 2000 USD. For that, you will receive the lighting concept for all rooms and a catalog of requirements for the electricians. Examples of further construction management or special plans would include computer networking of the home lighting system or garden lighting.