Lighting has a huge effect on ambiance. In fact, it has the greatest effect on atmosphere. If the lighting is not right nothing else you do will save your design, so when it comes to redecorating your bedroom, you should spend some time thinking carefully about what you want to accomplish. Do you want a sexy boudoir or do you want a functional home office/bedroom?

It matters a lot whether you are married or single. Many married people do not require a sexy bedroom, especially if they have children, whereas single people, particularly women, would rather a sexy boudoir. Single men are inclined to go for a functional bedroom with a computer station in the corner.

There are three ways you can go about designing your bedroom: You could use pen and paper; you could use software or you could plan it in your head. Whichever way you decide to go, you will need to think about style and lighting. Let’s say that you will be using pen and paper to sketch out your design, because that is what most people would do.

Graph paper is the easiest to use exactly. Pick the largest scale that will allow your longest wall to fit on the page. So, if your sheet of paper is 12×7 inches and your room is 5×3 yards, then your scale would be 2 inches to 1 yard or 2:36, which is 1:18. Draw in the walls of your bedroom.

Next draw in immovable objects like windows and doors and then electrical points and light fittings. The rest is yours to do with what you like. At this point, you may want to make a dozen photocopies of your sheet of graph paper, so that you can outline different ideas.

Draw in where you want large furniture to go – things like the bed, wardrobes and the dressing table. Now mark in where you want extra electrical sockets to go. Next job is to clean everything from the room, lift the carpets and strip the wallpaper. Now what colours do you fancy?

Red or pink is sexy, blue or green is more neutral. Black is weird. Dark grey would be depressing, but a very light grey might be all right. Go down to the paint shop and try to get some sampler tins so that you can paint small patches on the walls. Or borrow a wallpaper catalogue to take home.

Install the extra sockets before you begin decorating. The woodwork is usually painted white or off white; cream or rose white are nice warm colours; apple white is a little cooler. After painting and decorating move your carpets and furniture back in along with any new furniture you have bought.

Install your new lighting. Table lamps, wall sconces and floor lamps can be a lot more effective than ceiling lights. They also permit you to highlight particular areas of your new bedroom. Table lamps permit one person to sleep while the other reads. A desk light will permit one to work and the other to sleep and a floor lamp will provide general lighting so that you do not trip over if you need to get up.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on several subjects, but is at present concerned with researching wrought iron floor lamps. If you would like to know more or check out great offers, please go to our website at Wrought Iron Light

Businesses of all kinds have come to understand that contemporary fine art makes great, yet affordable decor and the lighting necessary to illuminate them is useful for lighting corridors too. Hospitals, hotels, airports, restaurants and bars are jumping on the band wagon as well.

There are all kinds of paintings and objets d’art, so many in fact that you will always be able to find something to fit in with whichever style of decor that you have. You can use contemporary fine art to give barren walls an interest and to keep people interested while they are waiting for something to happen.

For example, contemporary fine art displayed in a restaurant will prevent diners from becoming bored while they are waiting for their meal. Contemporary fine art in a bar will give solitary travellers something to do while they are passing an hour or two in your business. Similarly for hospital patients, looking at contemporary fine art might help relieve nervousness and stress.

Hotels and Guest Houses.

When people come to check in, you want to offer a warm, yet stylish appearance to them. Many hotel guests travel alone and spend time sitting in the lobby to pass their evenings or weekends. An interesting display of contemporary fine art will keep them amused for hours.

Put your paintings or and objets d’art at recurrent intervals around the walls, but do not crowd a wall. You should choose a warm, yet neutral colour for the wall’s emulsion. Lighting is also very important. Up lighting, down lighting or back lighting are common ways of illuminating pieces of art work, but you can also use spotlights to highlight something out of the ordinary.

The lobby can also contain a few plants and a coffee table or two with an interesting wrought iron lamp on each. A matching lamp shade helps to create a warm, co-ordinated effect.

You should also put some contemporary fine art in the guest rooms, because, once again, many travellers are alone and have to spend hours sitting in their rooms alone. If you are stuck for a theme, consider your location. Is it near the sea or is the town famous for something? Does it have a well-known historical connection? Once you have your theme, you will surely find pieces of contemporary fine art to decorate it with.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of the average person who comes to stay or eat at your establishment. Is he there for business or pleasure? If it’s pleasure do families come or is it mostly singles? Whatever the type of hotel, guest house, restaurant or pub, you will find a theme and the rest will follow because there is so much choice of contemporary fine art.

Uniformity is a good thing when you are decorating a hotel or guest house. Try to keep everything ‘on topic’. The colours, the furnishings, the plants, the contemporary fine art – the lighting should be subtle and the whole decor must be in the same theme, if it is to be wildly successful.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several topics, but is at present involved with researching wrought iron floor lamps. If you would like to know more or check out great offers, please go to our website at Wrought Iron Light

How do you feel in the winter when light levels are lower? Do you get fed-up, weary or even depressed? This phenomenon is quite widely documented and has the acronym of SADS. SADS is or can be quite serious, but there are almost certainly many many more people who just feel a ‘bit down’ when the sunlight dims. Artificial bright light was invented to help these people.

If, after you have been in the office or wherever you work inside for a few hours, you become tired or listless, it is possible that you are suffering from reduced light levels, so some people say. Whether you accept as true that bright light can help sluggishness or not, SADS is a fact and so it is feasible that increased bright light levels might help.

The artificial bright light box produces very bright light, typically between 5,000 and 10,000 lux according to their advertisements. These figures will not mean much to most people, so I have put together a short list of comparison lux levels below.

1 lux = Full moon overhead in the tropics 50 lux = Family living room 100 lux = Very dark overcast day 320-500 lux = Office lighting 400 lux = Sunrise or sunset on a clear day. 1,000 lux = Overcast day 10,000-25,000 lux = Full daylight (not direct sun) 32,000-130,000 lux = Direct sunlight

It is definitely true that most people feel happier when the sun is shining and not many people prefer winter over summer, but whether you can get sunlight out of a box or not is another question. These bright light boxes cost about $200 and up, but then you have to factor in the running costs. The electricity bill for running a mini sun must be quite horrific.

If your place of work is a bit dark, it would be a good idea to increase the light levels. Sometimes it can be quite simple to raise the levels of natural light simply by removing any superfluous net curtains and by fitting longer curtain rods so that the curtains can be drawn right back out of the way of the window allowing the maximum of light to enter your room.

If this is still not enough, you could fit some wall sconces around areas where you work the most. Wall lights can supply light just where you want it and normally use quite small, low-powered bulbs. A more direct way to light up your work is by the use of a desk lamp.

If it is a question of needing more light to read by, you could invest in a standard floor lamp. Standard floor lamps are typically about five feet high with a shade. The shade is useful, because it directs light up onto the ceiling, if the shade is open topped, and down onto your book or shoulders. There are other types of standard floor lamp which have a glass or clear cover over the bulb. These will cast more light around the room and will boost overall visibility.

Not being able to see properly can easily cause a headache and frequent headaches can be depressing, but before I rush out to buy a ‘bright light box’, I will take the actions outlined above and have my eyesight tested by an optician.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on several subjects, but is at present concerned with researching wrought iron floor lamps. If you would like to know more or check out great offers, please go to our website at Wrought Iron Light