If you are looking to redecorate or are in the mood for a new lamp or light fixture, you can just go out and buy a lamp with a light bulb in it. Or start using light as a decorative feature in your home, which can be a lot of fun. You can choose styles in home lighting that create a mood, cast shadows, give you crisp lines on a wall or highlight artwork or decorative pieces like furniture and plants.

Start thinking outside the box like a home decorator would and youll discover lighting products that will add comfort, safety and style to your home. The buzzword these days is flexibility (which means layers of light controlled by numerous switches and dimmers) with the objective to control or eliminate glare. Today lights are more energy efficient and adaptable to different uses in the home. Light bulbs like fluorescents and halogen bulbs com in 100s of colors and designs.

As far as lamps and fixtures go size does make a difference

Home lighting fixtures are becoming smaller all the time. The reason for this is unless you are showing off a particular style of lamp or light, it should appear to be invisible. There are certain styles that do this very well. Halogen pendants, wall sconces and low voltage track and rope lights are only some of the most popular. Good lighting for the outdoors has the same principals applied to them. They should highlight certain features of your property plus add security and warmth. It is particularly important to hide them as best you can.

Decorative lighting styles to think about

Task Lighting:

• These are generally used in places where some type of work is being done like reading, sewing and craft work. This is usually accomplished by adding a reading lamp or table lamp. They should be adjustable so that you can correct any glare from casting a shadow on your work.

Accent Lights:

• Are used to show off a certain feature wall art, plants or certain areas. They are used to set an atmosphere or create a mood and are sometimes referred to as directional lighting, wall sconces, spotlights, uplights or floor lights. You control the amount by beam spread, intensity and color or a combination of all three. This is wear dimmer switches really prove useful.

Ambient Lighting:

• Is what you need to watch tv with or get around a room without having to turn on the main light. It gives off a soft glow or illumination and is the best light source for cutting out shadows and making a room look inviting. Another benefit is that people always look there best in this type of atmosphere. You can get this effect by using lights in valances, coves and under shelving. You can use track or rope lighting to also create this effect.

Decorative Lamps:

• These are used when you are looking for a home accent and not overly concerned about adding more light, tiffany style lamps and chandeliers are great for this. What they do is draw attention to themselves by their look and feel. In most cases they will have a very decorative lamp shade of stained glass or unusual fabric.

In all the above cases you want to have balance. Remember balance is achieved by layering. A bright light will create shadows across the room so you need to add another table lamp or pole lamp that has a lower watt bulb in it to counter act the shadows. Living rooms require more than one lamp or fixture to soften different parts of the room. Where a laundry room only needs a good strong fluorescent ceiling light. If you are using a chandelier as your main lighting source for instance in a formal dining room you need to have a dimmer switch installed for it. Crystal chandeliers can be very bright and be hard on your eyes. Tone this down a bit and you create a warm and romantic place to have dinner. If you are using fluorescent bulbs you may not be able to use a dimmer switch. They are made to run full strength and not made to be turned on and off all the time.