Walk into a room bathed in cozy, inviting light and you’ll feel instantly at ease. Walk into the same room buzzing with harsh fluorescents, and your teeth may start to grind.
When designing a space, lighting needs to be addressed as soon as the space itself, and how it will be used, are defined.
For example, if it’s an office space you are designing, “office lighting should encourage alertness and productivity,” said Rebecca Hadley, manager of Eaton’s SOURCE lighting education center. It also helps to “incorporate controls that allow for changes throughout the day. Ideally, you’d have the ability to adjust the intensity of your lighting with a dimmer switch.”
When lighting for a home, the purpose of each room comes into play. The kitchen, a work space, demands brighter, high CRI (color accurate) light while the living room calls for more mellow, warmer lighting.
The entrance of your home should welcome guests, creating a smooth transition from the bright daylight to your home’s interior lighting. At night, the lighting should ease the visitor from the dark outdoors into a warm interior light that will not overload their senses and help them relax. Before bed, lighting should be lowered to promote “winding down” but remain bright enough so that you can navigate your home safely.
Natural lighting can have a similar impact when incorporated in a home’s lighting plan. Beyond energy savings, exposure to natural light improves mood and can help make falling asleep easier. Spending your day in areas that are enhanced by natural light can improve the function of your circadian rhythm, which can increase your happiness and energy levels. Exposing yourself to too much blue light from electronics in the evening is directly associated with the opposite effect.
]]>alking into a color center, you can easily get overwhelmed by the myriad choices available to you. Whether you are starting from scratch or trying to come up with a palette to match different material samples, learning how to communicate about color is essential to achieving the result you want.
For example, when someone mentions blue to three people, one might think of a sky blue, the next might think of navy, and another might think of cobalt. These are all various tints, shades, and tones of the same color family, but being able to describe the color more specifically can help you get the look you want.
Hue
When someone refers to hue they are identifying the general family of a color. A traditional color wheel is made up of twelve color families: red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, red-violet, violet, and blue-violet. If you can identify one of those families then you have a base color for all of the other identifiers. You can get more specific by referring to saturation, tint, shade, or tone.
Saturation
The technical term used to describe color intensity is saturation. More saturated colors are vivid and strong, while less saturated colors are washed-out or muted. For example, gray would be considered zero saturation. Lighting also has an effect on saturation. A painted wall can appear more saturated during the day and less saturated as the light fades. Different types of artificial lighting, such as halogen or tungsten light, can also affect saturation.
Value
Value is the term that describes the lightness or darkness of a color. While tint and shade refer to whether a color is lighter or darker, the base value is a spectrum that crosses an entire series of colors. For example, on a scale of blues, a pale baby blue will have a low value while a dark navy has a high value, with colors like aquamarine and cerulean in the center of the spectrum.
Tone
A tone is created when gray is added to a color. Tones are muted versions of colors. Many people will refer to grayer versions of colors as tints or shades, but it's correctly described as a tone.
Shade
A shade is what results when black is added to a color. For example, navy is a shade of blue. The word is often used to describe any variation of the color.
]]>Whether you love to cook or entertain or simply understand the importance of having a kitchen workspace that allows you to multi-task, designing an efficient workspace is a key ingredient to enjoying one of the busiest rooms in your home.
1. Food Preparation and Storage Work Center
Be sure to plan for lots of organized kitchen storage for canned and dry goods, mixing bowls, cookbooks, and small appliances. A pantry with rollout shelving makes reaching those rarely used cans of vegetables in the back of the cupboard a snap. Place your primary food storage area near the longest stretch of countertop for easy access to items while cooking. The best place to store food is in cabinets that line the outside walls — away from the heat source. If possible, try to avoid placing food next to cabinets that touch the stove, refrigerator and dishwasher.
2. Cooking Work Center
The main ingredients for the cooking center are the cooktop/range and the microwave oven. Be sure your cooking center has ample storage for pots and pans, utensils, spices and seasonings and additional food products that you frequently use. A cooktop is safest and most efficient when you have at least 18 inches of counter space on each side — don't skimp on the material you use for your countertop since you need it to be durable, heat-resistant and easy to clean. This enables you to have extra space for your handles and provides a quick landing space for hot pots. Don't forget to design a ventilation system around your cooking center.
Try Hardwoods
This seems like the obvious choice, but plenty of people are wary of investing in hardwood flooring for their kitchens considering the damage that can be done to them. When you choose hardwood for your kitchen, you want to try to find a species that has a higher Janka Rating, which measures its durability against wear and tear.
You can also protect your kitchen floor against water damage by making sure that it is properly sealed and finished. Prefinished flooring is especially hardy, but it can also have very small gaps between the planks compared to floors that are finished on site. Choose what you think is best for your situation, and remember that one of the great things about hardwood is that it can be refinished several times to renew its appearance.
Look at Laminates
Laminate flooring is a great solution for kitchens. With so many looks to consider, from different colors to floors with a natural wood grain detail, you will have a harder time deciding on which kind to install than you did when trying to figure out what should line your floor in the first place.
Laminate flooring is made to look like beautiful, natural hardwood, but the best thing about it is the no fuss, no muss upkeep. Resistant to scratches and stains, this might just be your perfect kitchen floor. Laminate also resists regular wear and fading, so it will look fantastic while providing the durable flooring you need.
Check out Bamboo
Bamboo flooring is very popular nowadays, and it is finding use in every room. The main reason for this skyrocketing popularity is its highly renewable nature, but it is also a great option where durability and value are concerned.
Bamboo labeled “strand” has been produced under intense heat and pressure to yield supremely hardy flooring, so it can stand up to what your kitchen has to throw at it. You can also choose handscraped and other distressed types to help disguise any damage that your floor eventually develops, but be assured that it will look amazingly aged rather than sadly worn. Bamboo is the best of both worlds—it has the natural beauty and durability of hardwood, but it is also highly renewable—so it will integrate seamlessly into your kitchen while giving you peace of mind.
Think you might have found the perfect flooring for your kitchen? Find a Lumber Liquidators location near you and see these gorgeous floors and many others in person.
]]>When it comes to lighting and deciding what to put in the space you want to consider two things. The first is that you should have a variety of light sources at several different levels in the space. The second is to be sure you have appropriate task lighting for whatever you need to do in that space. For example, in the dining room the table should be the brightest spot to draw people in. The living room should have a mixture of table lamps and ceiling fixtures that shine both upward and downward.
Even more important than the right light fixture is the kind of light bulbs you use. I remember when I first realized that not all lighting was created equal. Any light will provide illumination but the chemical makeup of your light bulbs may cast a subtle yellow or green hue across your rooms. The idea of looking yellow or green isn't appealing, and fortunately now there are light bulbs that help you combat the green and yellow glow.
You might not notice it at first but if you take an old film camera and shoot a roll of film under fluorescent light you will find that your photos have a slight yellow tint. Similarly, tungsten light gives your photos a greenish glow. While it's much more apparent on film, this tint is always there when using conventional artificial light sources.
Lighting is essential to living comfortably in your home. Not only is enough light important to being able to enjoy your space but crisp clean light lets you really enjoy all the beautiful products you put into your home.
]]>Less is More
No doubt that modern design is slowly creeping into everything we see and touch. Cars, appliances, computers; all are getting sleeker and more stylized, and so is today's home. The world of architecture and home interiors is starting to slant towards transitional and contemporary designs. Here are a few tips to give your home the open and airy vibe that contemporary style is known for.
At the top of the list of modern design is light. We don’t mean lamps or chandeliers—though they can make great accents, we mean daylight. Contemporary homes have airy rooms with lots of light. If this is the kind of feel you want, choosing an open floor plan will go a long way toward that goal. The lack of walls and obstructions means that there will be fewer light blocking barriers resulting in a well-lit space.
One key design element that should always be on your mind when you are creating a contemporary space is that less is more. Much of what you'll find today in furniture stores reflects this. Heavily ornamented design elements are being replaced by clean and simple lines that make contemporary homes feel lighter and more casual, while maintaining an elegant motif.
Bare floors are also a fixture here. To help create the lighter, airy appeal, select a simple flooring with a gorgeous finish. You can look to flooring materials like hardwoods, ceramic and porcelain tiles or even concrete. Keeping your flooring simple gives you opportunities to use area rugs to warm up a space and add a splash of color and texture.
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