Let There Be Light

There’s nothing more beautiful than golden sunlight streaming in a window, warming your soul and your surroundings. At night, lighting is the ultimate mood enhancer, brightening things up or softening them to an intimate glow. Any hour of the day, the right lighting creates a happy home where people, pets and plants thrive.  
 

• Day Lighting. Throw open your curtains and invite light in with window treatments that bathe your rooms in sunny cheer. Arrange chairs so you can curl up and read by daylight, set benches and dog beds where pets can snooze in the sun and place planters where house plants can get the light they need to grow.
   
• Decorator’s Lighting. Exquisite light fixtures are one of life’s little luxuries, making a grand statement in a living or dining room and equally bedazzling in the boudoir. To set rooms — and hearts — asparkle, swag faux crystal beading from chandeliers or floor lamps, adding a dimmer switch to up the ambiance… or tone it down. Lackluster lights can be given glitz by decorating the shades with fabric, beads or braid.
   
• Functional Lighting. Recessed lighting is unobtrusive, tucked tidily away to shed clarity without clutter. A cost-conscious alternative is track lighting, a retro look from the 70’s, updated with trendy pendant lights with colored glass shades. A budget-friendly idea that’s also a mood maker is to string fairy lights along the tops of bookshelves and under cabinets to cast a magical glow.
   
• Mood Lighting. Candles are the most versatile of lighting, creating a mellow mood for alone time or a festive feel for a party. To lift spirits with scent as well as light, graciously group scented candles in rooms where people gather, selecting unscented candles where food will be served.