How Lighting Affects Your Home

When decorating a home, most people focus on the right furniture, art, accessories, and other decor. Lighting, however, can also have a big impact on the look of your home. Outdated light fixtures or ones that are not the proper size for the space can negatively affect the appearance of your interior design, even if your chosen furnishings and decor fit your vision perfectly. Some lighting changes are easy to implement. You can change the color temperature to warmer or cooler by changing the bulbs, and you can set mood lighting by installing a dimmer, but if you want to increase light in a certain area without adding lamps, installing a new light is your best choice.

Types of Lighting

A typical home has many variations of interior lighting, all of which serve different purposes. Some lights define a room type, and others are part of a large fixture that serves a functional purpose. Other types of lights are designed to add to the aesthetics of your space. If you are building a new home or adding lighting to an existing space, your home solutions company can walk you through the pros and cons of each type.

Upgraded Lighting

Changing up the lighting in your home can help you transform your space into a completely different look. If the design in your home has a consistent style, it makes sense to update your lighting to keep the aesthetic consistent. New lighting choices could include a different shape, material, or color. A certified professional can upgrade your lighting by installing a replacement wherever you currently have a light wired and ensuring the connections are transferred correctly.

Decorative Lighting

A popular lighting choice for modern homes is adding decorative LED lighting to areas of your home you want to highlight. This includes media and entertainment areas, office and dining shelving, vanities, stairways, closets, dressing rooms, and decks. LED lights are perfect for this purpose because they can be installed to highlight without overwhelming the space and stay cool even with constant use. Although some choose to add LED lights by purchasing those that run on batteries or plug into an outlet, hardwiring decorative lighting into your home can be a clean and streamlined way to highlight areas.

Ceiling Fans

In warm weather areas, ceiling fans are a home staple. Many homes are built with ceiling fans in main areas but traditional fixtures in bedrooms. Adding the support structure for a ceiling fan or installing one where a previous fixture was removed can be tricky. A professional installer can install your ceiling fan and, if you prefer, add separate switches to control the fan and the light. The technician can also determine whether your ceiling needs added support to handle the weight of the fan.

Recessed Lighting

The best way to add subtle lighting to a room without installing a fixture is to create recessed lighting. Recessed lighting provides light to an area, but you can’t see the light directly because it is built inside the wall. Adding recessed lighting adds a level of installation difficulty because it requires more specialized knowledge about home light fixtures. If you are looking to add modern and upscale lighting, recessed lighting is a great way to accomplish it.

Dimmer-Enabled Lighting

Those who are happy with the current fixtures and color temperature but want to soften the light when desired can consider replacing a regular switch with a dimmer. Some lights are not compatible with a dimmer, but your home solutions specialist can let you know if yours has the ability.

New or Replacement Lighting Installation

When you call a technician to your home to handle lighting installation, you typically need to solve one of a few problems. Either you want to replace an existing fixture with a different version of the same type of lighting, change to a different fixture type, or need new lighting installed from scratch. Although no two projects are exactly alike, light fixture installation follows the same general process.

• The technician shuts the power off at the breaker. Turning off the switch does not cut power sufficiently and can lead to injury when working with electrical wiring.
• The old fixture is carefully removed to expose the wires. If the new fixture is smaller than the old one, some repair work to the ceiling, such as patching and painting, may be required. Any additional reinforcement, or plate replacement, may also occur.
• The wires are identified. Typically, a black or red is current, the white is neutral, and the green or copper wire is a ground wire. When replacing one ceiling fan for another, more wires may be present since ceiling fans can be wired into separate fan and light switches.
• The technician strips part of each wire to attach it to the coordinating fixture wires and then secures the connection with a wire nut.
• The fixture is attached to the ceiling either directly to the box or to the fixture plate, whichever is required for a secure installation. According to the directions, the technician completes the fixture assembly, adds compatible bulbs, and turns the power back on at the breaker to test the installation.

New fixture installation follows many of the same steps as replacement lighting but doesn’t start with an old light removal. Instead, after the location is carefully mapped out, measured, and marked, the technician creates a new hole in the ceiling and adds a junction box. Wiring is run from the switch to the junction box to connect to the new light. In some cases, such as with recessed lighting, other items are needed to complete the install.

Trust JSB Home Solutions For Lighting and Fixture Installation

Adding new lighting to your home or replacing existing outdated fixtures is best left up to an experienced professional you can trust to keep safety in mind. The team at JSB Home Solutions has provided expert, high-quality remodeling services to Central Ohio residents since 1978 and still proudly helps homeowners realize their home remodeling visions today. We serve the areas of Winchester, Groveport, Columbus, Blacklick Estates, Lithopolis, and Pickerington OH. Using a specially designed SMART process, the JSB team saves you money and time with every project. For more about lighting and fixture installation or any other remodeling services, contact JSB Home Solutions or call us at 614-245-2972

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