Light up your life

Tips for living, dining and media rooms
- Light the media room with wall sconces or lamps on either side of the television to avoid glare on the screen.
- Floor or table lamps are a versatile option for reading lights.
- Use built-in halogen or fluorescent lighting in bookshelves and the entertainment unit to illuminate your favourite collectibles.
- A floor-mounted fixture projecting up through a plant creates a dramatic patterned effect on the wall and ceiling.
- Don't forget to budget for accent lighting to highlight your artwork, fireplace or other items worthy of a spotlight.
- One final bit of advice that's applicable to any room: When it comes to lighting, more is better. After all, you can always turn off lights that aren't needed.

Lamp lingo

Incandescent
These old standards are cheap but inefficient – 85 percent of the energy they consume radiates off the bulb as heat, not light.

Halogen
They are a more durable, energy-efficient improvement, and they're favoured by interior decorators for the bright and true light they generate. But be careful not to touch halogen bulbs when replacing them: the oils on your skin will ruin the bulb.

Fluorescent
They are now available in a variety of shapes and sizes in fashionable, home-friendly designs. Designed to fit into regular light sockets, compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) were first introduced in 1980. Today, they are being heavily promoted as versatile, energy-efficient alternatives to incandescent bulbs: a 15-watt CFL produces the same amount or more light than a 60-watt incandescent and will last 10 times as long (with a typical lifespan of 10,000 hours versus 1,000). They cost a lot more – $5 to $10 each for CFLs versus $1 or less for incandescents – but the upfront costs are offset by long-term energy savings. One caution for all types of fluorescents: they contain a trace amount of mercury. Care should be taken with their disposal.

LED
An acronym for “light-emitting diode,” LEDs were first developed in the 1960s. Their durability, long life (up to 20,000 hours) and low energy consumption make them ideal for everything from TV remotes to traffic lights. Today, you can find LEDs for lighting home interiors and exteriors.

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