The Use of Light Defines Your Environment…and You
By Bill Primavera
The Home Guru
As published in The Examiner in Westchester and Putnam
The use of artificial light and the shadow it creates are design elements that help define the character of a home. It also helps define you. Are you cheery, forward thinking and optimistic? Your preferred light level is likely to be bright, colorful, and diffused, with minimal dark shadow. Are you somewhat reclusive, mysterious or seductive? The light would probably be low level with a preponderance of shadow.
My Aunt Pearl lived in a high-rise condo in Brooklyn Heights. Her universe was that building and her life mission was to know everyone in it and to judge whether she liked them or not. One family, a retired couple with two grown children, was definitely on her “d” list. Her reason was simply that at night, “they all huddle around one lamp for light,” and the rest of their living space was always dark. “What kind of people would live like that? Like moles?” she would ask.
I became fascinated with the possibilities of artificial lighting – both on the environment and on one’s psychology – when I was in college and took a theatre course where I had the opportunity to learn stage lighting. Also, in my film course, I learned about the demands of such stars as Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford who demanded their own lighting directors and camera men to help them look their best.
I chose to concentrate on the plasticity of light when I did my course paper, illustrating different lighting techniques with the help of a photographer and my girlfriend at the time who posed for me with just a thin lace veil, strategically arranged. Except for the photography, I don’t remember it as a particularly well-written paper, but my professor gave me an A, which made me wonder what exactly he was grading.
Actually, all of life’s perceptions have been defined by light and shadow, from the moment a baby opens its eyes to the time we close them for good. We have responded to light, from the discovery of fire to that of electricity, photography and the flickering light that escapes between split second interruptions of darkness to create motion pictures, to the backlighting of our TVs, iPods and cell phones.
There isn’t much in life we can control, but we can influence our environment with light where we spend most of our time, our homes. There, we can create mood, warmth and happiness, even eroticism, with light. The latter point was never more dramatically pointed out to me than when I was having a bachelor tenant’s apartment sprayed for ants. I notified the tenant in advance, and upon entering his apartment with the pest control fellow, found that all the light bulbs in his bedroom were red. I guess he didn’t spend any time reading in bed.
There are three categories of lighting planning: General or ambient lighting is a functional way to provide enough overall light for safety. Task lighting is exactly that: to provide lighting for such specific tasks as reading, sewing or playing games. And the function of accent lighting is to create visual interest, to spotlight paintings, house plants, sculpture and other prized possessions.
Modern lighting goes far beyond the standard incandescent bulb. Advances in design, techniques and products make it possible to create any effect imaginable. When it comes to selecting light fixtures, consider the output and how you will control it. Light distribution, light source, energy efficiency, color appearance and color rendering are all factors impacting fixture selection. And today lighting fixture designers and manufacturers have given us an endless array of possibilities.
As we approach our planning, even with the help of a lighting designer, it’s well to keep in mind the revolutionary effect that compact fluorescent lights (CFL) and light emitting diode (LED) bulbs have had. CFLs are simply miniature versions of full-sized fluorescents and screw into standard lamp sockets and give off light that looks like the common incandescent bulb.
A dimmer, my favorite device, can be installed as well as colored filters, pattern filters or diffusing lenses. The nearly limitless options to change the quality and mood of a room’s lighting can emanate from a ceiling fan, floor lamps, linear suspension, monorail and cable, pendants, table lamps or desk lamps.
But of course, the devil is in the details. To better know what to pick for which situation, call a lighting supply store and ask for a lighting designer. If they don’t have one on staff, they’ll be able to recommend one.
The most common technique of ambient lighting we now expect in new construction is recessed or high hat ceiling lighting. Tip: If you’re stalling high hats yourself, make sure you get the kind that are totally sealed or, if they’re installed into attic space, you may be inviting the cold air from the attic into your living room.
Lighting can visually change the size of a room, much as mirrors can do. One of the most stunning effects I’ve seen is recessed lighting in the floor of the four corners of a great room, lighting each corner from below and expanding the dimensions of the room, Also, I like floor lamps that cast their light directly to the ceiling and have it bounce back softly to illuminate the space below.
Or it can be a series of focused lights that provide an overall ambiance of light. I once showed a home that featured an entire wall of landscape oil paintings from ceiling to floor, and from corner to corner. Each painting was individually lighted with frame lights. The overall effect was stunning. It provided great depth to the wall and the light each painting threw off lent to the soft ambiance of the entire room.
The lighting feature I most appreciate is the dimmer. In our dining room, for instance, I like to start a dinner party with the bright ambient lighting of our crystal chandelier until guests are seated and dine through their entrées. When it comes to dessert and coffee, however, the chandelier dims and candles are lit to signal the laid back, retiring nature of the end of the evening. And as we all get a bit tired around the edges, we still look good under dimmer lighting.
Light influences the psychology of life and the psychology of life influences light. Don’t know what I mean? Consider a couple readying for an amorous night. One may choose to have all the lights off, the other all the lights on. See what I mean?
Bill Primavera is a Westchester, NY-based realtor ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and marketing practitioner ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) who can be reached for questions or comment directly at 914-522-2076.
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