apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Sorry, I don't have any lighting suggestions, but I adore those great slipcovers! Where did you find them?

I bought what I call a "light bulb on a rope" at Ikea a while back for about $10, and a shade for it for another $9. The cords are 15 feet long, and I just screwed a hook into the ceiling and hunt it where I needed it, then plugged it in near the floor. It's one of my favorite lamps.

Actually halogen gives off a light that's whiter than incandescent and preferred by many people because of that quality. What makes a light harsh is more the type of fixture.

For example a plain "bare bulb" without a shade is very harsh.

By halogen I assume you mean the cheap torchiere floor lamps.

Look for a floor lamp with a regular shade, or a torchiere with a frosted bowl for a better quality of light.

Nice track lighting is very expensive. It's cheaper to have fixtures installed in the ceiling than it is to buy a nice track system.

You might consider "wall lamps". Many are plug-in types that attach to the wall with two screws.

Lamps Plus has a lot of plug-in wall lamps. www.lampsplus.com

If you have money to burn, there are nice track lighting systems at Lighting Universe. www.lightinguniverse.com

A great place for shades is www.moonshineshades.com. They will make even a cheap Target or Ikea lamp look good.

It's important (I think) to have multiple sources in a room as well as different intensities.

The easiest way to achieve different intensities is to use dimmers on each light source. I'm a big fan of X10 style dimmers - but these days Insteon dimmers are better and more reliable because they form a peer-peer network and if a dimmer fails to respond the command is re-sent by other dimmers in the "network".

Sounds complicated but it's as easy as plugging them into the wall. You can buy a little controller that you set up over a USB plug to your PC to set up different lighting scenarios.

So dinner or movies or just ordinary "all on" scenarios are as easy as pushing one button on a remote control.

http://www.smarthome.com/_/Dimmers_Lighting_Appliance_Control/_/z/land.aspx

i've found that dimmers don't work with compact halogen light bulbs

We never use the overhead lighting that is in our living room - I hate overhead lights. I find that a few table and floor lamps provide plenty of light.

From the photo above it looks like you have an awful lot of seating in that one little room. Maybe you could switch out a chair for a side table or two and then add a couple of table lamps? That way your lighting is where you need it - lower down where you are actually sitting.

Wall sconces could be a good option too. There are so many different options out there.

Do you need ambient lighting or reading lights or both? I, too, hate overhead lighting so I opt for lamps. You do have a lot of furniture in the room. We can't see the entire room but I wonder if you could put the loveseat on an angle in the corner (bet. door and window) and put a lamp on a table behind the loveseat. Put a floor lamp next to one of the chairs and use candles, uplights and strings of twinkle lights for atmosphere.

I also love wall sconces but unless you have seating near a wall where the sconces would actually do some good they would only function as ambient lighting.

Seeing more of the room will help in giving better advice.

SittingInATree -

Dimmers work just fine with every type of halogens. I have every kind of halogen in my place and all on dimmers.

The key thing is that you need the right kind of dimmer.

There are two types, magnetic and electronic. They're not compatible.

Newer lighting systems tend to use electronic ballasts because they're cheaper, lighter, and are as much as 40% more energy efficient than magnetic transformer based low voltage systems.

Magnetic dimmers are cheaper and most compatible. They will work with almost any low voltage light that is transformer based.

Some low voltage lighting systems use "electronic ballasts" and those need "electronic dimmers".

http://www.lutron.com/lutron/glossary.asp


If in doubt you can even buy a little point & shoot tester that will tell you if your ballast is magnetic or electronic.

http://www.prolighting.com/seswd1dielvs.html