Taking Advantage of Wall Lights

Wall lights can provide several things for your home lighting design. First, they will offer similar illumination to lamps without taking up valuable space. Ceiling lighting is the most common way to light a room, but this lighting has its limitations. Often, a single ceiling light has an all-or-nothing effect, where turning on the light can harshly illuminate some areas of the room to ensure easy visibility. It's also designed to imitate natural sunlight, but many homeowners don't want to feel like it's always the middle of the day. Wall lights will provide a more subtle way to light your rooms and can imitate dawn, dusk, moonlight, and many other illuminating moods.

Pairs and Placement
Wall lights are often installed in pairs—on either side of a fireplace, bed, couch, or mirror. The fixtures themselves have a pleasing, symmetrical appearance placed in this manner, but it also helps create a more uniform illumination. Well-placed wall lights can work so well you'll find you never use your ceiling light in a particular room.

Hallways and stairways are another great place for wall lights. The long narrow shape makes it difficult to create a comfortable illumination from a single ceiling light. The one thing you need to be careful about with hallway or stair lighting is the size of the light fixture. You don't want to impede traffic or, worse, periodically hit your head going up or down the stairs.

Outdoor Wall Lighting
Wall lighting isn't just for your home's interior. An outdoor wall light is often the lighting installation of choice for a home's front porch or exterior entryway. Often, the light is mounted right next to the entry door to allow for convenient access in unlocking your door. Outdoor wall lighting is also a great way to decorate and accessorize the exterior of your home. Outdoor wall lighting fixtures, just from placement, are a lot more visible than overhead porch lights. Consider a fixture that employs the Old World look of a lantern for a feeling of elegance.

Hire a Lighting Contractor
Talking to a contractor about your project will help you learn exactly what's available both in the light fixture market and for your home specifically. Lighting design is often an underappreciated element of home décor. The same furnishings can have a completely different feel depending on how they're illuminated. Perhaps you don't need to talk to a museum director or theatrical lighting designer, but talking to a professional about your home, your decorating preferences, and your budget will help you figure out the most from your wall lighting and your lighting design in general.