Page 10 rN. i'lcMr aNh Ca.nr N 1. l"=f=, ra- September 26, 2012
Light up your home life with quality design
Good lighting is not something
most people think much about until
they don't have it.
Living in a well-lit room is a
much more pleasurable experience
than trying to cook, read, entertain
or do just about anything in a dark,
shadowy space.
The American Lighting Asso-
ciation offers these tips for improv-
ing the lighting in your kitchen,
bathroom and bedroom:
• Add to your task light-
ing. Many bathrooms and kitchens
have plenty of overhead light, but
are often lacking when it comes
to task lighting, says David Mar-
tin, designer with lighting manu-
facturer Hubbardton Forge. At the
kitchen sink, for example, you can
eliminate shadows by including
two sources of light." The result
is a workstation with easier-to-see
spaces that alleviate eyestrain.
• Include mood-enhancing
lights and dimmers.
"Places such as bathrooms
and bedrooms - once mostly func-
tional - now serve as an extension
of our living spaces," says Todd
Phillips, owner and senior designer
with Quoizel Lighting. The lights
in those rooms should be both
hardworking and mood enhancing.
For example, inexpensive, easy-
to-install cove lights in the kitchen
can provide soft illumination after
mealtime and cleanup.
Additional lights placed at a
bathroom vanity and aimed out
toward the face can help brighten
grooming tasks and offer awaken-
ing morning light. A bonus: Those
controls can help accommodate
varying levels of natural daylight,
too.
• Increase the size of your
bedside task light. One of the big-
ger mistakes Phillips sees in bed-
rooms is the size of bedside lamps
- they're either too small or not ad-
justable.
"The lamp needs to provide
light where you need it, and if it's
too small it can't do that," says
Phillips. Go for a larger size with
increased lumen capacity.
• Install track lighting for flex-
ibility. Stationary overhead lights
are fine when you need to flood
a space with light, but too often
kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms
lack flexible sources of light. A
good solution is track lighting.
"You can direct one or two of
the lights on the track and point
them to a wall to add accent light
for artwork, and use other lights on
the track to create different focal
points," Phillips says.
• Add a light fixture for dra-
ma. A side benefit of beautiful,
light-providing chandeliers and
pendants is that they provide focal
points.
"New light sources give
home-owners some great options,"
says Phillips. "You can drop in a
chandelier over a bathtub to create
drama and get mood and ambience
too."
As a bonus, those fixtures help
provide the finishing touch for dif-
ferent colors and accents.
"People sometimes put quite a
lot of money and effort into their
rooms and lighting can help to
show them to their best effect,"
says Martin.
• Add a ceiling fan with a light
source. With the flip of a switch, a
ceiling fan with a light kit can im-
prove a room's livability with both
comfort and light. It is just one
more example of how light works
wonders in the home.
"Having more lighting op-
tions creates a better lifestyle and
it enriches our lives in terms of the
time we spend in our homes," says
Phillips.
To see the latest lighting prod-
ucts and to talk to an expert about
how to improve lighting in your
kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom,
Photo courtesy of Tech Lighting
Smart lighting can include track lighting that provides nice design touches.
visit your local ALA-member retail americanlightingassoc.com.
showroom or go online to www. -ARA Content
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With the changing Of the sea-
son right around the comer, most
Americans are beginning to clean up
the exterior of their homes by raking
leaves and cleaning out the gutters,
but what about the interior?
Fall can be the perfect time to
revisit that spring cleaning list that
you never completed and give the
interior of your home a deep clean in
preparation for the holiday season.
541-367-2293
I
LAURA GILLOTT
LEBANON HOMETIEAM.CO M
% : -:
Mindy Lee, Broker
Sweet Home & Short Sale Specialist
associated with
Keller Williams Realt-¢ Mid-Willamette
mindy@lauragillott.com
SweetHomeRealEstate.kwrealt,f:com
541-409-1029 Cell/Text
541-451-2211 Office
Eacl Office is lndcl,'endendy Owaed ap, d Operated,
While most people rely on their
own cleaning know-how to tackle
germs and dirt, they depend on their
eyes to show what they think is a
clean house. In fact, more than two
out of three people believe that vi-
sion is the most important sense in
determining the cleanliness of a
home, according to a recent national
consumer survey conducted by Stan-
ley Steemer.
But it's often the dirt that you
don't see that requires help from the
pros. Traditional at-home cleaning
methods such as vacuuming and dust-
ing remove only a relatively small
portion of dirt, dust and particles that
lurk in your floors and furniture.
Without a deep cleaning, you'll
be trapping dirt inside your home for
the entire winter, which can impact
the visual appearance of your home,
while also elevating the risk of aller-
gens in the home.
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Photo courtesy of ARA Content
Guess what? It's OK to get help when your house needs a deep cleaning.
To help you see through the dirt
that lurks in your home, experts from
Stanley Steemer offer these fall tips
for maintaining a cleaner, healthier
home:
• With fall comes the foliage: Re-
duce the amount of dirt and leaves
that may get tracked into your home
by using indoor and outdoor entrance
mats.
• Quick pickup: Remember to
act quickly to clean up any spills
or stains; consider keeping a pro-
fessional spot remover handy, at all
times or use items commonly found
around the home such as white vin-
egar and baking soda. "
• Di never quits ... it's like tooth
decay: Keep up with the high traf-
tic areas in the home by vacuuming
them two to three times a week and
the rest of your carpets at least once
a week.
• Outside work affects inside com-
fort: Keep your windows closed and
turn on the air conditioner when rak-
ing leaves and doing other fall clean-
up work outside. These activities
kick unwanted dirt, dust and pollen
up into the air, which can settle into
upholstered furniture and carpet.
• Whom should you call? Even
the most diligent person can't do it
alone. Get help from the pros. Sched-
ule a professional deep cleaning ev-
ery six months to help maintain the
value and health of your home.
,-- ARA Content
€'-Iohn L.
REAL ESTATE
Barbara Patton, GRI
Broker
(5411 979-3932
barbarapat@johnlscott.com
"What's Impodant Is You"
