5 simple tips for better home lighting

Effective lighting is a big player in the house to home transition. When homebuyers refer to a place as comfortable or cozy, it’s a safe bet that the homeowners have made an investment in their lighting schemes.

Here are five easy and low cost ways to light up your home like a pro:

1. Diffuse the light – Try to avoid harsh direct light by using lamp shades for interior light sources and curtains to help prevent window glare from the brightest source of all - the sun.

2. Pay attention to color - The color of a room will have an impact on your lighting scheme. On cold weather days the sunlight coming into your home can make things look a lot flatter and bluer so you'll want to avoid darker colors for lamp shades and paint. The direction that your windows face will also effect the lighting in a room. It would be smart to test out a few different paint colors on each wall to see how they look throughout the course of a day. Your lighting scheme will depend on the results.

3. Hideaway - The best lighting seems to come from unknown sources. Recessed lighting, small spotlights and stylish fixtures can help take the attention away from the source.

4. Go Old school - Use candles and light the fireplace if you have one. One out of every five homebuyers we have worked with this year named a working fireplace on their must-haves list, so show yours off!

5. Accent - Accent lighting can add a lot of texture to a room. Use it to highlight books and bookshelves, pictures, or glassware.

Whether you're staging your home for sale or just looking for a weekend project, effective lighting will make anyone that walks through your front door feel right at home.