Well-thought-out interior lighting is one of the easiest ways to boost the functionality and attractiveness of your new custom Florida home.
When every room comes equipped with the appropriate brightness, it makes using that room effortless. You know you nailed your lighting choices when you don’t even think about it. You just know you have the correct amount of light for rocking a little one to sleep, folding laundry, or entertaining friends.
Most of us aren’t lighting designers, however, and the thought of having to figure it out feels intimidating. It’s not! When you build a new custom Florida home with ICI Homes, you’ll get expert assistance at the ICI Homes Design Centers, where you’ll meet with an experienced interior designer who’ll help you choose your new home’s decorative materials and colors.
Our design pros will walk you through selecting countertops, hardware, flooring and other elements, including lighting. Knowing how your household uses your home is a big help. After that, it’s doing a little homework to make informed choices.
Below are some tips and tricks for interior lighting.
Recessed lights are your friends
You might’ve heard them called “can lights,” but they’re more attractive and useful than those of decades past.
Recessed lights are single-bulb fixtures whose housing is “recessed” behind the ceiling’s drywall. All you see is the fixture opening and light beaming from its bulb. Think of them as “ceiling flashlights,” but in an unobtrusive, precise way.
Recessed lights are versatile because they’re discreet and brighten up hard-to-light areas like interior hallways, closets and bathrooms. They’re invaluable as task lighting in kitchens, yet take center stage when en masse.
Recessed lights also blend with ceiling fixtures and lamps — on when you need them, and off when you don’t.
Repeated after us: it’s hard to have too many recessed lights.
Try track lighting
Not those rows of floodlights aimed at paintings in an art gallery. But the concept is similar.
Today’s decorative track lighting comes in all sizes, finishes and shapes. An S-shaped track fixture with small, adjustable light canisters can act as a single, ceiling-mounted fixture. Aim the light canisters where needed in a mudroom, hallway or atmospheric powder room.
If you have art or a collection you’d like to feature, today’s modern track lighting still can be an aesthetic choice to highlight it.
Interior lighting is a symphony
Your new custom Florida home will be in the Sunshine State, where natural exterior light is a welcome element for many residents.
Windows, doors and outdoor living spaces admit plentiful natural light inside. As with musical instruments, it combines with overhead fixtures and lamps to light interior areas, so think how you’ll use a new room and when. You may need little interior lighting in the afternoon, but all sources after dark.
One more tip: install light kits on ceiling fans for additional illumination.
it makes using that room effortless. You know you nailed your lighting choices when you don’t even think about it. You just know you have the correct amount of light for rocking a little one to sleep, folding laundry, or entertaining friends.
