Dec

3

Aging In Place – Improve Your View

Filed Under Aging In Place / Aging At Home, Home Safety Tips 

As we grow older, our senses dull. It’s just a fact of life. Fighting that with home remodeling countermeasures is a big part of the aging-in-place movement. As far as accommodating the senses, improved lighting is the best place to start. We finally replaced all the dimmable lights in our home with dimmable fluorescents.  Although I fought fluorescents for years, the energy savings, our sensitivity to the environment and our Green Building Initiative, plus the price of bulbs at Costco, caused us to finally flip the switch. I cannot believe the changes that these new lights have made. They offer a beautiful, bright white light, and are nothing like the old greenish hue of earlier fluorescents.  

AmbianceHalogenLightNow it’s time to think about increasing the general lighting in your home. More ambient light, in the form of overhead and recessed lighting, makes it easier to move around your home safely. Just as important is installing task lighting in high use areas, such as kitchens, offices, and dining areas. Some task lighting over the dining room table, for example, doesn’t just make dinnertime more enjoyable, but makes everything from reading the paper to hosting your weekly card game easier in the long run. Take a look at your rooms, and call in a designer with a lighting speciality, and you’ll be surprised at what you can do with a small investment in your electrical plan. Even putting in slightly colored lights (I use 3 pink floods in my dining room) can change the whole ambiance without anyone knowing what you did to make everyone look so healthy!

The latest product I’ve found to help my eyes see what’s on the countertop, and what I recommend to all my kitchen remodel clients, are from Seagull Lighting. The Ambiance Halogen Under Cabinet Task Lights come in varying lengths and colors, including white and bronze.  The hi-low-off dimmer can be hardwired or switched individually as needed, and give off a great light, with bulbs that last about 10 years.

Don’t you think it’s time to see the light? Give us a call and we’ll take a walk through of your existing lighting design, and help you update it, save you money in the long term, and save your eyes, too!

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