Lighting It Up!

I picked up a layby i had at Target yesterday and it was all Lamps that i had chosen for our house (yes they were on sale). I was very excited to finally put them out around the house. Light is a very important aspect to interior design and decorating and it can make or break a room's "feel & ambience".  Lighting 101 says: "Good lighting, in a home or business, is one of those things that's invisible - if it's done well. You only notice the lighting of a room if it's too bright or too dim, not if it's just right. To light a room so effectively that no one notices whether you're using florescent or incandescent lights, track lighting or standing lamps. They'll notice only that the room feels comfortable, and that they want to come back again."

When choosing your lighting for a particular room (not only light fixtures but freestanding lighting such as floor and table lamps) you first need to think about the "function" of the room and what you will be doing in that room and what type of light you require.  I thought about this for our lounge room as it was going to be one of the darker rooms in the house as it does not get a lot of natural light. I am a lover of light - i cannot stand being in a room without the light on, i need light to function whether it be natural light or manmade. Ask my husband... he is always reminding me to turn the lights off in our house!

Lounge room before we moved in.

Lounge room after we moved in

Lounge Room Currently

Lamp i have chosen for the loungeroom

We have placed downlights through out the lounge room as part of the "everyday" lighting, but we only use a lamp when we watch TV. So i thought i would update the lamp now that we have moved to fit in the new theme. As you can see in the picture above it light's the room up nicely creating a nice ambience.


Now i am not going to say i am an expert by any means in interior design.... i have done a course in Interior Design & Decoration, which has given me a helping hand in decorating my home and helping my family decorate as well. Sometimes i get it right and sometimes i get it wrong... very wrong! Ha Thank goodness for "returns". I enjoy creating a room and trying to make something out of nothing. 


The next lighting project was in the "Family Room". This room had more natural light in it due to the large windows on one wall. We installed downlights in here for use at night time but i wanted to create a cosy area for our wingback chairs in front of the fire, so we can sit there at night. We had a little lamp table which i put between the two wing back chairs (yet to be re-upholstered) (*Note: I have decided to re-upholster these myself, currently saving up for the materials) and i found the cutest lamp shade to go with the same lamp stand as i used in the lounge room.

Lamp in "Family" Room

Our little relaxation area in front of the fire!

As you can see it looks a little rough around the edges but the "idea" is there - this  will need a bit of refining - re-upholster the chairs and paint the lamp table.

The last lighting project was in our bedroom. Again we put downlights in the bedroom ( i just love the soft ambience that downlights create)but i wanted to update our beside lamps in our bedroom. Our current ones were "clearance" lamps i bought when we first got married and were a bit battered to start off with.

Our bedroom before moving in

Our Bedroom currently

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The Lamps i chose for our beside tables.

 I wanted something a bit modern but have a classic feel to it still. I know i haven't gone very daring in the colour department in the lamp shades but as you know with the "vision" of the house i wanted to keep things fairly neutral so currently i am laying the "foundation pallete" you could say through out the house and hopefully soon i can start adding all the "little bits 'n' pieces" throughout, such as pictures, paintings, photo's, vases, and decorative items. Again it's just time and money holding me back! hehehe.

In the garden department i had a pretty good weekend planting out a lot of vegies ready for spring & summer. I got in just before the good rain we had on monday so hopefully that will get the little seedlings going! I planted out beetroots, lettuce, english spinach, rocket, radish, cabbage, shallots, red onion, broccoli & carrots. So hopefully i have a green thumb and they all grow and not die! Time will only tell.

From Left: Raspberry plant, Red Onions all planted up, Fig Tree

We were in Brisbane on the weekend helping out with the "Go The Extra Mile" walk and on our way home we stopped in at the Big Orange for some fruit and vegies. They had some fruit plants for sale and we decided we would purchase a Raspberry plant and a fig tree (stick at the moment). We have to decide where we are going to plant them and it will be many years before the fig tree produces any fruit...... BUT when it does - YUMMO! I tasted my first fresh fig when i was on holidays around tasmania this year.... it was out of this world! Oh and i cannot wait for my own fresh rasberries.... oh the fun things i can make out of them..... jams, pie fillings, coulis... or simply popped into your mouth fresh.

Top: Bevan enjoying yard work.   Left: Bevan with his mean machine (chainsaw), The kitchen garden after bushes have been cleared.

Bevan has been into the chainsaw again cutting down more trees. Mind you they are tree's that need cutting down in order to clear areas etc... he just has a bit too much fun doing i think!