Choosing lights

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It was time for the kitchen lights -- two fluorescent lights with a cracked plastic cover -- to go.

Christine (Tina) Seltzer and her husband, Bradley Seltzer, updated the lights as they remodeled their Fairfax Station home, a four-year project.

Two pendant lights hang on satin nickel cable over the kitchen island, where Bradley likes to check the mail and read. The fireplace and the framed print above it are played up by a spotlight and two sconces with brushed chrome covers. Several spotlights in the basement show off hockey memorabilia.

"It's very different lights in each room to accent whatever color theme we have in that current room," Mrs. Seltzer says. "It not only helps us have a great look to the house, but it gives us what we need for lighting, depending on the room we're in."

Mrs. Seltzer got advice on decorating with light from her interior designer, June Shea, owner of Shea Studio Interiors, a full-service interior design studio in Springfield.

"A lot of people who are renovating or doing new construction are looking for function and the ability to change the mood of the room depending on what they're using it for," says Ms. Shea, a member of the American Lighting Association, a trade association in Dallas that represents the lighting industry.

Homeowners should consider how the space will be used and what needs to be seen in a room, says Carole Lindstrom, principal of ZLLA, which stands for Zuczek Lindstrom Lighting Associates, in Alexandria.

"It's important to light the task. It's also important to light for atmosphere and mood. What kind of feeling are you going for?" says Ms. Lindstrom, an adjunct professor of lighting design for the interior design program at Corcoran College of Art and Design, a part of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Northwest.

Layered lighting is a way to mix different types of lights in a room to vary function and mood. Dimmers can be used to change mood by adjusting the level of light from full use to soft lighting. They are preset or manually operated, such as with a button or level that the user taps or moves to the desired light level. Lighting control systems are a step above the dimmer to provide control over all of the lights in one room or the entire house.

"You can't do a house without a dimmer. That's what creates the mood," says Giorgina Schnurr, buyer and designer for Dominion Electric Supply in Arlington. "Without a dimmer, it would be blah."