Month: July 2009

Choosing Master Bedroom Lighting

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When we were choosing the lighting for our master bedroom we had a lot to consider. There are two types of lighting that you need to consider when choosing your lighting options. They are:

  1. Work / Task Lighting
  2. Ambient Lighting

Work / Task Lighting

Typically your work / task lighting can be found in one, two or possibly three locations in the master bedroom. We have task lighting in only one location, but it would probably be nice to have it in the other two as well. The main locations for task / work lighting in a bedroom, in order of prominence, are:

  1. Bedside Tables
  2. Dresser Mirror
  3. Closet

We have reading lamps on our bedside tables. In purchasing these lights we went for a 45watt light that matched our bed set on each bedside. I have also seen the reading lamps mounted to the wall above the headboard for the bed, which can be quite effective.

Some dresser mirrors have lights built into them. This can help with getting dressed and ready for the day. Since we have an ensuite attached to our master bedroom we didn’t really have a need for lights for the mirror on our dresser.

Having lighting in the closets is something that I am starting to see more of. Once it was something reserved to walk in closest, but now you can find built in lighting in standard closets. I’ve seen closet lights can be attached to the wall, in the ceiling or sometimes attached to the shelves in the wardrobe.

Ambient Lighting

The ambient lighting in the master bedroom is your general lighting. We’ve had the ambient lighting provided by wall light scones, a light attached to the fan, inset in the ceiling or more traditional ceiling lights. If done properly the ambient lighting can be used to really “set the mood” in the master bedroom.

My favourite lights that we’ve had for ambient lighting in our bedroom so far was halogen down lights on a dimmer.

There were four lights evenly spaced in the ceiling around a ceiling fan. The placement of the lights helped to stop the flicker that can sometimes being experienced with a ceiling fan. Being on a dimmer allowed the same lights to be used for a wide variety of uses.

What kind of choices have you made in setting up your own lighting in your master bedroom? What have I missed in planning out bedroom lighting?

What Temperature Do You Set Your Air Conditioner To?

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Recently I’ve been living next to someone who I’m convinced sets their air conditioner to about 20C (70F). I’ve heard it turn on when I have been very comfortable both inside and outside. At the same time I reckon that they probably have their heater set not much below that, so they always stay right at the same temperature year round.

Blueway Split Inverter Air Conditioner

The recommended temperature to set your air conditioner to is 25C (77F). This is the best setting to balance the economy of running your air conditioner and setting it to  a comfortable temperature.

Some people find 25C to be too warm to set the air conditioner to. If that’s the case for you then running a fan is an economical solution to help augment cooling provided by the air conditioner. My personal preference is to run the fans on high with the air conditioner set to 25C rather than setting the air conditioner any cooler then that.

I have a few friends who really crank down their air conditioner at night because the like to be cold when they sleep. To help us sleep at night in the summer we leave the air conditioner at 25C, set the fan to high and remove the duvet from our duvet cover, so we just sleep with the duvet cover. This helps us to sleep at a comfortable temperature, without increasing the costs to cool the house.

What temperature do you have your air conditioner set to and what do you do to make your air conditioner cool your house more effectively?