Home Improvement, Furniture and Gardening

Although incandescent lamps are more frequently used in residential lighting applications, some commercial lighting fixtures also used this technology. Incandescent lamps pass current through a filament, which causes the filament to give off light. Because they are relatively short lived, incandescents are used mostly as decorative commercial lighting fixtures. Their ability to render warm colors effectively without ballast makes them well suited to this application, and the enormous variety of bulb designs make them highly soft after source of any type of accent lighting or decorum based commercial lighting design.

Fluorescent Lighting Fixtures
Fluorescent lamps are used extensively in commercial lighting fixtures for a number of reasons. First and foremost of these reasons is their ability to use less power than other commercial lighting fixtures, making them very cost effective from an energy conservation perspective. Fluorescent bulbs also produce a very bright light that is evenly distributed, making them ideal commercial warehouse lighting fixtures, canopy lights, security lights, in interior retail lights in discount stores where high levels of general lighting help psychologically motivate larger bulk purchases of discount merchandise.

Fluorescent bulbs produce light by activating phosphors on the interior of the bulb using ultraviolet energy generated by a mercury arc. Ballast helps start and operate the fluorescent lamps by regulating electron flow through the gaseous arc. Trends in fluorescent technology have made them more compact, increasing lumens per watt efficiency as high as 100 lumens per watt, and reducing the amount of toxic mercury within the bulbs interior. Fluorescent commercial lighting fixtures are best deployed underneath building eaves (as in the case of canopy lights), near loading docks, in wall packs on the sides of buildings, or as large grocery store or warehouse lights. Placing them too far out into open spaces tends to diffuse their light output and diminish their intensity.

High Intensity Discharge (HID) Commercial Lighting Fixtures
HID stands for High Intensity Discharge. It refers to a technology where light is produced by a gaseous arc discharge using a variety of elements. Typical elements include mercury vapor, metal halide, and high pressure sodium. The arc tube within an HID lamp will contain one or more of such elements, and when current passes between the electrodes at either end of the tube, the current creates an arc that generates visible light.

HID lamps feature the highest efficiency in lumens per watt output and also feature a greater level of lighting control. They also last longer than other commercial lighting fixtures, making them a wise investment for a company on a Spartan budget that cannot afford to continually replace equipment. High intensity discharge sources include mercury vapor, metal halide, and high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps. Light is produced in HID and low pressure sodium (LPS) sources through a gaseous arc discharge using a variety of elements. Each HID lamp consists of an arc tube which contains certain elements or mixtures of elements which, when an arc is created between the electrodes at each end, gasify and generate visible radiation.

Light Sources and Lamp Characteristics

Mercury Vapor (MV) Lighting Fixtures
Mercury vapor lights were the first HID commercial lighting fixtures developed. They were designed originally to meet a rising demand for a very compact, high output, and energy efficient source of light. They are used extensively in a number of landscape lighting applications, being commonly deployed as tree lights in high-end commercial outdoor lighting systems. In other applications they have proven somewhat less effective duo to their inferior color rendering abilities, although this has improved to a certain extent over the years by phosphor coated interior bulb walls.

The life of mercury vapor lamps is good, averaging 24,000 hours for larger wattage lamps. However, because the output diminishes so greatly over time, economical operational life is often much shorter. Efficacy ranges from 30 to 60 lumens per watt, with the higher wattages being more efficacious than the lower wattages.

As with other HID lamps, the starting of a mercury vapor lamp is not immediate. Starting time is short, though, taking 4-7 minutes to achieve maximum output depending upon the ambient temperature.

High Pressure Sodium (HPS) Light Fixtures
High Pressure Sodium (HPS) commercial lighting fixtures gained huge popularity in the 1970s to meet the needs of a powerful, yet super efficient, source of HID lighting. Lumens per watt output in an HPS lamp can be as high as 140 lumens per watt, approximately 7 times the luminance as incandescent lamps and twice that of MV or Fluorescent. They also last for approximately 24,000 hours—the longest lamp light on the market.

The problem with HPS commercial lighting fixtures has always been the quality of light they create. HPS lamps give off a yellowish or orange-tinted color and are not acceptable light sources for situations where illuminating a brand, architectural keynote, or any type of ornate exterior landscaping requires a high level of color rendering. For the most part, they are used in applications such as commercial parking garage lighting, warehouse lighting, and certain outdoor applications such as security flood lighting.

Metal Halide (MH Lighting Fixtures
Metal Halide (MH) commercial lighting fixtures are fast becoming the preferred source of HID lighting in most commercial environments. This is because they produce a very bright white light that nearly equivalent to daylight in its color rendering ability. The variety of applications is significant as a result, ranging from decorative street lighting, commercial parking lot lighting, car lot lighting, outdoor landscape lighting, architectural lighting, security lighting, and general site lighting. Traditionally, their biggest drawback has been their short lamp life, only 7,500 hours on the average.

Newer designs in Metal Halide commercial lighting fixtures include pulse start technology and ceramic metal halide design. These improvements have increased lumens per watt efficiency, control of the light itself through superior dimmability, better stability of color rendering, longer lamp life, and shorter start time.

Unfortunately, recent legislation has called for the phase out of certain standard forms of MH commercial lighting fixtures due to their use of incendiary elements that fall under the classification of greenhouse gas sources. This in turn paves the way for the most sophisticated lighting ever developed on our world, and quite possibly, the singular source of lighting used both commercially and residentially in the very near future: LED commercial lighting fixtures.

LED Commercial Lighting Fixtures
As technology improves, the ability to create truly white LED light continues to evolve. LED commercial lighting fixtures are featuring higher lumens per watt efficiencies than their initial prototypes initially offered. This has opened the door for a number of architectural lighting and site lighting applications that were previously the exclusive domain of HID commercial lighting fixtures.

We are also seeing an upsurge in the use of led commercial lighting fixtures in street and roadway lighting, where a number of municipalities in the United States and Europe have reported some very promising findings in regards to both power cost reduction and the overall quality of street lighting itself.

Look for quarterly leaps and bounds in the engineering gains made by LED commercial lighting fixture manufacturers.

Decorating a bedroom for toddlers and small children is sometimes frustrating for many parents, but when done creatively it can actually be quite fun. The most important thing to keep in mind though, is that you’re decorating the room for your toddler or smaller child… not yourself.

Young children tend to be very creative individuals. And any parent who has or has had small children has already discovered this. You’ve probably found crayon drawings on the wall for instance, or inside your treasured books and magazines. And while young children’s penchance for creating artwork everywhere can be a bit exasperating at times, it is one of the best tools to use when decorating their very own bedroom!

The first thing you’ll want to do when decorating your toddler’s bedroom, is to use plenty of solid, bright, primary colors. Buy a bedspread or comforter which has bright splashes of blue, green, red, or yellow in it. You’ll find there are plenty of designs which incorporate all of these colors in one spread too, and toddlers love having lots of bright colors in their room.

The next step is to plan how you’ll decorate the walls. Now the trick here is to put something in place on the lower part of the walls, which won’t be destroyed by your toddler’s love of art.

An excellent decorative technique for toddler’s bedrooms for instance, is to apply whiteboard material along the bottom part of the wall. Whiteboard material can be purchased at local hardware stores in sheets of 8′x4′ sizes, for as little as $10-$15 per sheet. Simply lay a sheet of this whiteboard material sideways, so that it covers the wall up to 4 feet high, and has a stretch of 8 feet in length.

Install just one piece if you’d like, and surround it with wooden trim that can be used for holding the markers and erasers, and you’ve instantly created a toddler artists area right in their bedroom. If you’d rather make sure your small child doesn’t try putting their artwork on the rest of the walls though, then put the whiteboard sheets all the way around the room. This gives them all four walls to draw on at their own height, and leaves the top of all the walls free for you to apply preferred paints, wallpapers, or borders to finish off your designer look.

When using whiteboard for your child’s creative activities, you simply buy a set of colorful whiteboard markers for them to create their artwork with instead of crayons. Be sure to buy them erasers too, so they can create and re-create to their heart’s content.

And don’t forget a critical element of this toddler decorating strategy: Take pictures! Each time you see your child has a new piece of artwork on his wall, be sure to get a picture of it for your own scrapbook and keepsake albums.

Log cabin house plans were the earliest structures which settlers from Europe built when they arrived in America in the early seventeenth century. The abundance of virgin forests in the New World and the utilitarian design made the early log homes functional and practical, even if they weren’t particularly commodious or comfortable. Nonetheless, even today these primitive homes of logs are popular housing options for millions of Americans, although modern log houses are much more efficient and structurally superior to the originals upon which the concept is based.

Modern log home owners have two types of log houses to choose from – handcrafted or milled log houses. Handcrafted log houses are constructed using the same time-honored techniques of log smiths of previous centuries. Using mainly hand tools, logs are cut and shaped by log smiths from trees which have been carefully selected so that each log makes a perfect fit with the log beneath it. As a result, the logs in handcrafted log houses retain the individual characteristics of the trees which they once were, and give a more rustic look than do milled logs. A milled log house is made of logs which have been milled to the same profiles and dimensions, with an interlocking mechanism which lets manufactured logs fit together snugly. Besides handcrafted and milled log homes, it is possible to sheath a conventional stud-framed and insulated house with log siding, which gives the look and feel of a log house without using logs. If they are correctly manufactured and built, log homes offer energy efficiency which is comparable to or superior than conventional framed bungalow house plans. Many independent studies prove that log walls are especially high in thermal mass, which means they are as energy-efficient as any well-insulated frame wall, and in fact are superior to most of them. As many owners of log homes have known for years, a log home is cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

When considering log house packages, it should be borne in mind that different manufacturers’ log home packages differ considerably in the completeness of the materials and components included; therefore it can be difficult to compare the different manufacturers’ offerings. For example, the choice of tree species to be used may depend upon structural requirements, environmental conditions, availability and cost, as well as homeowner preference. Although logs of different species of trees dry at different rates, the logs of all tree species shrink as the wood dries and the use of logs which are not fully dry can pose serious structural problems in log house plans, such as settling over time. Therefore, kiln dried or long-dead standing logs are usually used in preference to newly-cut logs. Also, different species of trees yield logs with differing susceptibilities to insects, decay, and weathering. Modern wood preservatives help to extend the lifespan of most logs for well over a century, so treated logs are definitely preferable to untreated ones.

Lodge style interior decoration, also called rustic or Adirondack style, evokes a strong feeling of those days spent in a summer camp by a lake or a hiking trip taken on a wild trail. Of late, many families are switching over to this style to bring that elusive feeling of nature into their home. Lodge style interior decorating could be the ultimate eco-experience for many people; recreating the natural ambience of a nature camp seems to be one of the objectives.

However, to understand nature and recreating it in an artificial set up may be full of hassles; establishing a clear objective seems to be the first step in this direction. Just trying to visualize the natural elements and developing a clear concept is the first step in this direction. Trying to work with this motive to develop other décor will be a bright idea.

Look out for a theme as the first correct step; it might work as a dose of inspiration for establishing accessories. An artificial wall paper border is a starting point and this can be re-modified later for a better, new decorative scheme. Probably the most important factor that affects the look and feel of a log cabin will be the choice of a compatible color palette. Nature has a range of colors; profusions of dark greens and browns, milder hues of golden grass and blues and passionate splashes of brilliant reds are all part of nature. Probably nature’s own color, green is the most compatible color and no color can bring the nature inside like this color! Green is complimentary to any other color and the whole room can be more attractive along with green. However, always decorate with neutral or soft colors; cream matched with soft grey or Ming green coupled with lighter yellows is always treat to watch. A cool mountain side river border scene surrounded with green trees, bluish skies and grayish valley makes an excellent theme for a marriage of blues and greens.

The look of wood is extremely important; a mix of natural and unpainted wooden logs and pieces are often the best suited for this purpose. Furniture in craft style blends the best in lodge cabin because of its straight lines and form. Trying to find furniture that is too rustic is a better idea to recreate that log feeling. It is preferable to have minimal detailing in the larger pieces, but worn out finishes might look well. Old trunks and suitcases might serve as good coffee or side tables. They also serve as dual advantages of surfaces of storage and display.

All natural materials like old blankets, colorful vintage table cloths can be used as window toppers or pillow covers. Angling and fish trophies available in bargain sales can be hung as wall art or in display windows; this activity also enables a strong conversation with the owner. Old frames with borders can be a nice wall art and the texture of these frames can be the focal point of any log cabin. Pottery, if any, can always be mixed with books and flower vases.

Family trophies and mementos can be arranged symmetrically with photographs framed in all-wooden frames. Bamboo made baskets and art pieces, when hung look natural, lending that feeling of being in a forest. Wall scones add depth to any cabin and also help to create a strong focal point. Log style homes add variety and spice to our life; strong memories of nature are always recalled and recreated in a serene, tranquil manner. It is no wonder that more and more urban-weary people seeking solace of a Lodge cabin to seek that comfort, often missing in their life.

There are a myriad of directions a house can face so for the sake of this discussion the only ones used will be north, south, east and west. No mention of north by northeast or any other more complicated directions will be used to keep this simple. There are many reasons to face the door or entry to the east. Most of them are due to spirituality and the fact that you can wake up to the morning sun streaming into your home. If your luxury mansion house plans don’t allow for an east facing entry then others are equally as advantageous, especially if you are not Native American and believe the door should face the east.

Having the main living area with windows facing the south is a good idea due to the fact that the sun is low on the horizon in the winter and can heat your house through the windows. The north side is always in the shade and will even grow moss in the desert during the winter. Even if your plans are simple bungalow house plans the setting of the structure on the property is key to enjoying the house.

If you study or believe that Feng Shui has something to offer, hiring a practitioner may be a good idea. If in your luxury home plans you have included an art studio, the classic setting for that is facing north. That way you will never have direct sun coming in the window. It will always be diffused light bouncing into the room. That makes for wonderful Rembrandt lighting.

Christmas is one of the most elegant and awaited event with full of life. The atmosphere turns out to be a blessed surprise with ringing bells and decorated streets. Everywhere you find the thrill and essence of a festival filled with love and emotions. It is the perfect time to showcase your decorating talents and the initial step starts from your home. When you think of a Christmas decoration, it is all about your aesthetic sense and creativity that keeps your decoration special and unique from others. To see the final product of decoration after hours of work is really gratifying. To fill your home with abundance of surprise and holiday cheer, the Christmas decorations plays the key role.

The arrival of this festive season is marked by the decorated shops with full of decorative elements. But for a unique and special Christmas decoration, homemade decoration items are recommended. Than the machine made decorative items, handmade items are available which are exceptionally beautiful. To create an intricate beauty, handmade decorations are the perfect option. You can yourself make inexpensive homemade decorations to add uniqueness to your decoration items. To be attractive, the decoration need not be elaborate. Without spending many hours or money, you can create exceptional decorative items that add cheer to your festive season. There is a spirit of expectancy and to keep this spirit, proper decoration is necessary. You can make a colorful decoration with all the charm and grandeur of Christmas.

The Christmas ornaments include bells and stars, glittery angels, colorful candy canes, wreaths and gingerbread men. With the help of food colors, dough and paint, you can easily make these items without much expense. The dough can be rolled out easily by using a rolling pin and a cookie cutter would be useful to get the desired shapes. After it dries well, you can bake to make it strong. Once it dries completely, paint using glittery colors to give a special look. The stylish part of decoration includes the use of some crystal ornaments. It can be of different colors and mostly a crystal piece will be the centerpiece of decoration. Differently colored candle sticks with different shapes will make a good piece of decoration. You have to choose the candle colors that will seamlessly blend with the flow of decorations. Arrange the candles in odd numbers to get an attractive look.

The Christmas wreaths play a special role in decoration. You can make it in a number of ways using dried leaves or flowers. It can be painted in gold or silver so that it adds a charm and lasts for years. Next choice of decoration is papers, which is the most inexpensive way to decorate. The Christmas tree is the vital piece of decoration in this festive occasion. The paper baubles will add a special look to your Christmas trees. The Christmas windows will make the outdoor decoration more elegant. If you have some patience and creativity, you can surely make the Christmas decoration quite stylish and attractive.

When looking for a new place to live, you can have a lot of fun. There are many different alternatives to the traditional look and design of houses. Often, people end up not putting a lot of thought into their custom plans, and they end up representing nothing about the owner. This is disappointing because there are so many different options when personalizing your living experience. Instead of just going with the usual, look into your own individual needs and find something that truly represents you! That is the beauty of custom design – you can work with people to make sure that your individual needs are met. And after that, you can assure that you can then work on getting a look that really stands out!

For many people, personalizing means finding blue prints that will be able to accommodate a larger group of people who will be staying in the home. Some people opt to build a place that is simply larger – more rooms that are bigger in size, more expansive common areas. But another idea is to look into duplex house plans. With this design, you can create a look for you and providing a roof for extended family, but have the privacy of being on your own. This type of house is popular for those who are living with in-laws or other family members, but it can also work as a guest home for visiting friends and relatives. Either way, it provides more space along with privacy. A very good option for some owners.

Other people customize their place not because they need larger space, but because they want the look. And what better way to impress than with log home floor plans? This design is often very popular in areas with a lot of trees and shrubbery, obviously. Aesthetically, they are extremely pleasing to the eyes. With large windows that shed light upon common rooms and front and back porches that you can just sit and relax on, there are many reasons why people settle on this type of house. Another reason many go with log cabin floor plans is so that they will have a nice retreat. It is nice to get away from the busy ways of life and with a cabin that is possible. You can spend your free time in the wilderness!

Shower remodeling is one form of renovation that can be costly or inexpensive. Of course it will all depend on whether you are changing the design of your bathroom or doing a makeover and using new fixtures to replace old worn ones. Regardless of the style of renovation you undertake, it is a good idea to first consult a general contractor. They will be able to tell you whether your current structure is sufficient to support new shower stalls, enclosures or any additional design ideas you may have. This may cost you a little more than doing the work yourself but it is well worth the investment.

Some shower remodeling jobs do not require large investments. Implementing a small makeover here and there can be just as effective as a complete renovation. Shower curtain rods, curtains, shower heads, cabinet knobs and fans are just a few of the makeover ideas that can be done with a minimum investment. Even new shower doors can make a huge improvement on the looks and decor of your bathroom. Many people are using folding doors as replacement for sliding doors or etched and frosted glass in place of clear or rain drop doors or buying a new shower door handle.

Lighting is a great way to change the looks and feel of your bathroom. Your lighting should be flattering with few shadows. Many people find flush mount lighting works for them while others like the ambience that wall lights provide. Don’t neglect to consider lighting close to the shower either. This is one of the most forgotten areas of the bathroom. Your lighting can be placed on a dimmer switch to increase or decrease the lighting needed depending on your needs at the time. Lighting can be very inexpensive or very high dollar depending on your likes and dislikes.

Wall and floor tiles make a great investment into your home. Ceramic tile is the most popular tile for the bathroom and shower remodeling can call for new tiles to be laid. Even if you already have ceramic tile, some may be damaged or discolored. You may also want to replace the grout around the tiles. Mosaic tiles are also popular for shower remodeling. Most grout becomes discolored and molded after a few years and should be replaced. Maybe your tiles simply need minor repair work. You can remove only the tiles damaged and use new ones for a replacement.

No matter what condition your bathroom is in, shower remodeling can give it a face lift. Installing shower stalls, fans, curtain rods and curtains, a new door handle, faucet knobs and shower heads can make all the difference in the world. Shower enclosures are a popular way to improve the looks of your bathroom as well as fans to help keep your bathroom cool or perhaps your bathroom only needs a repair or two to improve its functionality. Many of these shower remodeling ideas are an investment in you home and some can even increase its value so don’t be afraid to invest a little.

Your attic bedroom may be a guest room or one for a member of your family but either way you want to make sure it has great design style, even if the room is quite small. Here are some tips on how to get the most out of decorating a small attic bedroom.

Think about using a decorating theme that you will like, but also one which can help to make your room appear larger. Clutter also makes even the largest of attics feel cramped, thus doing the same to an already small room needs to be avoided.

Making good use of the space in your attic room is important so keep this in mind when planning your design theme. You could try going with a minimalist interior decorating scheme as this will make the room look more spacious. No matter what you go with, don’t forget to be positive you enjoy it, this should be a cozy, comfortable space.

When decorating a small attic bedroom you might also plan out things such as furniture and accessories placement. If you desire a decorating style that looks great plus enhances your life, consider employing the ideas of Feng Shui when decorating your attic room. Arrange furniture away from your doorways, since you’d be surprised to discover how much straightforward access to and from a room could make it look bigger. This might even also draw attention to a bigger piece such as a big mirror.

Small or medium sized furniture is your best bet when decorating a small attic room. In place of having bureaus, consider using underbed storage which will make the room look bigger while still allowing storage of clothing. It makes sense to add unique charm to your attic room by mixing in particular larger scaled items, so in conjunction with the underbed storage, add into your design a big cheval mirror, they will compliment each other and also add unique appeal to the room.

If you can paint your attic room, then the shades that you choose tend to play a key role in making it look larger. You don’t need to purely use white colors when making up for smallness in a room. You should be able to have color while still making the attic room seem less small by choosing colors which have equal brightness, or sticking to a monochromatic decorating theme. You might go subtle with a blue decorating theme, or if you seek more color try blue, purple and green that all reflect an equal tone and intensity. You will additionally add appealing charm and depth to a room if you paint one of the walls an intense, deep hue. To give your walls the impression of receding, and therefore the room appearing bigger try using pale tints. If you think gray will be too oppressing, you can really paint with any cool shade such as blue or purple to achieve the same effect.

These techniques allow decorating a small attic bedroom to be easy and also effortless. Purely because your attic room is cozy doesn’t mean it can’t acquire the same interesting interior design style you see in designer houses – it basically requires a little creativity and imagination.